Exporting an AOL Address Book into Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express Best answer on the web
Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express? My friend must be able to import
the AOL Addresses into his Outlook or Outlook Express Contacts List,
without having to individually type them in. Can this be at all done,
since AOL is not a POP3 program? If it can be done, please provide a step-by-step procedure on how to do it.
Sadly, this may be beyond my ability to assist you with.
In researching the error message you reported, the only
post I found offers help which you will need to apply
on your end, and which I cannot oversee effectively.
I did a search in Google Groups for:
"translator to build a field map Outlook was unable to retrieve
the data"
The result is here:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.outlook.contacts/browse_frm/thread/a5d7d2345a8e39cf/2d255f9df2e38b24?q=%22initializing+a+translator+to+build+a+field+map+Outlook+was+unable+to+retrieve+the+data%22&rnum=1&hl=en#2d255f9df2e38b24
Karl Timmermans had this to say:
"Going on the basis that there is nothing wrong with your
translator files in Outlook then the quickest way to test
this would be to open it up in Excel and then either import
it as an Excel file or alternatively re-save it as a CSV
file and import that. If there's nothing wrong with the file
- it should open up correctly. Similarly you could try
importing the file into MS Access and see if MS Access
generates an error report of any kind during the import
process."
"If the error continues to occur ("A file error..........
to build a field map") - then there is something in the
first row of the file that is causing the issue (is the
first row a header record - i.e. first row contains the
field names?) or all the rows don't have the same number
of fields etc."
"We've never across any problems with Outlook's standard
import wizard using a properly structured file. What we
have run across are buried illegal characters that don't
show-up anywhere until the file is analyzed at the byte
level in hexidecimal format."
Karl's website has import software for Outlook:
http://www.contactgenie.com/
What this means, to me, is that, if the suggestions he
makes in the first paragraph don't resolve the problem
for you, the only recourse is to open the file in a hex
editor to find and remove the illegal characters that are
causing the problem. This strikes me as something which
is likely outside your field of experience.
If none of the above provides resolution, I would suggest
going back to other options amidst what I originally gave
you. For example, if you obtained the .csv file which is
not working by selecting all in the AOL address book and
saving it as an .html file, and then opening that file in
Excel and saving it as a .csv file, try saving it from
AOL as a .txt file, and converting that to .csv in Excel,
or try the sript converter at the URL I gave you:
http://www.aoleave.com/addbook.html
Or one of the other options from that page of links:
http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=20522
Keep in mind that what you're trying to end up with
in a .csv file is "comma separated values" which, if
you opened it as a .txt file, would look something
like a string of email addresses separated only by
commas, or even semi-colons:
addie1@aol.com,addie2@aol.com,addie3@aol.com and so on.
I hope that helps.
sublime1-ga
The simplest way may be to go through the motions of composing
an email and select everyone in your address book. Once they're
in your To field, you can Select All and save them to a text
file. Step-by-step instructions are given on this page from
TechSpot:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic2833.html
Once you've converted it to a .csv file in Excel, you can email
that as an attachment. Outlook Express and Outlook can both import
.csv files into their address books.
If you have Outlook or Outlook Express, yourself, with working
email addresses, you can use the shortcut suggested by the
post at the bottom of that page, and simply send an email to
yourself (or him, for that matter), CCing everyone on your list.
Then either you or he can select all the CC'd addresses and
Add to Address Book. If you want to combine this with an email
to everyone on your list, noting that you're giving their address
to your friend, this could work fairly well. If not, it could be
awkward. Maybe a blank email would be better.
Finally, there are scripts you can use to extract the addresses.
This page from the Online Traders Web Alliance board has a post
with a list of links resulting from a suggestion in an earlier
post, which is to simply search AOL for "AOL Export email address".
http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=20522
One of the first links resulting from that search is a Java
class file you can download and run on the .pfc file you can
export from your AOL address book, using the instructions on
this page on AOLeave.com:
http://www.aoleave.com/addbook.html
Once again, you'll have a .csv file you can attach to an email
and which your friend can import to either Outlook or OE.
I don't have AOL (anymore) so I can't guarantee the absolute
perfection I would usually prefer to be able to by testing
every step myself, but there is no reason to doubt that the
procedures I've referred you to should work, if you carefully
follow all the steps. If you run into trouble along the way,
just post a Clarification, and let me see if I can help.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga
Additional information may be found from further exploration
of the links provided above, as well as those resulting from
the Google searches outlined below.
Searches done, via Google:
importing OR exporting "aol address"
://www.google.com/search?q=importing+OR+exporting+%22aol+address%22
Okay, working from the instructions I assume you're using:
"From AOL Tool Bar:
Click: File
Save As
choose a directory/folder on your harddrive,
and choose a filename (i.e. AOL_AdrBk.HTML) with HTML
or TXT extension.
Then save it.
If you use the HTML extension, you can open an Excel
Spreadsheet with:
File Open AOL_AdrBk (Excel opens HTML as though it's an XLS file.)
From Excel, you can export to CSV format, or choose a format
depending on whichever Excel version you might have."
So, technically, you never have the file in .xls format.
You save it from AOL with an .html extension (you could
save it with a .txt extension, as well - Excel will open
either one, but the directions seem to suggest that the
html extension will produce better results). Then open
Excel and click on File -> Open, and go down to "Files
of Type" and scroll through to find "htm; html". Then
navigate to the file with the .html extension you saved
from AOL.
Once the file's open in Excel, choose File -> Save as
and scroll through the "Files of type" to CSV (*.csv).
Email that to your friend, and, from Outlook, they can
click on their Contacts folder and then click on File ->
Import and Export -> Import from Schedule+ or Other
Program or File -> Comma Separated Values (Windows), and
then navigate to the file you sent him. This should
save the contacts into his contacts list.
The process is similar with Outlook Express, but I won't
elaborate, as you specified Outlook.
Let me know if anything else isn't clear.
sublime1-ga
"A file error has occurred in the Comma Separated Values (Windows)while initializing a translator to build a field map Outlook was unable to retrieve the data from the file "C:Documents and SettingsThomasMy DocumentsAOL_AdrBk.csv". Verify that you have the correct file, that you have permission to open it, and thatit is not open in another program."
It is the correct file, I can open the folder, and it is not open in any other program. For your information I am using outlook 2003 and Windows XP Pro.
What's wrong? Please advise. Thanks Tom
I'm glad it worked out for you. Sometimes, since I don't have
every piece of software out there, all I can do is point you
to a site which offers resources that you have to try out on
your own. Thanks for letting us all know what worked for you.
sublime1-ga
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July 30th, 2010 edit