Outlook: Where is the actual contacts file located?

Thank you, Brian, for making that clear to me.

But, this does mean that there is an issue with the contact list as such.

How can it be that the contact list is 'empty' after the first installation of 'New Outlook' but does import a CSV file when everything is supposed to reside (and remain?) on a mail web server?

I will submit my error report to both Microsoft and KPN (which is a large enough company to take care that its user base is facilitated).

This sounds like you're not using classic Outlook, the topic of this forum, but new Outlook, which has its own forum. The version you cite is a new Outlook version. I answered with information about classic Outlook. New Outlook does not use OSTs or PSTs and does not support them, although PST support is on the road map.

You should have an IMAP account, in that case. You can verify this by clicking File>Account Settings>Account Settings and looking on the Email tab.

I was wrong about what the "\" means at the front of the path in the Contacts properties. After looking at my own copy of Outlook more closely, it seems that the path always has \<Your data="" file="" name=""> as its value. For an IMAP account, you should also see 'This computer only" following Contacts and other non-mail folder names. That's because IMAP can sync only mail data. It does handle the non-mail data. IMAP accounts also use OSTs. PSTs are used for POP accounts. You can find the explicit path of your data file by clicking File>Account Settings>Account Settings and choosing the Data Files tab.

So, yes, your contacts are in the OST that has your address as its name and it should be in the folder %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook. If you put that in the address bar of File Explorer and press Enter, it should appear in the folder that opens. That said, only Outlook itself can really access the OST. Why do you wish to know where the file is? What's your goal?</Your>

What server? I am lost here. I have an old verizon email that resides on AOL servers. I though the .ost file is an active "PST" file that is continuously synced with the AOL servers. Are my contacts in there as well? Where is this contacts folder in Outlook?

Bob

Hi. I'm Brian and I'll try to help.

The folder path you cite indicates that you are using an Exchange account accessed via the address that follows the "\" In this case, contacts are kept ni the Contacts folder on the server that syncs with the Contacts folder in Outlook. An Exchange account uses a cache file whose type is ".ost". That file is located in %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook. It does not necessarily contain a full mirror of what's on the server.