Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

By "contact list," do you mean folder holding contact items? Or do you mean distribution list?

Ideally, you'd put all that contact data into an Exchange public folder, granting appropriate access to the people who need to use it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

I mean folder holding contact items. When viewed from the "Folder View" in
Outlook, there are about a hundred sub-folders to the Contacts folder, each
one containing contacts, except for one which contains distribution lists.

The problem I have with moving them all into the public folder is that since
the distribution lists are stored in a different folder than the contacts
themselves, I believe that moving them will collapse the lists (I tested it
on a small test list and that is what happened).

Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

By "contact list," do you mean folder holding contact items? Or do you mean distribution list?

Ideally, you'd put all that contact data into an Exchange public folder, granting appropriate access to the people who need to use it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

What a mess. I never recommend maintaining large distribution lists at all. They are nothing but trouble. Maybe this is an opportunity to move away from them and instead manage mailings with categories.

I don't know what you mean by collapse, though.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
I mean folder holding contact items. When viewed from the "Folder View" in
Outlook, there are about a hundred sub-folders to the Contacts folder, each
one containing contacts, except for one which contains distribution lists.

The problem I have with moving them all into the public folder is that since
the distribution lists are stored in a different folder than the contacts
themselves, I believe that moving them will collapse the lists (I tested it
on a small test list and that is what happened).

Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

By "contact list," do you mean folder holding contact items? Or do you mean distribution list?

Ideally, you'd put all that contact data into an Exchange public folder, granting appropriate access to the people who need to use it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

Unfortunately I was not consulting for this organization when this structure
was set up. I have also recommended categories.

Is it possible to send a mailing to all members of a category? If this is
the case, I may be able to fix the problem that way, and if that is possible,
how do I do that?

What I meant by collapse is that if I move the distribution list to the
public folder, and I move all the contacts to the public folder, then once I
start updating contacts, they cannot be found by the distribution lists any
more.

Thank you again for your help with this,
Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

What a mess. I never recommend maintaining large distribution lists at all. They are nothing but trouble. Maybe this is an opportunity to move away from them and instead manage mailings with categories.

I don't know what you mean by collapse, though.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
I mean folder holding contact items. When viewed from the "Folder View" in
Outlook, there are about a hundred sub-folders to the Contacts folder, each
one containing contacts, except for one which contains distribution lists.

The problem I have with moving them all into the public folder is that since
the distribution lists are stored in a different folder than the contacts
themselves, I believe that moving them will collapse the lists (I tested it
on a small test list and that is what happened).

Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

By "contact list," do you mean folder holding contact items? Or do you mean distribution list?

Ideally, you'd put all that contact data into an Exchange public folder, granting appropriate access to the people who need to use it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Sharing Multiple Address Books/Combining Them Into One
 

Two methods, both starting from the By Category view:

1) Select all items in category, the choose Actions | New Message to Contact, and cut and paste names from To to Bcc field.

2) Select all items in category, then choose Tools | Mail Merge and follow the prompts to use Word's mail merge feature to send individual messages.

The update feature in DLs is just one of its flakey functions.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...

Is it possible to send a mailing to all members of a category? If this is
the case, I may be able to fix the problem that way, and if that is possible,
how do I do that?

What I meant by collapse is that if I move the distribution list to the
public folder, and I move all the contacts to the public folder, then once I
start updating contacts, they cannot be found by the distribution lists any
more.

Thank you again for your help with this,
Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

What a mess. I never recommend maintaining large distribution lists at all. They are nothing but trouble. Maybe this is an opportunity to move away from them and instead manage mailings with categories.

"Ian" wrote in message ...
I mean folder holding contact items. When viewed from the "Folder View" in
Outlook, there are about a hundred sub-folders to the Contacts folder, each
one containing contacts, except for one which contains distribution lists.

The problem I have with moving them all into the public folder is that since
the distribution lists are stored in a different folder than the contacts
themselves, I believe that moving them will collapse the lists (I tested it
on a small test list and that is what happened).

Ian

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

By "contact list," do you mean folder holding contact items? Or do you mean distribution list?

Ideally, you'd put all that contact data into an Exchange public folder, granting appropriate access to the people who need to use it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ian" wrote in message ...
Hello,

I have a customer who, in an effort to create mailing lists with thousands
of customers in it has created about a hundred different contact lists. Each
of these lists contains the members of mailing lists. Then, they have
created a contact list that contains all the distribution lists. They are
using Outlook 2003 with an Exchange Server.

What I am trying to achieve is the ability to have other people in the
organization search those contact lists (basically share the contact list),
the problem is that since there are many, I don't know how to share them.

I have tried moving them into one contact list, but that collapses the
mailing lists, which, given the size and number of the lists is unacceptable.
If this can be done without collapsing them, then that would be ok.

Thank you in advance,

Ian