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Windows Contacts
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<h2 id="features">Features</h2> <ul><li>Windows Contacts was implemented as a <a href="/facts/Special_folder/Gwc3mfXh">special folder</a>. It is in the <a href="/facts/Start_Menu/ubDBJLDX">Start Menu</a> of Windows Vista and can be run in Windows 7 and Windows 10 by searching for 'Contacts' (or 'wab.exe') in the Start Menu. Contacts can be stored in folders and groups.</li> <li>It can import <a href="/facts/VCard/3VJG4uTD">vCard</a>, <a href="/facts/Comma-separated_values/dv1pSR1r">CSV</a>, <a href="/facts/Windows_Address_Book/w74ksmXm">WAB</a> and <a href="/facts/LDAP_Data_Interchange_Format/b9JvFb5X">LDIF</a> formats.</li> <li>It can export in vCard 2.1 and CSV formats. Users can right-click a contact to quickly convert it to vCard format and send it to anyone.</li> <li>It can print contacts in <i>Memo</i>, <i>Business Card</i>, and <i>Phone List</i> formats.</li> <li>Because contacts are stored in the Contacts folder simply as individual .contact files, they're just another data type in the operating system that can be indexed and searched by <a href="/facts/Windows_Search/qgxFjbsM">Windows Search</a>. Individual contacts can be quickly accessed from the Start menu search text box.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Outlook.com/I4sund79">People</a>, the contact manager for <a href="/facts/Outlook.com/I4sund79">Outlook.com</a> can store its information in the Windows Contacts folder if the option to encrypt it is unchecked in <a href="/facts/Windows_Live_Messenger/Fan8DcWu">Windows Live Messenger</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> Whenever contacts in Messenger are updated, they'll be updated in Windows Contacts as well. This feature however only works up to Windows Live Messenger 8.5. Windows Contacts synchronization is not supported in Windows Live Messenger 9.0.</li> <li>Windows Contacts exposes APIs for creating new contacts, reading and writing in an existing contact, adding a "Label" in the form of a <a href="/facts/Uniform_Resource_Identifier/UjyqxTpA">URI</a> to a "Property" or a "Property" to a "Contact", API for synchronizing devices with Windows Contacts.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="outlook-express-export-bug">Outlook Express Export Bug</h2> <p>There is a known problem when exporting the Windows Address Book (*.wab) files to another PC. If the user has contacts organized into folders, this folder structure will not be preserved when the WAB file is imported. All contacts will be preserved, however, leaving some with a considerable task of manually reconstructing the folders and moving addresses back into their rightful places. See: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249670">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249670</a> </p><p>A solution for Windows versions still using WAB files as their address book is to copy, not export/import, the WAB files to their correct location. This often preserves the folder structure. Unfortunately, in Windows Live Mail this does not work as WLM doesn't use WAB. </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Windows_Address_Book/w74ksmXm">Windows Address Book</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Outlook.com/I4sund79">People</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Microsoft_Office_Outlook/cMGCKGFJ">Microsoft Office Outlook</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol/KgpfD8nR">Lightweight Directory Access Protocol</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/File_Explorer/oQW5yNnJ">File Explorer</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735778.aspx#_wincontacts_xml">About Windows Contacts and the XML Format</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Making your Windows Live Contacts work with Windows Contacts <a href="http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2007/05/13/making-your-windows-live-contacts-work-with-windows-contacts.aspx" target="_blank">http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2007/05/13/making-your-windows-live-contacts-work-with-windows-contacts.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Windows Contacts Schema Overview <a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735869.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735869.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Programming Windows Contacts <a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735866.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms735866.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>