Windows 10: Contacts Folder

I cant find my contacts folder. Well, that's not exactly true, I do have a folder at "C:\Users\xxx\Contacts", but it's just a regular folder. Seems to have happened around the time I installed the creators update?

Searching for an answer It looks like I 'm way behind the times since I seem to be the only one still using it, or wanting to.

I like it because its an easy way for me to have a backup for my phone contacts that I can edit easily and import back to my phone.

Has this feature been phased out? Whats a good alternative?

I know about the "People App", but I find it crude and clumsy. I don't want my email always open and accessible from the desktop. I'd rather open it form the browser and let the password manager do the work. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Help.

:)

 

Contacts Folder ????

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community. Let me assist you.

The Windows Contact Folder is replaced by the People app on Windows 10. Type People on the search bar and go to the People app and sign in with your email id. All your mail contacts will be synced with this app. You can even add your
Facebook and other social media contacts to People App.

Refer the link below:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...k-and-other-social-networks-to-the-people-app

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

Contacts Folder ????

Have updated to Windows 10 and cannot find Windows Contact folder anywhere on my machine!

 

Hi kitpzyxmsir

Could you share what kind of phone you are using and which domain you use for mail, (@outlook.com, @gmail.com, etc ) and if you are using POP, IMAP or EAS?

This will help if people have some suggestions / alternatives.

Ken

 

I don't recall any Contacts folder... not saying it didn't exist, but it's probably been a long time. There is now a People app, have you tried using that?

 

Well, there's something I've never used, but does exist still:

Windows Contacts - Wikipedia




I simply typed contacts in Cortana's search field, and clicked on the result.
However, this would be a completely isolated, manually maintained set of data, whereas the People App is intended to sync with data from multiple accounts and across devices. Thus it is a relic, presumably provided so people can't complain about losing data stored there.

The contacts feature (folder above) does not appear in the Start Menu by default.
Windows Contacts - Windows Tutorials
- used by (the withdrawn) Windows Mail of which a relic still exists in Win 10:




Perhaps somewhat confusingly there's this:



- which I would guess does not make use of that folder, rather the People app's data.

I would, however, have concerns about the security (or complete lack of it) of the data in that folder.

 

You can still use the Windows Contacts folder but you'll need to create contacts manually or import contacts from a VCard file, and use a 3rd party email client.

 

Oh, right... THAT contacts folder. Now I remember.

IIRC this was like an XP-era feature designed to integrate with Outlook Express and the like.

Yes, I do notice it has a virtual shell folder, with various options. There is likely a way to re-register this shell extension, but a quick google did not turn anything up... Maybe someone else can come up with the dll to register.

 

Have you installed the Creators update? I ask because the only explanation I have is that my installation of the Creators update eliminated "Contacts"

That's what my "C:\Users\xxx\Contacts" used to look like, with all the options for import, export, etc.

Now for me it just looks like a regular empty folder.

If someone has Creators, can you confirm?

XP had an address book, basically a file with a .wab extension, so the "Contacts" feature that you see in Edwins post came sometime after.

I jumped straight from XP to Windows 10, was able to import/convert that backed up .wab file into "Contacts".

I got the Creators update about a week ago, and a few days later realized the Contacts folder had changed, so it either happened at that point or due to another fairly recent Windows cumulative update.

That's what I'm trying to confirm. As you discovered, there isn't anything out there addressing this.

Looks like I'm going to need another option, probably a third party contacts manager, that I can easily sync my phone contacts with via .vcf, in both directions.

I've checked out a few, maybe someone would like to recommend something?

Yeh, I suspect the developers had the same opinion of this "relic", and it wasn't secure,

The Peoples app is completely separate and poorly conceived, IMO, thats why I'm looking for a substitute.

thanks

 

My wife was using Companion Link. It was okay but plenty of sync failures.

In essence we use "People" on our outlook.com web accounts as the book of record. On our pc we use Outlook 2013. Without the use of a third party we can change contact info on PC, or web or phone and they all sync. I have an iPhone and she has old Android Samsung Galaxy.

I have one Outlook.com account and I just use it for data, people, tasks, calendar.

Could I pry a little and ask what is you don't like about the People app?

 

It's been a while since I tinkered with it. I just tried it again. From what I remembered, with my over 400 contacts, it was quite a chore scrolling thru that interface. I dont remember having to sync it with an email account before to import contacts, but that's the only way It appears to work now. I tried to hook it up to my gmail, but it wont let me copy/paste my password from my password manager into the field (why do they do that?), and the password is hidden once you type it in (why do they do that??), and with my 20 character password, I guess I made an error that couldn't be seen, so I don't feel like fighting that all day (sheesh!), and once I do manage to set it up, it'll be an automatic login to my email, but I dont want that kind of easy access to my email from the desktop, I prefer to access it from my browser using my password manager.

I've had a lot of frustration keeping a clean phone contact list. No matter how I try to set it up, it gets mixed up with my gmail contacts, and I end up in a mess of multiple entries for the same contacts which destroys voice calling attempts, and complicates manual selection. I need a contact manager list that will maintain a pristine, single entry list, with only phone numbers.

That old contact list did that, but it was far from perfect. I could import on my phone just fine, but in the other direction, I could only import one contact at a time from the main file to the computer contact list.

Well, you asked. *Wink I'm out of breath.

If I'm doing it wrong, please tell me a better way to manage it, I'd appreciate it.

 

Can't say you are doing it wrong, we each have our methods that work for us.

I agree with not having easy access to email from desktop so I login to my machine. If it sleeps it requires password. If I'm in a strange place, Crtl-Alt-Delete, then lock. I'm kind of using the idea that I lock the front door to my house but once I'm in my house I have access to all my stuff.

Interesting on phone and voice dialing. Each phone must be different. I will give my wife's android a try. At least on my phone I say call John Doe Work or John Doe Mobile and it calls that number.

By using web address book, gmail in your case, my address list is pushed to phone, tablet and Desktop. No importing required and if I want a special backup I can export a file. A change anywhere and they all sync up. (and they all have passwords)

Wish I had a contact manager suggestion. Lots of other members, lots of other ideas.

One thing I found in some cases where you want to paste a password and right clicking doesn't work, CRTL-V sometimes does.

Ken

 

The problem is that the phone contact list is the source for the voice prompt. If you ask to call someone, it will look for the phone number on the appropriate line in the contact. If there are multiple phone numbers and/or notes have been incorporated into that line in the contact file, where only a single phone number belongs, it cant dial the number.

In my case, when things sync, it creates duplicates on duplicates. For example, I created 10 separate contacts for a particular company, but after involuntary gmail syncing, I now have 16, and they are a mixed up mess. I went into one of them and the "Connected Via" category (where they were imported from) has 6 icons; 2 phone icons, and 4 gmail icons. I only have one phone and 2 gmail accounts, so hard to figure.

That was my problem. It doesn't allow CRTL-V, so I had to blindly try to enter a 20 character password. Thoughtless design. Little things like that make a big difference sometimes.

So for now the conversation changes, and I hope you will permit me.

I found a third party PC contact manager. So, right now, If someone could suggest an app that can export a .csv type phone list with all the details in each contact (it seems that some export with some information omitted, like notes), that would be appreciated

 

Contacts folder does exist in your User Folder. 15063 AU. I just added a bogus contact and exported it as a .cvs. Is this what you're looking for?

 

Hi f14tomcat,

As I mentioned in my OP

This is what it now looks like

Attachment 137903

Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (x64) Build 15063.332 (RS2) release 170317-1834.

Do you have the creators update?