Outlook Contacts

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silverback
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Outlook Contacts

Post by silverback »

At home we use Outlook from Office 365. We have three profiles, one mailbox each for me and my wife, and one which we use for commercial dealings e.g. buying things on the internet.
The system has evolved such that my profile holds the 'master' contacts and it's frustrating when we use another profile that the contact is either not there or is not up to date.
Is there a way in which the contacts folder in all three profiles can be kept in sync, please?

Thanks
Silverback

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by HansV »

As far as I know, there isn't. Each account has its own separate contacts folder.
Best wishes,
Hans

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StuartR
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by StuartR »

I use a product called gSyncit to synchronize contacts from multiple Outlook profiles via a gMail account.
It also provides me with access to all my contacts on my Android phone.
StuartR


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stuck
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by stuck »

At home I too have three accounts in Outlook (2016 perpetual), one for me, one for my wife and an one for Internet transactions. However, they all seem to share the one address book, i.e. all contacts are available to all accounts.

Perhaps your set up different though, you talk about three profiles. Does that mean when you open Outlook you have to choose who you want to be and then once Outlook opens only see the folders for that person? When I open Outlook I see the three accounts as three separate sets of folders. Switching between accounts is just a matter of selecting the relevant Inbox.

Ken
PS as this thread seems to be about Outlook should it not be on the Outlook board, rather than in 'Other MS Office Applications'??

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by HansV »

Yes, Ken.
Best wishes,
Hans

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silverback
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by silverback »

Ken. Thanks for your posting. You correctly deduce that we have three, separate, profiles each with their own folders. We do want to keep the three mailboxes separate, so we'll have to live with producing a process for regularly updating the contacts in each of the profiles.
We'll cope! :laugh: :thankyou:

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StuartR
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by StuartR »

I haven't tried this, but I suspect it would work.
Create a new PST file and move all the contacts to that PST file from where they are now
Add this same PST file as an extra data file to every profile, and set the contacts folder to be your default contacts folder.
StuartR


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stuck
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by stuck »

silverback wrote:...We do want to keep the three mailboxes separate...
The three accounts we have are also completely separate, in that they each have their own email address and mail for each of these addresses goes to and from their own Inbox / Sent Items. However, all folders from all three accounts are accessible to which ever user is sat at the PC. That's not a problem for us though as neither my wife nor I have any mail that we need to keep from each other and we both need to get at the online transactions account.

Ken

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StuartR
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by StuartR »

So did you try moving the contacts to a separate PST file that you share between all three profiles?
StuartR


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silverback
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by silverback »

StuartR wrote:So did you try moving the contacts to a separate PST file that you share between all three profiles?
I'm in the process of trying this out (Very slow at the moment - lots of other distractions)
I've got an additional .pst file in my profile and proved I can find contacts in it. What I can't work out at the moment is how to make the new contacts folder the master. When I open address book, I am always offered the old contacts folder in 'my mailbox' first. The new contacts is a second offering. I can't delete the 'old' contacts folder to promote the new one because the delete option is greyed out. :scratch:
Silverback

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StuartR
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by StuartR »

StuartR


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silverback
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by silverback »

Stuart. I’m going slightly mad (©Queen, 1991)
I followed your very helpful advice and have created a new .pst file. Within that, there is a folder called ‘MasterContacts’ which I intend to be the only one which is updated. I have successfully made this the default address book within my profile.

I then followed the exact same path to add that .pst file to my wife’s profile which was :

File | Account Settings | Account Settings | Data Files |Add – and then select the new .pst file.

This successfully adds the .pst file to her profile but, post that, the ‘MasterContacts’ option is not even visible in AddressBook i.e. I can’t select it even as the non-default.

Have I fallen foul of some Outlook restriction such as a .pst file can only be used within one profile?
We’re so near your suggested solution! Can you/anyone explain why the remaining profiles can’t see the new ‘MasterContacts’ folder, even though the containing .pst file is open within that profile?

Thanks
Silverback

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by HansV »

Right-click the MasterContacts folder in the navigation pane on the left hand side of Outlook.
Select Properties... from the context menu.
Activate the Outlook Address Book tab.
Can you tick the check box 'Show this folder as an email Address Book'? If so, do that.
Click OK.
Best wishes,
Hans

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silverback
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Re: Outlook Contacts

Post by silverback »

:joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy:

Stuart/Hans
I love it when a problem gets solved - but it wouldn't have been solved without The Lounge.
Mega thanks to you both. :chocciebar: :cheers: :thankyou:

(Apologies Ken - this is ithe solution I wanted. Still separate profiles.)