How to view WAB files?

[oss279]

I am unable to view WindowsAddressBook .wab files in Windows7. When i double click it imports it in the Contact folder where as i only want to view the content like in WinXP, we can access the content via Address Book,

Looking forward to replies Thnx

 

[A Guy]

This may be what you need:

WabMail

Not sure will work on 7, but worth a look. A Guy

 

[TimStitt]

You can use windows mail by installing it and double clicking on the *.wab file.

Alternatively you can import it with the wab.exe. Type wab.exe into search or run and press enter. use the IMPORT function to import a previous wab.

 

[oss279]

Thanks Tim for your reply,

Now after following your instructions, it seems that i do not have any import/Export button in My windows7 /Contacts folder.

Do you know any settings/methods in order to bring it?
Btw i am logged in as an admin on Win 7 Ultimate edition
Regards

 

[TimStitt]

Hi oss279,

That's weird that you don't have those buttons as I can't see see a way to disable them (although I'm yet to rule out secpol, gpedit, or regedit; but we'll look at these if all else fails).

Could you post a screen print please?

 

[oss279]

You can find my screen shot b/m. Thanks for the help

 

[TimStitt]

Ok, I'm looking into it now. In the meantime, please check that you have the latest Windows Live essentials (including live mail) installed. I'm now wondering if it might be an enhancement that comes with Office 2010 as I have that installed on my Win7 Ultimate Box.

Anyway, I'll let you know if I discover more.

EDIT - Lets also restore the folder defaults. From the TOOLS menu, select OPTIONS. on teh GENERAL tab click the RESTORE DEFAULTS button.

 

[TimStitt]

WAB.exe opens the default CONTACTS folder, but maybe it doesn't think that it's the default contacts folder. See if dropping this desktop.ini file inside the contacts folder will help (you need to extract it from the ZIP file first)

you may need to log on and off again first.

You also might want to try to open the contacts from the CMD shell.

1. Search for CMD
2. Right Click and select Run as Administrator
3. A black screen will open, on this screen type CD %programfiles%\windows mail
4. Then Type wab /contact %userprofile%\Contacts\YOUR_WAB_FILE.wab

On a second look, even if we get the other buttons to display, I think it's going to import them anyway, in all of my windows 7 testing this is what happens.

If you decide to import, a not so well known easy way is with the WABMIG.EXE utility. Try it from the Search or Run. Is there a problem with importing and then having two contact lists in your mail client?