Troubleshooting

Can't Add Contacts Folder as an Address Book

When I add a new Contacts folder to my Outlook profile, it doesn't appear when I click the To button in an email message. I tried to enable the Show This Folder as an E-mail Address Book, but it's grayed out. Can I fix this?

Sometimes, especially when migrating from an older version of Outlook to a newer version, the Outlook Address Book gets confused. The easiest way to remedy this problem is to completely reconfigure the Outlook Address Book. This is a relatively simple procedure, however. Select Email Accounts from the Tools menu. Choose View or Change Existing Directories or Address Books and click Next. Choose the Outlook Address Book entry (if it's even present) and click Remove. Click Yes when Outlook asks you if you're sure you want to do this.

Now that you've removed the corrupted version of the Outlook Address Book, you can create a new entry. Click the Add button and choose Additional Address Books. Click Next and select Outlook Address Book from the dialog. Click Next and Finish to complete the process. You'll need to restart Outlook to complete the process.

New Letter Action Does Not Link Contact

When I use the Actions menu to create a new letter to a contact, that contact isn't linked to the document I create. Can I link the contact and the document automatically?

Unfortunately, no. You cannot link the contact and the document automatically. When you link a contact and a document, you create a journal entry with a shortcut to the document. To create that shortcut, the document must be saved in a location on your hard drive or on a network share. When you use the New Letter to Contact action, the document isn't yet saved anywhere except temporary memory. You must create and save your letter, and then use the Link File action to link the saved document to your contact.