Fix for Outlook 2007 Not Showing Contacts in Addressbook

After migrating a Windows user to a Vista machine, I noticed that none of the contacts in the Outlook contact folder are showing in the address book. When sending an email, email addresses have to be typed in. When I went to the "Properties" of the Outlook Contacts folder to setup the address book, the check box for "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book" was unchecked and grayed out. There is no way to check it.

The fix is simple: use a new Outlook profile. Exit Outlook, and go to Windows' Control Panel, and go to "Mail". If you are using 64 bit Windows, you will need to go to the 32 bit Control Panel to find "Mail" because Microsoft Office 2007 applications are 32 bit.

Click on the "Show Profiles..." button, and then click "Add...". You will need to re-enter your email server account information all over again here. Once you finish creating the new profile, select it from the drop down list for "Always use this profile".

Because I use Exchange Server inbox to store mail, all my mail messages are available from the new profile automatically. You can always open old mail stores from the "File", "Open", "Outlook Data File..." menu in Outlook, and keep it open, or move old messages into the new mail stores