Vista - Why can I get to only one addressbook when I have three accounts?

I have three accounts setup on WLM and it works great, except for one thing.
It seems that the Address Book (Contacts) is connected only to one account,
the first one I setup. When composing a new email or replying to an email
from a different account the contacts are still pulled from the first
account's addressbook. This doesn't seem to make any sense.

Even if I set a different email account as the Default, the contacts are
still pulled only from the first account's address book.

How can I use the address book from all three acounts? If this isn't
possible yet, is there a plan for it in the future or is it "working as
designed"?

Thanks,
Matt

"Matt Penner" <MattPenner@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:25FF47C0-1DB5-454B-91CF-556A998297FB@xxxxxxYou could always try creating different "Groups" in Windows Contacts one for
each account. The "identities" paradigm went out when they decided it made
more sense to segregate the address books by XP/Vista user then have
individual users of the e-mail program. The thought being that the
differing accounts belong to one person and multiple address books would be
a nuisance. It's probably just more of a matter of convenience and what you
are used to. Personally I hated the "identities" paradigm in Outlook
Express.

--
Mark R. Cusumano
Skype Name: mark.cusumano
Web: http://The-Padded-Cell.spaces.live.com

I, as well, didn't care for the multiple Identities. I really enjoy the
ability to manage all three of my email accounts at the same time. However,
since each of the three accounts have a distinct set of contacts, it seem
like it would make sense to allow access to all three address books.

Matt

"Mark R. Cusumano" wrote:

WLM Contacts are not "per account". All accounts in the same instance
of WLM use the same address book (Contacts).

If you want different set of contacts for each mail account, you will have to
set up each account under its own Windows user login.

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]


"Matt Penner" <MattPenner@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:25FF47C0-1DB5-454B-91CF-556A998297FB@xxxxxx

Further to what Gary explained, when you are not signed in using the 'Windows Live sign-in' in WLMail, you can set up an off-line set of contacts, which, within the Message Store, are known as the 'Default' contacts set. However, when you sign in through 'Windows Live sign-in' in WLMail, the contacts that appear are your contacts for the Windows Live ID that you used to sign in with. Signing in with a different Windows Live ID then, will show a different set of contacts. These on-line contacts are filed under their respective Windows Live ID address within the Message Store.
--
Cheers,
Peter
(Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Live Mail 12.0.1606)
"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Shakespeare
---------------
"Gary VanderMolen" <gary@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:e49eTb6MIHA.5040@xxxxxx

Peter, if I may add..
These on-line contacts are filed within the Windows Live Mail Message Store
under the 'Contacts' subfolder by Windows Live ID.
Each ID contains two additional subfolders named Real and Shadow which hold
each actual *.contact file.


--
...winston
ms-mvp windows live mail


"Peter.R" <Peter.R@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#xxcEn9MIHA.280@xxxxxx

Great question. I struggled with the same problem today. Where are contacts
for my other accounts and why can't I use them.

Meredith

"Matt Penner" wrote:

Contacts are linked to the Live ID you are signed in with and have no
inherent connection with your default or any other mail account. These
contacts will synchronize with those in WLMessenger, and if the Live ID is a
Hotmail account (including other domains that use Hotmail like MSN, Live,
Office Live or Admin Center), they will synchronize with Hotmail as well. If
you don't sign in, then there's another set of contacts for that situation
which don't synchronize with anything. Signing-in or not has no bearing on
receiving or sending mail.

If you have set up a mail account to access, say, your Gmail, you'll have to
import your Gmail contacts into WLMail in order to be able to use them
there. Export them from Gmail as a .csv file first and then import that into
WLMail. Where WLMail stores them will depend on whether you're signed in at
the time of import, and with what Live ID.

If your various accounts have a lot of duplicate contacts, you may want to
try importing them while signed in with a Hotmail-type Live ID. When they're
all synchronized (which might take an hour or two), you could use Hotmail's
Clean-up facility to sort out the duplicates.

It could be beneficial for some people to have different sets of contacts
for different purposes. E.g. someone running an e-bay shop might want to
keep all the e-bay contacts completely separate. So, reserve a Live ID just
for e-bay, sign in with that and those contacts will be available. Finish
your business, then sign in with your regular Live ID and your regular
contacts will be there. Or just stop signing in (Options > Connection) and
use the Default contacts.
--
Noel
[PS Next time, please start your own thread rather than tacking a post on to
one started more than two months ago. And do consider using the newsgroup
client in WLMail for news postings.]

"Meredith" <Meredith@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18ED0A29-F268-4A18-920E-A8B0BB4B7302@xxxxxx