Outlook Contact In's & Out's

Something that is often overlooked when importing data from another PST file are the extra options that need to be correctly set which are not the norm when importing from any other kind of data file. This can result in the import being completed with the imported data being contained in an unexpected location giving the appearance that the import did not work (i.e. not work = data appears to be missing) – especially true if more than one PST file (infostore) is contained in the active Outlook profile.

This further expands the impact of the Outlook FullName and FileAs settings on how a contact’s individual “name” fields would get populated when entering a contact’s complete name into the FullName field instead of into the individual component parts (see FullName pitfalls to avoid). It can also have an impact on how this information is synced by the many sync programs that exist (either for mobile devices or other applications).

One item that very often gets over-looked is having a current backup for any custom form that is in use. Perhaps, this should be better stated as “not only having a current backup but remembering where it is located”.

There can be any number of reasons why you may need to re-publish a custom form such as:

• changing your default PST file
• creating a new contact folder to copy info from an old folder

How many user-defined fields can be created for a single item? An <absolute> answer to that question has never been found in any publicly available documentation but, reality is, no matter what that number is, it’s far more than could ever be reasonably managed by a “mere mortal” and definitely exceeds “several hundred” which in and of itself is far more then should ever be created for a single item.

The same custom form should not be published to multiple form libraries. Doing so can cause <forms cache> corruption. There is no way to guarantee that the forms published using the same form name are actually identical forms which can lead to unpredicable results. Some examples that have been submitted for review when trying to isolate unexplained problems with ContactGenie programs resulted in finding that the same form name was used for completely different custom forms which had absolutely no resemblance to one another – either in presentation or user-defined fields included associated with the form.

A recurring issue when it comes to a contact’s name is “missing information” in one or more of the individual fields that comprise a contact’s name (i.e. no “LastName” etc). In the vast majority of cases this is directly related to how the contact’s name was entered when the contact item was initially created.

The “FullName” field is comprised of several individual fields which can be seen when clicking on the FullName button in the detail contact display. These fields are:

Far too frequently the terms Outlook AddressBook (AB) and Contacts (specifically – contact folders) are used interchangeably based on the (incorrect) premise that both are one and the same thing.

Questions that commonly appear include some of the following:

• How do I import contacts into my Outlook Address Book?
• Why is the sequence of the Outlook AB different from the default setting for either FullName or FileAs?
• Why can’t I export my Outlook AddressBook?

Every Outlook profile has at least one set of <default folders> (i.e. Inbox, Contacts, Calendar etc). These folders are created/contained in the default infostore for the profile. These default folders exist in the same folder tree as the INBOX which receives your email.

Multiple PST files can be opened in a profile, each of which can contain a default set of folders (i.e. PST files that were previously used as the default in previous Outlook versions) but only the set that is contained in the Infostore designated as the default for the profile will contain what Outlook deems to be the default folders for the profile.

Virtually everyone is familiar with the concept of the “default calendar folder” for the current profile. In general terms, this is the calendar that events are added to by default and is the folder that resides in the same folder tree where your <default> INBOX exists (the location where all email gets delivered.

However, where a Birthday/Anniversary calendar item gets saved depends entirely on whether or not a default calendar folder exists in the <infostore> where the contact folder resides. 

The following describes the process followed adding Birthday/Calendar events to the Outlook calendar via the Outlook user interface. The calendar to which these get added may not be the one you are expecting – see “Birthday, Anniversary default calendar”

The process followed when Birthday/Anniversary values are imported is described in “Birthday, Anniversary Calendar entries via importing”

Adding an Anniverary/Birthday via the Outlook user-interface