First, my computer conducted an "automatic update" last week with the result
I lost a complete folder of saved messages and my address book.

Luckily I backed up my address book (2173 entries) and only lost about 3
days worth of work.

Now for the "new" problems:

Before the update I had two address books. One was for personal contacts.
I created a "private" address book under the contacts. Problem is I cannot
create mail by selecting any of the entires in the private group. The
Private ground is a sub-group under the general Contacts heading.

Secondly, I cannot export my address book. Export under the file heading is
not highlighted.