in win9x to back up my contacts i would just backup the outlook folder in the application data directory in the windows

folder, and when i reinstall windows and outlook i would just overwrite the new application data with the old one i

backed up

now i have installed winxp, and this method does not work.

can someone tell me how do i back up my contacts in outlook xp in winxp? i dont want to remake them everytime i

reinstall cause i have many contacts.

also, is it possible for me to recover my contacts from my previous application data folder now?

thanks

What I would do (and continue to do) is use the "Export" function of Outlook 97/98/2K/XP to keep all of my stuff. Just go to "File>Import and Export" and then select "Export to a file". You will be presented with several options to choose from. If you use PST, that's a proprietary file format for Outlook, it will preserve all subdirectories and can be imported later (this was the file that you were "backing up" using your other method) back into Outlook. If you use CSV format, that can be read in Notepad, Excel, and can be imported into various contact manager programs/databases. Take a look at it and give it a whirl.

the pst would usually back up everything of mine EXCEPT the contact list. i've gotten in the habit of exporting them to an access database. if you do it that way dont forget to map the email names and addresses to each other between contact list and database before importing

yeah i have the same prob, the export function wont backup contacts, so im still using the old copy the whole folder method

Ok, if your .pst isn't backing up your contacts....that usually means that Windows is set to use the "Windows Address Book" as the default container for contacts. When thats the case there's a .WAB file that holds your contacts.

I recommend switching the default to use Outlook instead...this way you only have to backup one file.

how do i set the address book to outlook?