Very Pestiferous Outlook 2003 Address Book Problem Under WinXP Pro SP2

I need to get Outlook 2003 to let me use my Contacts as an Address Book in
order to use the e-mail addresses therein to send e-mail.;

Every time I start a new e-mail message, then click the TO button to insert
an e-mail address, a message pops up, stating:

"The Address Book could not be displayed. The Contacts associated with the
address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted, or you
do not have permissions. For more information on how to remove this folder
from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Office Outlook Help."

I don't want to remove it; never did. I want Outlook to use the Contacts AS
an address book.

How can I do that?

I shall greatly appreciate your help on this.

In order to answer questions that you may have about these Contacts, here's
how all of this came about.

In a nutshell; I had to reinstall a fresh copy of WinXP Pro SP2 on a
reformatted C: drive.

That required copying all important files off of my C: drive onto another
hard drive on the computer. In the copying process, I copied Outlook.pst to
the other hard drive rather than exporting its sub-components. After
reinstalling Windows and Office 2003, I copied Outlook.pst back onto the C:
drive in the same directory where it had been to begin with. And that
worked fine as far ass accessing the Contacts list goes. They're all there,
just as they should be. However, the e-mail process will not let me use
that Contacts list in it Address Book for the reasons cited above.

I elected to copy the Outlook.pst file to the other hard drive in lieu of
exporting its components because exporting, then reimporting usually results
in duplicates. An Outlook MVP strongly advised copying the Outlook.pst file
to the other hard drive before reinstallation etc. them copying it back
afterward.
--
With kindest regards,

Dick Smith

Looks like Outlook is still looking at a Contact folder in a
different/missing PST file. You can deal with this pretty easily (once you
know how). Go to the Tools menu Email accounts command View/Change
existing address books/directories Click Next Highlight Outlook Address
Book Click Change. Remove the bad Contacts folder from the list (or remove
all of them if you can't tell which is the right one). Ok your way out

Right click on your Contacts folder, choose Properties, go to the Outlook
Address Book tab and check the "Show this folder as an email address book"
box

" AA Smith" wrote in message
...
I need to get Outlook 2003 to let me use my Contacts as an Address Book in
order to use the e-mail addresses therein to send e-mail.;

Every time I start a new e-mail message, then click the TO button to
insert an e-mail address, a message pops up, stating:

"The Address Book could not be displayed. The Contacts associated with
the address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted,
or you do not have permissions. For more information on how to remove
this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Office Outlook
Help."

I don't want to remove it; never did. I want Outlook to use the Contacts
AS an address book.

How can I do that?

I shall greatly appreciate your help on this.

In order to answer questions that you may have about these Contacts,
here's how all of this came about.

In a nutshell; I had to reinstall a fresh copy of WinXP Pro SP2 on a
reformatted C: drive.

That required copying all important files off of my C: drive onto another
hard drive on the computer. In the copying process, I copied Outlook.pst
to the other hard drive rather than exporting its sub-components. After
reinstalling Windows and Office 2003, I copied Outlook.pst back onto the
C: drive in the same directory where it had been to begin with. And that
worked fine as far ass accessing the Contacts list goes. They're all
there, just as they should be. However, the e-mail process will not let
me use that Contacts list in it Address Book for the reasons cited above.

I elected to copy the Outlook.pst file to the other hard drive in lieu of
exporting its components because exporting, then reimporting usually
results in duplicates. An Outlook MVP strongly advised copying the
Outlook.pst file to the other hard drive before reinstallation etc. them
copying it back afterward.

Thanks, Vince!

That definitely got the problem resolved. I sincerely appreciate your help.
--
With kindest regards,

Dick Smith
"Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
Looks like Outlook is still looking at a Contact folder in a
different/missing PST file. You can deal with this pretty easily (once you
know how). Go to the Tools menu Email accounts command View/Change
existing address books/directories Click Next Highlight Outlook
Address Book Click Change. Remove the bad Contacts folder from the list
(or remove all of them if you can't tell which is the right one). Ok your
way out

Right click on your Contacts folder, choose Properties, go to the Outlook
Address Book tab and check the "Show this folder as an email address book"
box

" AA Smith" wrote in message
...
I need to get Outlook 2003 to let me use my Contacts as an Address Book in
order to use the e-mail addresses therein to send e-mail.;

Every time I start a new e-mail message, then click the TO button to
insert an e-mail address, a message pops up, stating:

"The Address Book could not be displayed. The Contacts associated with
the address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted,
or you do not have permissions. For more information on how to remove
this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Office Outlook
Help."

I don't want to remove it; never did. I want Outlook to use the Contacts
AS an address book.

How can I do that?

I shall greatly appreciate your help on this.

In order to answer questions that you may have about these Contacts,
here's how all of this came about.

In a nutshell; I had to reinstall a fresh copy of WinXP Pro SP2 on a
reformatted C: drive.

That required copying all important files off of my C: drive onto another
hard drive on the computer. In the copying process, I copied Outlook.pst
to the other hard drive rather than exporting its sub-components. After
reinstalling Windows and Office 2003, I copied Outlook.pst back onto the
C: drive in the same directory where it had been to begin with. And that
worked fine as far ass accessing the Contacts list goes. They're all
there, just as they should be. However, the e-mail process will not let
me use that Contacts list in it Address Book for the reasons cited above.

I elected to copy the Outlook.pst file to the other hard drive in lieu of
exporting its components because exporting, then reimporting usually
results in duplicates. An Outlook MVP strongly advised copying the
Outlook.pst file to the other hard drive before reinstallation etc. them
copying it back afterward.