OL97: Error Accessing Email Address after MSN 2.5 Upgrade

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SYMPTOMS

After you upgrade MSN, the Microsoft Network online service to version 2.5 and you double-click an e-mail address in Microsoft Outlook 97, you may get the follow error message:

   The name or distribution list entry has been deleted and is no
   longer a valid address book entry. The item cannot be found.

• You chose to upgrade your MSN mail account to POP3/SMTP servers.
• You added the Outlook Internet Mail Enhancement Patch (IMEP) transport.
• You removed the old MSN online service.
• The e-mail address causing the problem is in the "From" field of a message received before upgrading MSN, or in a Contact created from such a message.

CAUSE

Version 2.0 of the MSN online service provided proprietary e-mail types of MSN or MSNINET. When you removed the MSN online service, Outlook could not find the Address Book in which these e-mail types were resolved. Therefore, the Internet Mail service cannot recognize these types as valid and the error condition occurs.

RESOLUTION

The are four tasks to resolve this problem:

• Add the MSN service back into your profile.
• Add all e-mail addresses to your Contacts.
• Remove the MSN service from your profile.
• Change the e-mail type of all Contacts by exporting and re-importing the Contacts.

MORE INFORMATION

Use the following steps to update older MSN e-mail addresses:

Add the MSN Service Back into Your Profile

1. On the Tools menu, click Services and click Add.

2. Click to select The Microsoft Network Online Service, Click OK and quit Outlook.

Add All E-Mail Addresses to Your Contacts

Click to select each e-mail message received before upgrading MSN and drag it to the Contacts folder. If you do not wish to reply or retain the message do not move it to the Contacts folder.

Remove the MSN Service from Your Profile

1. On the Tools menu, click Services.

2. Click to select "The Microsoft Network Online Service", and click Remove, click OK and then quit Outlook.

Change the E-mail Type of All Contacts

To change the e-mail type of all Contacts automatically, you must export the Contacts in tab delimited format, then import them back replacing the originals.

To export the Contacts in tab delimited format, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Under "Choose an action to perform:" click "Export to a file" and click Next.

3. Under "Select folder to export from:" click Contacts, and click Next.

4. Under "Create a file of type:" click "Tab Separated Values (Windows)", and click Next.

5. Under "Save exported file as:" type in a path and file name, and click Next.

6. Click "Map Custom Fields."

7. Click "Clear Map," "Default Map," OK, and Finish.

1. On the File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Under "Choose an action to Perform:" click "Import from Schedule+ or another program or file" and click Next.

3. Under "Select file of type to import:" click "Tab Separated Values Windows)" and click Next.

4. Under "File to Import:" type the path to the file exported above, click to select "Replace duplicates with items imported" and click Next.

5. Under "Select destination folder:" click Contacts, and click Next.

6. Click "Map Custom Fields."

7. Click "Clear Map," "Default Map," OK, and Finish.

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Upgrade to MSN 2.5.

2. Install and configure the Internet Mail Enhancement Patch for Microsoft Outlook and MSN 2.5.

3. Remove the Microsoft Network Online Service from the profile.

4. Double-click the "From" address in an e-mail message received before the upgrade.

REFERENCES

For more information on configuring Outlook 97 for use with MSN 2.5, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q175880
   Title     : OL97: How to configure Outlook 97 for use with MSN 2.5