Microsoft KB Archive/924796

Knowledge Base

Error message when you click "To" in an e-mail message or when you try to open the address book in Outlook 2000: "The address list could not be displayed"

Article ID: 924796

Article Last Modified on 2/8/2007

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition
• Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition
• Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to view or to select a contact in Microsoft Outlook 2000, you receive the following error message:

The address list could not be displayed. The Contacts folder associated with this address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted, or you do not have permissions. For information on how to remove this folder from the Outlook Address Book, see Microsoft Outlook Help.

You experience this problem if you try to perform one of the following actions:

• You click To in an e-mail message to select a contact.
• You try to open the Outlook address book. To do this, click Address Book on the Tools menu.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

• A contact is configured in a Personal Folders file (.pst).
• The Contacts folder is configured as an Outlook address book.
• The Personal Folders file is removed from the Outlook profile.

Note This problem only occurs if Outlook is installed in Internet e-mail only mode. You do not experience this problem if Outlook is configured to use the Corporate or Workgroup option.

This problem occurs because a pointer to the original Contacts folder may still be present in the Outlook registry keys. When you remove the original Personal Folders file, and then configure a new Personal Folders file, Outlook cannot locate the Contacts folder from the original Personal Folders file to use as an Outlook address book. Therefore, you receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Start Outlook.
2. If the folder list does not appear in Outlook, click Folder List on the View menu.
3. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Personal Folders File (.pst).
4. Click the original Personal Folders file, and then click OK. The original Personal Folders file appears under Personal Folders in the Outlook Folder List pane.
5. Expand Personal Folders, right-click the original Contacts folder, and then click Properties.
6. In the Contacts Properties dialog box, click the Outlook Address Book tab.
7. Click to clear the Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book check box, and then click OK.
8. Exit the original Personal Folders file. To do this, right-click Personal Folders, and then click Close "Personal Folders".

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

303926 "The address list could not be displayed" error message about Contacts folder in Outlook 2000 that is installed with Corporate and Workgroup mode

Additional query words: OL2000

Keywords: kbtshoot kbprb KB924796

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