You're about to get more confused. Outlook does not even have an address
book. All your data is stored in the Contacts Folder in your Outlook data
file and nowhere else. All the address book does is present you with a view
of the electronic addresses that are contained in your Contacts Folder.
When you look in the dropdown list in the address book view, what you're
seeing is a list of the Contacts Folders it can show you. That list is only
a reference to the Folders, not the folders themselves. So you are not
removing any data, just a reference to a folder.
The Outlook Address Book is a deeply dumb and dysfunctional feature. It
hangs on to old and outdated reference to Contacts Folders, which can
accumulate over the years as you migrate to different installations or add
and remove folders. You can safely remove or re-add these references right
where I told you without ever touching your data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Charles" wrote in message
news:1xjGh.16107$u93.7441@attbi_s21...
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] wrote:

It is necessary for you to post your Outlook version for us to
provide an answer. For Outlook 2002 and 2003 just remove the invalid
reference he Tools E-mail accounts View or change existing
directories or address books Outlook Address Book Change. If you
remove the wrong one, just remove the other and add back the first.

Thanks for the reply. This is Outlook 2003. When you say to just add
back an address book I removed, where would I find it? I have to admit
I really don't understand how Outlook works. Are the addresses stored
i nthe same giant file as my mail messages? If so, I'm confused about
how I could just add and remove the address part.

It would be helpful if Outlook would give some tiny tidbit of
information about these address books, like what filename they are
associated with...

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