A user reported that his address book could not be displayed in Outlook 2003. I composed a new message and tried to bring up the address book to put an address in the "To" field of the message. When I did so, I saw the message below:
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 Office
Outlook Help.
But under "Show names from the", I could see his contact folders and even select "Contacts" and see all of the addresses in his main contacts folder. Microsoft has steps to correct the problem at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q319901 in Article ID 319901 titled "The address list could not be displayed" error message when you use your Contacts to address a new message in Outlook. The article indicates the problem can be caused by a corrupted address book. The steps suggested in the article corrected the problem. I've listed the steps below:
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, remove and reinstall the Outlook Address Book. To do this:- Start Outlook.
- On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
- Click View or change existing directories or address books, and then click Next.
- Click Outlook Address Book, and then click Remove.
- Click Yes when you receive the prompt to confirm the removal.
- Click Add.
- Click Additional Address Books, and then click Next.
- Click Outlook Address Book, and then click Next.
- Click OK when you receive the message to restart Outlook.
- Click Finish.
- Click Exit on the File menu to quit Outlook.
- Restart Outlook.
- In the Folder list, right-click the folder that you want to use with the Address Book (for example, right-click Contacts), and then click Properties.
- Click the Outlook Address Book tab.
- Click to select the Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book check box (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.
