How can I merge Address Books in Outlook 2013?

First for the sake of accuracy, what you are referring to as "books" are in fact "contact folders" visible in the Outlook Navigation Pane.

To merge the data from the 2 contact folders, set the Outlook Nav Pane to show only contact folders by pressing either CTRL+3 or clicking on the People icon (or the word People depending on how things are set).

Select the contact folder you want to copy FROM and press CTRL+A to select all the contacts. The right-click on the highlighted contacts --> select <Move> --> the select <Other Folder> --> select the contact folder you want to copy TO.

If you are going to move a large number of contacts, would suggest that instead of selecting <Other Folder> in the process above select <Copy to Folder>. The reason for this is that in the event that something goes south during the process, Outlook won't delete anything from the source folder which occurs during the <Move> (i.e. <Other Folder>) process

Thank you for the help. I've now got all my contacts in one folder, but I still seem to have two contact folders:

The first one ("Contacts (This computer only)") has no entries, so I'd like to get rid of it, but when I right-click on it, "Delete folder" is greyed out. How can I remove it?

More troublesome is that when I use ctrl-N to create a new message, then click on "Address Book", the folder that's displayed is the empty one:

This happens even though I've moved the non-empty folder to be first in the list of contact folders:

All I want is one address book with one list of names (i.e., folder). For several years, I had that, but at some point, Outlook decided to create a new folder. How can I get back to the simple life I had and still want?

Thanks.

Hello

Follow this answer.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/fo...

The question you linked to has nothing to do with my question. My goal isn't to eliminate duplicate contact entries, it's to eliminate duplicate contact folders. In my case, one of the contact folders is empty.

You could use this steps.

https://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/hidemovedel...

Disclaimer: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Thank you for the help. I've now got all my contacts in one folder, but I still seem to have two contact folders:

The first one ("Contacts (This computer only)") has no entries, so I'd like to get rid of it, but when I right-click on it, "Delete folder" is greyed out. How can I remove it?

More troublesome is that when I use ctrl-N to create a new message, then click on "Address Book", the folder that's displayed is the empty one:

This happens even though I've moved the non-empty folder to be first in the list of contact folders:

All I want is one address book with one list of names (i.e., folder). For several years, I had that, but at some point, Outlook decided to create a new folder. How can I get back to the simple life I had and still want?

Thanks.

The reason you have a folder with the label "This Computer Only" is because you configured an email account using IMAP (the default if you just entered your email address/password) AND it was the first email account configured for the profile. So the question becomes - where does the other Contact folder come from

When you go into Outlook account settings

#1 - How many email accounts are configured and what type are these (Imap, Exchange etc)

#2 - How data files are configured in this profile (under Data Files tab in Account Settings) are what type are these files (ost or pst). You will definitely have at least one ost file since that's the type of file used by an IMAP Account

#3 - Which data file is set as the "default data file" for the profile - this is the data file that contains the default contact/calendar folders for the profile.

The fact that you have a "Suggested Contacts" folder indicates that this profile has a PST file from Outlook '2010 - that correct?

Also you have a screenshot that shows 2 contact folders under Tigertech so that itself is confusing and makes no sense.

In reference as to why you cannot delete the contact folder marked as "This Computer Only" is because it is a standard Outlook folder which cannot be deleted.

#1: There is one email account. It's IMAP.

#2: There are three data files, one named "Internet Calendars" (a .pst file) plus one .pst and one .ost for email.

#3: The default data file is the .ost file.

I used to use Outlook 2010, so I assume the two .pst files came from that. For a long time, I used POP and Outlook 2010 for my email. Then I changed my account to use IMAP.

Note that I can't delete either of my contacts folders. Neither the one labeled "This Computer Only", which has no entries in it, nor the one holding my contacts.

Any suggestions on how I can get Outlook to have only one contacts folder for me?

Thanks.

#1: There is one email account. It's IMAP.

#2: There are three data files, one named "Internet Calendars" (a .pst file) plus one .pst and one .ost for email.

#3: The default data file is the .ost file.

I used to use Outlook 2010, so I assume the two .pst files came from that. For a long time, I used POP and Outlook 2010 for my email. Then I changed my account to use IMAP.

Note that I can't delete either of my contacts folders. Neither the one labeled "This Computer Only", which has no entries in it, nor the one holding my contacts.

Any suggestions on how I can get Outlook to have only one contacts folder for me?

Thanks.

Re: your data files

#1 - If your contact folder marked as "This Computer Only" is empty as previously stated AND the contact folder in the pst file DOES contain your contacts, then you should definitely change the "default data file" to be the pst file. This would be highly recommended in any case since maintaining contacts in a folder labeled as "This Computer Only" folder is ill-advised

#2 - The fact that you cannot delete the contact folders is because they were at some point designated as the default contact folder for the Outlook profile. That definitely is the case currently for the OST file and likely to be the case for the PST file

#3 - Based on the description, you manually added the pst files to this profile - is that correct? The only reason you would have "This Computer Only" folders for the IMAP account would be because it was the first email account configured in the profile with no other data file set as the "default data file" for the profile.

#4 - There is no way within Outlook directly to delete your current contact folders. You would have to use MFCMapi to delete those folders.

#5 - You already have a single contact folder containing your contact data so this part of the question is moot. The issue appears to be the AddressBook. As identified in the previous reply, your screenshot from the AddressBook shows 2 "Contact" folders - when you select the "other" one from the drop down list - do your contacts appear?

Just to confirm, when you right-click on the contact folder containing your contact data --> Properties --> Outlook AddressBook tab --> the "Show this email folder as an email addressbook" box is checked - correct? (IF not, it needs to be)

#1 - If your contact folder marked as "This Computer Only" is empty as previously stated AND the contact folder in the pst file DOES contain your contacts, then you should definitely change the "default data file" to be the pst file. This would be highly recommended in any case since maintaining contacts in a folder labeled as "This Computer Only" folder is ill-advised

#5 - You already have a single contact folder containing your contact data so this part of the question is moot.

#1: How would I determine whether the contact folder with my contacts is in my .pst file? 

#5: I disagree that this part of the question is moot. I appear to have two contact folders. One happens to be empty, but I still have two. I want only one. Having two just leads to confusion, and I'm afraid that Outlook will start putting addresses in the one that's currently empty.

As an aside, I now see that my Outlook data files are distributed across different directories, with the .ost and one .pst in one directory and the other .pst in a completely different part of the file system. Each of these directories has additional .pst files that don't seem to have a corresponding entry in Outlook, presumably because I told Outlook to get rid of them. The existence of a .ost file plus a plethora of .pst files in different directories with opaque contents makes it very difficult to get a handle on where my Outlook data is and to manage it. Is there a practical way for me to consolidate the various data files that Outlook seems to have strewn around my file system?

Thanks.

#1: How would I determine whether the contact folder with my contacts is in my .pst file? 

#5: I disagree that this part of the question is moot. I appear to have two contact folders. One happens to be empty, but I still have two. I want only one. Having two just leads to confusion, and I'm afraid that Outlook will start putting addresses in the one that's currently empty.

As an aside, I now see that my Outlook data files are distributed across different directories, with the .ost and one .pst in one directory and the other .pst in a completely different part of the file system. Each of these directories has additional .pst files that don't seem to have a corresponding entry in Outlook, presumably because I told Outlook to get rid of them. The existence of a .ost file plus a plethora of .pst files in different directories with opaque contents makes it very difficult to get a handle on where my Outlook data is and to manage it. Is there a practical way for me to consolidate the various data files that Outlook seems to have strewn around my file system?

Thanks.

#1 - From within Outlook, press CTRL+6 to see the full folder view. There will be one folder tree for each data file configured in Outlook. From your description, you have a contact folder in the OST data file (labeled) as "This Computer Only" and one in the PST data file.

#2 - Outlook will save your contacts to the "default contact folder" which is located in the "default data file" as assigned in Account Settings --> Data Files tab as per previous response

#3 - The files you need to be concerned about are the ones that are currently defined in the profile (Account Settings --> Data FIles tab). If you have a plethora of PST files that are not defined in Outlook, then only you know what has been removed from Outlook and what you no longer require. You manage your files via the Outlook profile - NOT via Windows Explorer. If you remove a PST file from Outlook and don't need it anymore then you should delete it via Windows Explorer. Removing a PST file from within Outlook doesn't physically delete the file from the system.

#4 - In terms of .ost files, these are not files that need to be "managed" since these get created automatically by Outlook and are mirrors of what exists on the server. The one caveat to this is that if data is stored in folders labeled as "This Computer Only" then those folders need to be manually backed up (exported) to a PST file otherwise that data will be lost if the IMAP account is deleted or the OST file is otherwise orphaned. OST files can only be opened by the Outlook profile/email account that originally created it. If Outlook can't find the file for any reason, it will automatically create a new one.

#5 - Getting back to the "plethora" of PST files - if that's the case, that means that a whole bunch of things have gone on which haven't been described so this is obviously not a clean profile where clean = a simple case of just configuring an Imap account.