With no obvious cause the Contacts folder on my Mum's computer appears to
have become corrupt. All other Outlook folders are fine. She is unable to use
addresses for new email messages, some data is missing, the Contacts cannot
be exported, syncing with a PDA does not work. We have tried scanpst (does
not complete) and scndsk with no success. From what I can see in this forum
the only solution may be to create a new pst file and export all other intact
Outlook data to it. Then use this file to replace the current one (I assume
by simply dragging it into the appropriate folder) and then syncing with the
pda to restore the missing entries.

Any thoughts on this or advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Nowhere would you see a recommendation to create a new PST file nor to
export Outlook data. Nowhere would you see a recommendation to overwrite a
PST file. Nothing would corrupt your installation more quickly. Perhaps you
have provided a clue as to why your installation is corrupt if you think any
of these is a solution.
Provide a more accurate description of the problem you are having and what
steps lead up to it.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"UK User" wrote in message
...
With no obvious cause the Contacts folder on my Mum's computer appears to
have become corrupt. All other Outlook folders are fine. She is unable to
use
addresses for new email messages, some data is missing, the Contacts
cannot
be exported, syncing with a PDA does not work. We have tried scanpst (does
not complete) and scndsk with no success. From what I can see in this
forum
the only solution may be to create a new pst file and export all other
intact
Outlook data to it. Then use this file to replace the current one (I
assume
by simply dragging it into the appropriate folder) and then syncing with
the
pda to restore the missing entries.

Any thoughts on this or advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Well actually Russ...
"You need a new PST, I suspect. Create a new one with FileNewOutlook Data
File. Make it your delivery location (exactly how is version-specific and you
decided mentioning your version wasn't important). Then copy the data that's
still good from the folders in the old PST to the corresponding folders in the
new PST and close the old PST when finished. You'll simply leave the bad data
behind in the old PST you won't use any more.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook] "

In answer to your question there was no obvious cause for the corruption so
no obvious steps to report unless creating an email message is particularly
unusual. Anyway for whatever cause the Contacts has become corrupt and I was
hoping someone such as yourself might have a suggestion as opposed to a
slightly superior tone. It would be much appreciated.

You have provided no evidence for your claim that "the Contacts has become
corrupt." As I said, a more complete and accurate description of what works
and what doesn't is a prerequisite to providing the correct solution. Simply
creating a new PST file is rarely a solution for anything. Note that the
description you posted contains none of the steps you proposed.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"UK User" wrote in message
...
Well actually Russ...
"You need a new PST, I suspect. Create a new one with FileNewOutlook
Data
File. Make it your delivery location (exactly how is version-specific and
you
decided mentioning your version wasn't important). Then copy the data
that's
still good from the folders in the old PST to the corresponding folders in
the
new PST and close the old PST when finished. You'll simply leave the bad
data
behind in the old PST you won't use any more.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook] "

In answer to your question there was no obvious cause for the corruption
so
no obvious steps to report unless creating an email message is
particularly
unusual. Anyway for whatever cause the Contacts has become corrupt and I
was
hoping someone such as yourself might have a suggestion as opposed to a
slightly superior tone. It would be much appreciated.

"UK User" wrote in message
...

Well actually Russ...
"You need a new PST, I suspect. Create a new one with FileNewOutlook Data
File.

I certainly did not include any indication in my advice that you should "use
this file to replace the current one" by "simply dragging it into the
appropriate folder." I gave fairly explicit instructions without knowing the
version of Outlook of the person to whom I wrote that recommendation. I have
no way to tell if that person was you or not. Since you say SCANPST fails,
there may indeed be no way to recover the contacts and you may need to create
a new PST in order to get a working Contacts folder, but it would help if you
described what's missing or malfunctioning more clearly.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

Thanks.

All I can describe is that a large folder of Contacts is not not showing all
the entries. If the "To" button is pressed in an email the message "The
address book could not be displayed’ comes up. The Contacts folder cannot be
exported as an error occurs and the same happens if a repair with scnpst is
attempted. Sync with a pda fails for Contacts. All these factors lead lead me
to suspect the Contacts folder is corrupted in some way. I don't know what
other information I can provide which would help? We have a backup of the pst
file but unfortunately is is a few months old.

My conclusion would be that your Outlook Address Book Service is corrupt,
not your Contacts. It is not unusual for the Outlook Address Book to “lose
track� of the connection to its Contacts Folder when you move or import your
PST or update your Outlook version or operating system. Use the following
steps to reset the connection. Note that in some instances you may actually
have to remove the Outlook Address Book completely from your Profile, close
Outlook, and then re-add it before you can get it to work.

For Outlook 2002/2003:
Make sure the Contact folder is enabled as an email address book. Right
click the Contacts folder, choose Properties then Outlook Address Book. Is
the box to enable as email address book checked?
If this is grayed out...Go to Tools | Email Accounts, choose View or change
existing directories or address book. Is the Outlook Address Book present?
If it isn't listed, add it and close and restart Outlook. If it is listed,
then remove it and close then restart Outlook and repeat these steps to add
it.

For Outlook 2007, you add and repair the address book service using a
different steps:
Tools Account Settings Address Book Tab. Is the Outlook Address Book
present? If it isn't listed, add it and close and restart Outlook. If it is
listed, then you can no longer repair this service by removing and re-adding
it. Instead you must create an entire new Outlook profile from scratch and
add the Outlook address book service to it.

More details available he
http://support.microsoft.com/default...Product=ol2002
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"UK User" wrote in message
...
Thanks.

All I can describe is that a large folder of Contacts is not not showing
all
the entries. If the "To" button is pressed in an email the message "The
address book could not be displayed’ comes up. The Contacts folder cannot
be
exported as an error occurs and the same happens if a repair with scnpst
is
attempted. Sync with a pda fails for Contacts. All these factors lead lead
me
to suspect the Contacts folder is corrupted in some way. I don't know what
other information I can provide which would help? We have a backup of the
pst
file but unfortunately is is a few months old.

Based just on the following problems you describe:

#1 - Error occurs on export of folder
#2 - ScanPST cannot complete
#3 - Sync fails

There is a very high probability that an error occured during a "PDA Sync"
which resulted in a corrupt PST file - similar problems have been reported
here more than once but not typically to the degree you have encountered.
The primary reason for mentioning this is that IF this is indeed the
case - the issue is not one that was/is caused by Outlook but rather by the
Sync software which has corrupted the Outlook data (PST) file (Outlook takes
absolutely no part in the external Sync process which is what actually
updates the PST file).

One thing you may wish to try is to simply create an entirely new profile
and add the original PST to it. If the PST is indeed corrupt (as is more
than likely the case given that ScanPST fails indicating a really serious
problem) - you will run into the same issue with the new profile in terms of
accessing the contacts (Sync excluded for this exercise). This exercise is
merely to exclude everything else (corrupt profile/OAB Service etc) and
confirm that the PST file is indeed corrupt in which case creating a new PST
file and salvaging as much info as possible from the original would seem to
be the logical conclusion to this problem (NOT by EXPORTING but by copying
the data from one folder to another for all folders involved).

Karl
__________________________________________________ _
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com





"UK User" wrote in message
...
Thanks.

All I can describe is that a large folder of Contacts is not not showing
all
the entries. If the "To" button is pressed in an email the message "The
address book could not be displayed' comes up. The Contacts folder cannot
be
exported as an error occurs and the same happens if a repair with scnpst
is
attempted. Sync with a pda fails for Contacts. All these factors lead lead
me
to suspect the Contacts folder is corrupted in some way. I don't know what
other information I can provide which would help? We have a backup of the
pst
file but unfortunately is is a few months old.