Communicator Help: Using AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator Address Book

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Using AOL Communicator Address Book

Importing Contact Information

Importing Contacts from Outlook or Outlook Express Software
Importing Contacts from Netscape and Other Programs
Exporting And Importing Contacts

Importing Contacts from Outlook ® or Outlook Express Software

To import contact information from Outlook® or Outlook Express software into your AOL® Address Book (and simultaneously into your AOL® Communicator Address Book), follow these steps:

1. Open the Start menu and choose Programs, then AOL Communicator, then Tools, then Address Book Import Assistant.
2. Type your AOL screen name and password.
3. Click Continue.
4. Select the program or programs from which you want to import contact information:

Outlook: Import contact information from Outlook only.
Outlook Express: Import contact information from Outlook Express only.
Both: Import contact information from both Outlook and Outlook Express.

5. Click OK to confirm your choices.

If you are importing information from Outlook Express, you'll be asked to enter your identity at this point.
A progress indicator appears while the Address Book Import Assistant imports the contact info.

When the import procedure completes, your Outlook and/or Outlook Express contacts appear in your AOL Address Book under Uncategorized.

About address book synchronization: AOL Communicator synchronizes AOL Address Book and your AOL Communicator Address Book every time you open AOL Communicator Address Book or change any entry in it.

Therefore, if you open AOL Communicator Address Book after importing your Outlook or Outlook Express contacts into your AOL Address Book, the new contacts will show up in your AOL Communicator Address Book after a minute or two. You'll find them in a category labeled General.

However, if AOL Communicator Address Book happens to be open while you import your contacts, they won't show up until you trigger synchronization by changing an entry, relaunching the application, or clicking OK in the AOL Synchronization Settings window.

If you want to sort your imported addresses into different categories, you can do so in either your AOL Address Book or your AOL Communicator Address Book, and your changes will show up the next time synchronization occurs.

Related topic:

Importing Local Mail from Outlook or Outlook Express

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Importing Contacts from Netscape® and Other Programs

To import contacts from address books created with Netscape® software or other software that supports the LDIF format, follow these steps:

1. In the program from which you want to import address book contacts, open the address book and export the personal address book (category) that contains the contacts you want.
   For example, in the Netscape® 7.x Address Book, click the personal address book you want to export, open the Tools menu, and choose Export. In Netscape® Communicator 4.x Address Book, this command is located in the File menu.
2. Save the resulting LDIF file in a convenient location that you can find again.
3. From AOL Communicator Address Book, open the File menu and choose Import.
4. Locate the LDIF file you just exported from the other application.
5. Click Open.
   The contacts from the imported address book show up under the General category in the left pane.

Related topic:

Importing Local Mail from Netscape 7.0

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Exporting And Importing Contacts

You can export contacts from AOL Communicator Address Book in the form of an LDIF file (a text file in a standard format used by address books and directories).

To export contacts:

1. In the left pane of the main Address Book window, click the name of the category whose contacts you want to export.
   To export all your locally stored contacts, click All Contacts.
2. Open the File menu and choose Export.
3. Locate the directory where you want to save your export file.
4. Click Save.
   All the contacts in the category you selected in Step 1 are included in the exported file.

To import contacts from an LDIF file:

1. Open the File menu and choose Import.
2. Locate the directory where the LDIF file you want to import is located.
3. Click Open.
   If the LDIF file you imported was created by AOL Communicator Address Book, all the contacts in the file are imported into the same category from which they were exported. If the category doesn't exist, it will be created.
   Otherwise, imported contacts appear in the General category.

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Last Updated September 16, 2003