Lost all contacts in Windows Live Mail

isilver18 · 11 Jan 2011

I have been using Windows Live Mail for a while now on my Windows 7 machine. It is the newest version available. I have setup my account to be a pop account to access my ISP's e-mail. There were lots of contacts listed in there.

For some reason today I noticed a button that says "Sign In". I clicked on it and it asked me to sign into messenger. I figured what's the harm. I have never used messenger better and maybe I should start. So I signed in.

All of a sudden all my contacts went blank in WLM. No big deal. I closed the program and re-opened it and still no contacts. It seems like it got the conacts from Messenger which I have never used before (so there were none) and replaced all the current contacts.

Is there any way to get my old contacts back. It would save me a lot of time instead of having to type them in. I don't even know why it deleted them. I would have been happy if it synced them up with Windows Messenger so I could have a backup online but it just deleted them.

Anak · 11 Jan 2011

Hi! isilver18, welcome to 7F :)

Go to the Start Orb\All Programs\Windows Live.

Right Click on Windows Live then click on Properties

Click on Previous Versions, pick a date/time before you tried messenger, click on restore, then Apply, and OK.

You can also backup your contacts. I'm trying to find a good explanation for you .
When I do I'll post it.

Anak · 11 Jan 2011

Found this, it tells you how to backup messages, accounts, and contacts (They are at the bottom of Mike's list) :

Michael Santovec MVP
An uninstall or Reinstall normally leaves all your data alone.

But, Regular backups of any data you consider important is recommended, especially before an install or uninstall.

To Backup messages to an empty Windows folder
- WLM-2008/2009: File (ALT+F), Export, Messages, Microsoft Windows Live Mail
- WLM-2011: ALT+F, Export Mail, E-mail Messages, Microsoft Windows Live Mail

To Backup account settings (does Not include messages)
- WLM-2008/2009: Tools (ALT+T), Accounts, Export
- WLM-2011: ALT+F, Options, E-mail Account, Export

To Backup/Export Contacts open the Contacts window (icon bottom of the Folder Pane)
- WLM-2008/2009: File (ALT+F), Export
- WLM-2011: Home, Export
NOTE: Categories do NOT get exported

Mike - Santovec - Technical Help

Here:
Need to know how to backup windows live mail folders and contacts.
Kudos to Michael Santovec MVP

What you are doing is exporting to a Folder Location, and then if you need one or the other restored you just import the required file back into WinLiveMail.

You can disregard the original posters reasons.

isilver18 · 13 Jan 2011

Unfortunately none of these suggestions worked. It did have a bunch of dates listed under previous versions for the date that it happened but it didn't seem to do any restoring. I think I am going to have to consider all my contacts lost.

Anak · 13 Jan 2011

Maybe not.

Before you have too many days of activity on your machine which will cause data loss because of overwriting, have you tried any type of file recovery app?

This is what I use:
PhotoRec - CGSecurity , worth a try.

roncerr · 17 Jan 2011

isilver18 said:

...Is there any way to get my old contacts back. It would save me a lot of time instead of having to type them in. I don't even know why it deleted them. I would have been happy if it synced them up with Windows Messenger so I could have a backup online but it just deleted them.

BTW, the "sign-in" option for WLM exists even for people who did not install Messenger. Your "signed-in" contacts are stored at the website contacts.live.com and is the same for both Mail and Messenger (if installed). If you use WLM w/o signing in you are using your "not-signed-in" contact list which can appear to get lost if you sign in. I'd go the "Connections" tab of Options and choose "stop signing in". Your original "not-signed-in" contacts should still be there and will become your only visible list when not signed in.

Once you have found them, you can export them to a .csv or .vcf file for safe keeping and also use that file to import into WLM when you are signed in so that it will be saved at contacts.live.com and continuously updated as long as you continue to sign in.

TheRealCoz68 · 02 Dec 2013

I found the answer to be extremely simple. I logged out of my account in windows live mail. Once logged out I clicked on the contact icon for which I received a message stating I needed to log back in along with a link to do so. Once I logged back in within a couple seconds my contacts started loading back in. No need to reinstall or backup anything.