Importing/Exporting - Outlook 2003

[hlewton]

I guess I don’t know what I thought I did about exporting and importing Outlook pst files. I edited my contact list on one machine by adding some new and deleting some old contacts and then exported the Contacts folder to a pst file. I then imported that same file into Outlook on other machines and on those other machines the contacts I had deleted on the original machine were still on the other machines after I finished the importing processes. However, the newly created contacts did appear on these machines. I thought the imported contact.pst file would make it identical to the one I edited but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I would like the contact folders to be identical without having to edit each machine separately. Is there a way to do this using the import/export feature in Outlook? Am I missing some setting somewhere to accomplish this?

Thanks

[HansV]

Importing a folder is not the same as synchronizing. It will update existing contacts and add new ones, but not remove contacts. You'd have to clear the contacts folder on the target machine before importing. That way, the contents will be identical after importing.

[hlewton]

Thank you.

[hlewton]

Well I though that would be simple to do but I better ask to be sure before I screw thing up good.

If I go into the contacts folder and do a Ctrl A then hit the delete key will this clear the folder in a manner that will allow Importing the pst file to make the folders identical?

Thanks.

[HansV]

Yes, that should work.

[hlewton]

Thanks again.

[hlewton]

Well I guess I still have questions. As I mentioned I did edit my Contacts list on one computer. If I export that to a PST file doesn't it export the file as it has been edited?

I went to another machine, deleted all the contacts in the Contact Folder on that machine, then Imported the newly created Contact.PST file. On this other machine, after deleting all the contacts and them importing this newly created PST file the contact list still displays all the contacts I had deleted on the original machine. Again, as I had mentioned I wanted the Contact Folder to be identical on all my computers but don't seem to be able to accomplish this even after deleting all the contacts first and then importing that newly created PST file. So where has my approach gone wrong?

Thanks

[HansV]

I'm afraid that's impossible for us (or for me, at least) to tell...

[hlewton]

Hmm! But if you assume I did everything as I described then is there something else I should have done or another way to get where I want to be?

Believe me I know I run into some strange things at times but I didn't think this should have turned out this way.

[HansV]

I'm sorry, I simply have no idea.

[hlewton]

Thanks Hans. I really do appreciate everything you have always helped me with. I am fairly certain if you have no idea then there isn't anything that can be done.

[DaveA]

What is different between the original list of contacts vs. the list on the the cleaned and import machines?

Why not export these contacts to a spreadsheet and clean it up.
Then import the spread to all of the other computers.

One thing, you might want to do after editing a PST file, is close Outlook so it is in the saved condition, and the reopen it.

I would also look into compacting the pst file, if a lot of contacts are removed, before doing the export.
Also, before the compact, empty the deleted folder.

[hlewton]

What is different between the original list of contacts vs. the list on the the cleaned and import machines?

Why not export these contacts to a spreadsheet and clean it up.
Then import the spread to all of the other computers.

One thing, you might want to do after editing a PST file, is close Outlook so it is in the saved condition, and the reopen it.

I would also look into compacting the pst file, if a lot of contacts are removed, before doing the export.
Also, before the compact, empty the deleted folder.

Dave I will try my best to answer your question but not sure if it will be satisfactory. By original list of contacts I am assuming you mean the contact folder I edited on the first machine. So for quite some time now I have made the assumption that my Contacts Folders on each computer were identical but after removing probably 5 or 6 contacts from the folder and adding 1 new contact I noticed on the machine where I did the importing that those removed contacts were still there even after deleting all the contacts and then importing the file I thought was edited the way I wanted it to be.

Not exactly sure what you mean by cleaning up the file in a spreadsheet. I can certainly export the file to Excel but not sure what there will be to clean up. There is nothing in the file that I don't want. BTW I just exported the edited Contact.PST file to an Excel spreadsheet to check if the deleted contacts were still there and they are not. I am not completely sure the exact steps I would take if I were to try to import this Excel file into the Contacts Folder in Outlook but I am assuming I would once again delete all the contacts that are there now and try importing this Excel file into the Contact Folder.

As far as compacting the file first I only know how to compact the Personal Folders and I believe the Contacts Folder is a folder in the Personal Folders section so I hope by compacting Personal Folders it accomplishes what you're suggesting. If not is there a way to separately compact the Contact Folder?

Thanks.

[HansV]

(...) is there a way to separately compact the Contact Folder?

No, you can only compact a .pst file as a whole, not individual folders within it.

[hlewton]

Thanks Hans.

I wanted to report back that I tried all the closing and compacting of Outlook before exporting and still nothing along those lines made it work. However, I did use the Excel spreadsheet that I created by exporting the contacts to one and then imported it into Outlook's Contact Folder and now all seems to be well. The deleted contacts are no longer there. Seems strange since the xls file was created with the same Contact Folder as the pst file but is worked.

What I am going to experimet with now is exporting the Contact Folder to a PST file on the machine where I just imported the Excel spreadsheet and see if that PST file works on another machine. If so I'll again report back.

Thanks for all the help.

[hlewton]

Well I have to change my report. I had to go back to using the PST file to import because even though it looked like importing the Excel spreadsheet worked fine on closer look it did not import the email addresses on 1 computer (it did on another) even though they were listed in the spreadsheet. So I guess I am either going to have to edit each machine separately of leave the file as it is. Strange it would work on one computer and not another isn't it?

[hlewton]

Sorry but I am going to add even more to the confusion here. As I mentioned earlier when I exported the Contacts to an Excel spreadsheet the contacts I had previously deleted were not there which is the way I wanted it but since that would not import correctly into Outlook's Contact Folder on all my machines I exported the Contacts Folder to a CSV file which I also open using Excel. Lo and behold all those deleted contacts were again there. I have not even tried importing this CSV file into Outlook to see if it would work correctly. I may after I edit it to remove the unwanted contacts. I should also mention that even though the new contacts I added were there in the Excel spreadsheet they were not there in the CSV file. Just to be clear all these files the PST, XLS, & the CSV file were all created by exporting the same Contacts Folder to create them.

[DaveA]

Do you have sub folders under the Contacts folder on any of these machines?

I know I have had issues with exporting and importing any contacts that are in sub folders.

[hlewton]

No I don't. They are all in the folder called Contacts Folder.

Last week I had a question that Hans answered about one of my machines giving me an error message about not accepting Unicode when trying to import a PST file. I have not followed through on trying to delete the total Outlook.PST file and opening Outlook using the Outlook.PST file from my main machine. I tell you this because it is that machine that doesn't like the Unicode that accepted and used correctly the Excel file to propagate the Contact Folder, including all the email addresses. I don't know if that has anything at all to do with it but none of my other machines that do not give me that Unicode error message will import the email address along with all the other information from the Excel spreadsheet.

Because the CSV file did not include any of my new contacts and still had all the deleted ones I decide to do nothing at all with that file.

Thanks.