Outlook2010 contacts folders messed up

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ejp

Senior Member
Outlook version
Outlook 2010 64 bit
Email Account
POP3
I've shot myself in the foot messing with my Contacts folders, so could use some clarification on how things work. Fortunately, I had a backup.

With Outlook2010, I have multiple accounts as follows:

a) The original POP3, currently has no Contacts folder. No idea where it went; Maybe I inadvertently deleted it with an errant key click. No longer plan to use this account and deleted it in Account Settings, but will keep all folders.

b) New IMAP acct. for iCloud syncing with Apple devices. Main email account now.

c) New name@icloud.com acct. introduced when installing iCloud, etc. Not using this, but believe I need it for iCloud to work. Contains no Contacts folder but don't care (I think). Deleted it once and all iCloud syncing stopped.

I did an import of contacts.pst from a week ago and it populated the empty Contacts folder in the bottom left navigation pane.

In spite of the loss of contacts and calendar data in Outlook, it's still intact in icloud.com and on the iPhone.

Questions:

  1. Which account is the Contacts folder in the Outlook bottom left nav. pane associated with, or is it a composite or independent of specific accounts?
  2. Months ago I thought all accounts had their own unique Contacts folder; now one has none, and the one that does is empty while the one in the Nav. pane has data (from recent backup import). An hour ago, they were all empty. A puzzlement.
  3. Same questions as 1 & 2 but for calendar. That's gone too, but have an export and have not imported it back in yet. I assume it will go to the calendar in the nav. pane too.
  4. Let's say I leave the contacts and calendar data gone/missing in Outlook, then iCloud comes along for a sync-up. What takes priority, the null data overriding the good data on the cloud of vice versa?
  5. Is it simply the user's choice as to whether or not I associate an Address Book with my (single) Contacts list? They would end up being identical. For years, I have been operating with just Contacts and ignoring the Address Book concept. Is there an Advantage to using an Address Book? I often create group email lists, so need to pick names from Contacts or the Address Book.
  6. I assume to get my many folders from the old POP acct. into the new IMAP acct. I can just do a drag&drop, right?

What started this debacle was an attempt to create a new group email list but could not make the icloud contacts list (that's gone too) default since it's the only one that was populated yesterday. So, each time I added a new name to the group list, I had to manually select the icloud contacts list.

Thanks for the help!
 
c. ) You shouldn't need it for syncing. You will need to log into the iCloud control panel, but the email account is email (and Apple notes) only, shouldn't affect calendar and contacts sync. If you don't use an iCloud address for the apple id, it won't add the email account.

1. When you use IMAP in Outlook 2010 and older, the contacts folder is in a pst. Contacts can be used by any account in the profile, but if you use IMAP or have a POP3 account delivered to that PST, when you use the Add to Contacts command, this is the contacts folder where the contact is created.

2. Only POP3 accounts, Outlook.com, or Exchange would have separate contacts folders. And unless you added contacts to the folders, they folder may be empty. Right clicking on an address in an email message and choosing Add to Contacts would add it to that account's contact folder, as would opening a new contact form while viewing a folder in a data file.

3. Calendar is in the default data file, with the IMAP accounts using the default data file for calendar too.

4. iCloud merges the data files - so you'll get the iCloud data synced down and nothing new added to the iCloud data file. (My iCloud folders are a mess because i tested it with different profiles and everything merged.)

5. You don't have a choice - you need to have something enabled as an address book. It's used for address resolution when you send mail or click the To button. But you don't have to actively use it, its just there. You don't need the local Contacts set to use as an address book, you can use just the iCloud folder as the address book. You can set it to be the default when you open the address book too. That should help when creating a group list in the iCloud.

6. Yes, drag them to the imap folder. Some imap servers are weird about folder creation and you may need to create the folder first then drag the mail to it. Test it with folders with just a little mail in them and make sure you have a backup of the pst first.
 
OK, thanks. I deleted the icloud acct with no repercussions and contacts now squared away, now on to the calendar.

An import of calendar.pst from last week gives the error attached. I also selected "Outlook Data file" and that just spent 30 min dumping it into a folder called "Calendar".

How can I import a file called calendar.pst into the actual calendar?

Or, since the calendar is sitting at iCLoud.com, how can I trigger a sync-up?

Thanks.
 

Attachments

  • calendar import.JPG
    calendar import.JPG
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Open the pst in Outlook. I'm not sure if iCloud will detect the new calendar folder and sync it when you clocik the Sync button, but if not, use a list view on the calendar folder then select all and drag to the iCloud calendar.
 
OK, Calendar is imported and all looks good but still no sync with calendar or contacts on icloud.com or iPhone. Wife's iPhone/Tab is syncing with Dell laptop fine and in fact I get updates on her shared calendar but only on my desktop.

When I finally successfully did the import, it only went to local Outlook calendar. To get my cloud folders back, I had to shut down icloud console and reinitialize with password to fully recreate all the Outlook icloud stuff. I'm now thinking I can't delete the icloud email acct as that removes all icloud folders from contacts and calendar. I'll just ignore it.

I looked at Outlook add-ins and looks like all the "i" stuff is disabled; seems like a problem but see no way to enable them. See attached screen shot.

Could this be why no syncing? it's been 3-4 hrs and on wife's gear (Dell/iPhone/iPad), syncing happens almost instantly.
 

Attachments

  • add-ins.JPG
    add-ins.JPG
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OK, here's another oddity. One display (see attached) shows the correct (actual) default data file, and the one in fact where new mail lands, and in another display it shows my old pop3 data file as default and it won't let me change it in that particular display. Wanted to change it so I can delete it but you obviously can't delete the default. email happens to be working fine and syncing too, but suddenly started getting the famous and pesky pop-ups asking for my email server password. I usually fix it by going into Yahoo and changing my p/w but have not tried it yet.

See both displays attached.

Thanks.
 

Attachments

  • right default data file.JPG
    right default data file.JPG
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  • wrong default data file.JPG
    wrong default data file.JPG
    50.9 KB · Views: 536
Finally got contacts and calendar syncing with iCloud! Problem was the iCloud add-ins in Outlook were disabled. No idea how that happened and they stubbornly kept going off after each OL shutdown-restart cycle, but after running OL as admin, they stayed on. Then could run OL as not admin and they remained enabled. ???

Problem with data file defaults above remains but appears non fatal with no symptoms beyond what you see in the attachments.
 
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