Importing Windows 7 Contacts to Outlook 2016

WebPixie · 26 Aug 2016

I found the tutorial in this forum called, "How to Import Windows Contacts into Outlook 2010." It all looked very much like Outlook 2016, so I followed the same steps to import my Contacts list from Windows 7 Contacts to Outlook 2016. Everything seemed to go okay, but I cannot find them in Outlook. Is there a different process to use for importing Windows Contacts to Outlook 2016? Maybe I don't know where to look for them, but there is nothing there when I try to open the Address Book in Outlook 2016. Is there another place where I should look? Thanks!

Ranger4 · 26 Aug 2016

Open Outlook & down the bottom of the screen on the LH side you will see Mail, Calendar, People & Tasks. Click on People & that should show your Contacts.

If you have more than one email account then there may be Contacts listed for that one as well.

I am using Outlook 2013 & as far as I know outlook 2016 is the same or very similar.

It seems that if you are using an IMAP email account, then Contacts are shown as I explained above, as they are also stored on your IP's server. Apparently that does not apply if you are using POP3 email account.

I recently had some problems when my IP changed their email system & I was requested to use an IMAP account & I could not get any contacts to show up in my Address Book, only in Contacts that I explained above.

To send an email to one of your Contacts, click on the one selected & you will see "Send Email" & that will open the usual message form. If you have more that one email account you can select which account to use, as near the Send button you will see From with a small down arrow, click on that & select which account you want to use.

WebPixie · 03 Sep 2016

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting email set up also. That part only bothered me a little bit because I have become used to using web mail (mostly gmail). Still, I was hoping to set up names and addresses in Outlook the same way I had them in Office 2000. In Outlook 2000, I could click on the Contacts (or maybe it was an Address Book icon) and get a screen full of names, addresses and phone numbers. It was very convenient when it came time to mail out Christmas cards every year. What I am left with after following the steps in the tutorial is an Excel spreadsheet with columns of last names, first names, etc. Any other suggestions will be much appreciated and thank you again for this, Ranger4.

Ranger4 · 03 Sep 2016

Thanks for getting back. Setting up the Address Book in Outlook is difficult.

Did you find your contacts using the method I described in Post #2, under People?. If so you could try this to see if will work to get the Contacts listed in the Address Book. In the People screen there should be Contacts in the LH margin, left click on that & select Properties, that will show a couple of tabs that you can select & see what you could change to see if the Address Book will also show those contacts.

WebPixie · 03 Sep 2016

I don't see anything that says People. There are two sections in the LH pane: "Favorites" and "outlook data file." Under "Favorites," it has: Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items. Under "outlook data file," it has: Inbox, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Outbox, RSS Feeds, and Search Folders. There are also some icons along the bottom of that pane: an envelope, a calendar, some people, a clipboard with a check-mark on it, and a "..."

Ah-ha! When I left-clicked on the people icon, there was the list from the Contacts file! It only has the names, though. I have to open each contact individually to see the address. That is one issue. It was really convenient to be able to see all the names and addresses on one screen. The next question I have besides that is: What do I do with the Excel spreadsheet created in the tutorial? Right now it's on my desktop but I don't want it to live there forever.

Thanks for checking back with me so quickly!

WebPixie · 03 Sep 2016

Oh, wait! There it is! If I open that screen with the people icon and then choose Business Cards, it shows everything I'm looking for ...names, addresses, everything! Thanks, Ranger4!

Still, my last question: What do I do with that spreadsheet that was created by following the steps in the tutorial?

Ranger4 · 03 Sep 2016

You are welcome. Glad the problem seems to have been fixed.

You can do what you like with the spreadsheet, but I would keep it, as it is at least one record that you have of contacts, as of a certain date.

Open the spreadsheet that you have on your desktop, which is, I assume an Excel one & then save it as an Excel spreadsheet in your Documents Library, possibly in new Folder or with existing spreadsheets that you may already have under a name that you find suitable.

If it now opens directly from the new location, you can delete the one on your desktop.