# Outlook 2007 & Vista - can't use Contacts, email won't send



## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I upgraded to a new laptop that came with Vista and Outlook 2007. Since that time I am experiencing a glitch when I try to send an email by a) clicking on the TO button and selecting a contact, or b) typing in the contact name (rather than the contact email address).

When I do either of those things, Outlook cannot send the message and the "Send/Receive" dialog box starts flashing and appears to be attempting to send the email over and over again ... the number of times just builds and builds. It never does send the email and I can only stop the flashing by shutting down my computer and restarting. I can't edit or delete the email sitting in the outbox - I get the message that Outlook has already started sending the message. 

If this happens with an email to a distribution group in my Contacts, it will send the email to some, but not all of the recipients (maybe stalling when it hits the email it doesn't like?)

Once I have sent an email to an individual by manually typing in their email address in the TO: field, it seldom happens again when I email to that individual. The randomness of this problem is driving me insane. I send emails all day long and often to groups of people. 

I've tried rebuilding my Outlook profile, I've tried exporting my contacts as a tab delimited file and then importing that file. Under Contact/Properties, the "Show this folder as an email address book" is greyed out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sharon


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

> I can't edit or delete the email sitting in the outbox - I get the message that Outlook has already started sending the message.


When outlook starts sending an email a note appears on the bottom of outlook saying (Sending message 1 of 1). If you click it an option menu will apear with an option to (Cancel Send/Recieve) select that and the send process should stop.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Did you import your contacts into Outlook 2007 from a previous version of Outlook?


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Try This...

1. Go to the main Outlook window and click on Contacts at the lower left side of page. 
2. You will see a list of blank contacts appear to the right. 
3. Delete the blanks from the list one at a time. 
4. When they are all gone, reconstruct your Contact list and everything should be back to normal. 

*Remember, do not try to delete the corrupt contacts from the Address Book, because it won't work.* 

You may also want to open the contact list to be sure that the e-mail address is in fact there in the contact.

Let me know if this does not resolve the issue you are having. Good luck!


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

Nothing stops this "send/receive" glitch except rebooting my computer. 

When I click on Contacts, I get a list of my Contacts, no blanks to the right, but I just noticed that at the top of my list of Contacts, it says "Outlook data file: none: 277 items"

Originally my new Outlook was set up by importing the datafile from my old computer. When this problem first started, we read online that this wasn't the proper way to set up a new Outlook. So we deleted the .pst file, and started another .pst file. Still had the same problem.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Do me a favor....

Open a new e-mail -> In the TO: Field, just type a person's name in the contact list -> Then click the 'Check Names" button.

After you clicked the "Check Names" button, does a line appear under the name in the TO: Field?


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

Yes, it recognizes that it is a contact. The last one that wouldn't send was an address that I use all the time, only sent to him, no cc's or attachments. I just typed his name, typed the email and sent it. Then the dialog flashing started, the attempts to send it started building, over one hundred by the time I was able to shut Outlook down. Even after that the dialog box stayed on the screen, continuing its attempts to send until I rebooted my computer.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Do you have the most recent window updates on your PC?


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Use the step-by-step instructions in the link below to scanpst.exe to see if the PST file needs to be repaired.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA100758311033.aspx

Let me know how this turns out.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

Thanks, I'll try this first thing tomorow and will let you know the results.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I had two .pst files, both huge and both the same date, so I scanned both of them. One of them had errors and the program was able to repair them. The other had "minor inconsistencies" and the program repaired those too. There were no recovered personal folders or lost & found folders when I restarted Outlook. 

However, there is a contacts folder, which was missing before - I could only get to my contacts by choosing the contacts tab before (which I thought was the difference between Outlook 2003 & Outlook 2007! Maybe this will fix my problem! The test will be whether the glitch occurs again or not. If it does, you'll see me here again.

Thank you for your assistance. I really appreciate the help!


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

I am curious to find out. Please keep me posted.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

Nope, repair program didn't fix it.

I typed in a contact name that is in my contacts, hit send, and the flashing dialog box party started!

Any other thoughts?

Sharon


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I should add that Outlook does recognize the contact. When I type John Doe in the TO field, it finds it and shows 'John Doe ([email protected])' . 

But the only way I can send him an email is if I start to type jd and it pops up in the "autocomplete" list, and I select it there. And the TO field says 'John Doe ([email protected])' after I select it. Why it recognizes one and not the other is a mystery.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Would it be possible for you to attach a screenshot of one of your contacts? I have never seen Outlook act this way.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Have you tried to uninstall Microsoft Office 2007 completely, and re-install?


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

See attached screenshot.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I'm hoping there is a solution other than removing and reinstalling Office 2007.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

I am trying to find a better solution for you. Just hang in there, and we will find you a solution to this issue.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Try the steps mentioned in the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=287623

If that does not work then try the following:

Open one of your contacts, and just click the 'Save and Close' button. Then try sending a e-mail to that contact by only typing the name.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

The link below may also be helpful....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287563


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

There doesn't appear to be a .nk2 file in Vista. Another oddity - now that I've experienced the email sending glitch, the contact folder on the left side of Outlook (just above the Inbox) has disappeared. It was there right after I did the repair program. Curious.

I can't mark the contact folder for use under Properties - it is ticked and is greyed out.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

found the location of the autocomplete cache for Vista

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Will try deleting the cache.


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

Deleted the autocomplete cache in Outlook, but problem is still here. In fact, it's worse for me because now I have to retype all the emails that were in there if I can't restore the cache. ARGHHHHH!


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

I apologize. Let me continue to do some research.


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Have you tried to Open one of your contacts, and just click the 'Save and Close' button. Then try sending a e-mail to that contact by only typing the name?


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

This is a long shot, but it is worth trying. Open one of your contacts, in the 'Display as' field take out the e-mail portion and just leave the contact's name.

For Example:

Before.....
Display as: John Doe [[email protected]]

After.....
Display as: John Doe


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I'll try those two things. I'll be on vacation for the next week and if I can't figure out a fix while I'm away, I'll remove and reinstall Office 2007. What is the best way to move my mail and contacts into Outlook once I've done that. Maybe the way we imported things caused the problem originally?

Thanks for your suggestions.


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## GLComputing (Apr 27, 2007)

boxergal said:


> I'm hoping there is a solution other than removing and reinstalling Office 2007.


You might try running Office Diagnostics (the new version of Detect and Repair)

See - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012340761033.aspx#2


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## Coach Joel (Apr 8, 2008)

I have been experiencing the same exact problem. I have installed all the latest patches from MSFT and no joy.

However, GamecockFan's solution (pasted below) does seem to work in limited testing. The bad news is, now I have to go through and manually edit information in 285 contacts. :down: The good news is, at least I can actually use Outlook to send them an e-mail now! :up:

Thanks for the tip GamecockFan - I would have NEVER thought of that!

This is a long shot, but it is worth trying. Open one of your contacts, in the 'Display as' field take out the e-mail portion and just leave the contact's name.

For Example:

Before.....
Display as: John Doe [[email protected]]

After.....
Display as: John Doe
__________________
GamecockFan


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

No Problem, Coach!


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

I'll try that today!


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## boxergal (Oct 11, 2003)

By jove, I think you've got it!! So far, so good. But when I was changing the Display As, I had to do it twice for each contact! Not sure why. But now at least I can get back to normal with my email. Thank you for your assistance with this problem. You can mark this one as solved!


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## computerman29642 (Dec 4, 2007)

Boxergal, I'm glad that we were able to find you a solution. Please feel free to mark the thread as solved by clicking the thread tools at the top of the page.


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## wolfhound (Jul 7, 2008)

I managed to solve the problem by deleting duplicate contacts that I think had come in from my PDA. The nicknames then started appearing again and all mails went fine.

Just another possible solution for you


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## jonontrack (Aug 23, 2008)

Wish I had found this site a day ago. I have just spent 2.5 hours going through a process of elimination to come up with the solution shown in this thread. This has prompted me to join up, so hi all !! look forward to saving myself some time in the future (and perhaps helping out).


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## crispray (Oct 3, 2008)

I want to thank your for your help on this issue. I am running Outlook on Windows XP and did a google search of the issue. Your solution focused me in on the problem and solved it much more quickly than would have otherwise been possible. I ran scanpst.ext to clean up my pst files and then re-entered and saved email addresses for each contact whenever my sending would not work. Sometimes the email addresses look fine in the contacts folder, but they need to be re-entered and saved for some database somewhere to know they are there. Once I do that, everything is OK and life is good!


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