Where is the Outlook 2000 Contact Database?, Part 2

Last week, Phil M. asked the question:

" I can't access the Outlook 2000 contacts because they no longer belong to my user account. Is there any way I can access the previous Outlook 2000 contacts list? I don't know where to look. "

I didn't know the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their suggestions. Bill S. confidently writes:

" FIRST - a BIG first - go to Control Panel, Folder Options, View and de-select Display Hidden Files. Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. There were two files: Outlook and Backup. Both look like Notepad files. Now open up Outlook. Use the Import procedure for this path. I imported the Outlook file first and Voila! I imported the Backup but had problems. It didn't seem to make a difference. All my names and addresses and emails were there. "

Dietmar J. writes:

" On Win/XP systems, default location for your Outlook 2000 data base is: C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook where YOURUSERNAME = your Win/XP user account name In this directory you will find: Archive.pst - which is where everything you have archived from outlook resides, Outlook.pst - which is the current active outlook data base, and Extend.dat - not sure what's in here "

Martin K. suggests:

" Try getting the network administrator to export the Contacts Database and then import into your own machine. "

Conrad M. says:

" It is possible that Phil's machine is attempting to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server which houses a global address list which everyone has access to. If this is true, it is also possible that the Network Admin created a new account for him but didn't give him access to that global address list. In this case, Phil should contact the admin and discuss the problem with him. "

Hopefully one of these suggestions will set Phil on the right track.