Cannot send email to group

[Vincenzo]

I created a group and imported a list of contacts into it from an Excel file. Everything looks fine in the group, the email addresses seem to be correctly populated. but when I go to send to that group, or even to an individual contact in that group by right clicking on the contact, Outlook says "you must first enter a valid email address for this contact." If I open the contact and click Email, then it works ok. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Diane Poremsky]

It sounds like they didn't resolve properly when imported. If this is a contact group rather than contacts you treat as a group, try forwarding the group - this will create a text file with a list of names and addresses. Make a new Contact Group and paste the names and addresses in the members field. See if that works better.

 

[Vincenzo]

If they didn't resolve correctly when imported, perhaps I did something wrong in that process. I'd rather redo it the right way since I will need to know how to do it correctly. Do you have a tutorial on importing contacts from an Excel file? Thanks

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I don't think it's you, i think it's outlook. There is only one way to import contacts - file, open, import... but it's not unusual that Outlook has problems with imported contacts. It doesn't happen all the time, but i do see it fairly often. I have a macro around here somewhere that opens each contact and resolves them. it doesn't work on Contact Groups - you could try using the Update button (forward first, so you get a list of contacts in the group in case outlook removes some members).

 

[Vincenzo]

OK thanks, I'll try doing it over again and see what happens, if still a problem I'll try the Update button.

 

[Vincenzo]

I re imported the .csv list, it did the same behavior. I looked for the Update button you referred to, I could not find it. Where is it located? Anyway, I was able to fix the issue. I wasn't sure what Update meant but I decided to "update" each contact. I opened each contact and added a space at the end of each email address. After that it works as it should. But now I am wondering if maybe I am creating contact group incorrectly. I've done it by right clicking on "My Contacts" in the Navigation Pane on the left, and selecting "New Folder Group". But I notice now that it can also click on New Contact Group in the ribbon, which seems to create a group within a group. Perhaps I was creating the wrong type of group? Thanks

 

[Diane Poremsky]

It's Update Now (sorry about that ) - Next to Add Members and Remove Members on the opened Contact Group form.



New folder group is just... a folder group, useful if you have a lot of contact folders. It's not a contact group, aka distribution list.

I use folder groups to hide empty contact folders that outlook creates - create a folder group, drag folders to it then minimize so only the folder group name shows.

New Contact Group button is the correct way to create a contact group.

 

[Vincenzo]

OK thanks for clearing that up for me. But I see now that when I create a contact group in this manner, I cannot see how to import contacts from a csv file into that group.

 

[Vincenzo]

I suppose I could create a folder, import into it and move the contacts into the group. Hopefully you have something more streamlined.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

You can copy the email address column and paste into the members field.

http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/contacts/create-a-distribution-list-from-a-list-of-addresses/

 

[Vincenzo]

OK thanks for the info. BTW I did find that I could move the contacts from the folder I had them in, into a Contact Group, by clicking Add Members>From Address Book, and it copied them in there with all the additional contact info.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If you update the contact, open the group and click the Update now button - otherwise the contact group will have old information on the contact entry.

 

[Vincenzo]

That's good to know, thanks.