Vista - How do I sync WLmail contacts with two live IDs

When I first started using wlmail, I signed in with one live ID as a test and
it synced my contacts immediately. (This ID is from a different provider and
does not even have a hotmail account).
When I signed in wlmail with my second live id (live.com which has hotmail),
I expected it to sync immediately without any interaction from me. But this
does not happen. So my contacts (as an expected consequence) do not show
anything.
What can I do to have wlmail sync with any live id with which i sign in.
Thanks all.

WLMail will only synchronize contacts with a Hotmail-type account
(i.e. any account like @live.com that uses Hotmail webmail). The
contacts you saw when you were signed in with a non-Hotmail Live ID
came from somewhere else, like Outlook Express. Wherever they came
from, you can import them again when you are signed in with your
live.com Live ID by going to File > Import in the Contacts window.
They will then synchronize with your Hotmail webmail contacts, which
means that any changes you make in WLMail will also take place in
Hotmail and vice versa (and in Windows Live Messenger, if you have
that installed). So, you have independent sets of contacts for each
Live ID.
--
Noel

"Visage" <Visage@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9EB719BD-CEF6-476D-9299-318353D24475@xxxxxx

Thanks for your response.
But I am pretty certain that the contacts came from wlmail into the
non-hotmail type live Id. This happened the first time I signed in with this
Id into wlmail. This does just not happen for the "real" hotmail-type ID.
Is there no way to have both live id's contacts syncing with my wlmail
contacts each time i sign in with any of them?

"Ildhund" wrote:

If I sign in with a new non-Hotmail Live ID and then open a Contacts
window, I get the message that 'the ... account has no contacts. Add
a contact or sign in' with a Hotmail-type Live ID to see those
contacts [see screenshot]. I'm not quite sure what you mean when you
say 'the contacts came from wlmail into the non-hotmail type live
Id' - where do you see them? In WLMail, WLMessenger or at a webmail
site? And what is it that 'does just not happen'? What do you expect
to happen?

If you re-read my earlier post, you may get a better understanding
of how contacts work in WLMail. It would help to know whether you
had any other mail client set up with contacts on the machine where
you installed WLMail, and whether messages, accounts and contacts
migrated to WLMail when you installed it. This would happen with
Outlook Express, for example.
--
Noel

"Visage" <Visage@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:14C17F10-BB4F-41CC-A0D8-BDF224AF262C@xxxxxx

Thanks again for helping out.
I see the contacts for the non-hotmail id in other Live services. That means
wlmail and messenger.
By "does not just happen", I mean when I sign in to wlmail with another
'full' live ID, the wlmail contacts do not also just sync automatically with
the ID. A bit odd.

So please let me just restate my question:

1. Must I sign out, export my contacts from wlmail in offline mode, and then
sign back in with the live Id and then import them to be able to have my
contacts in syncing with the cloud?

2. Must I do this (1 above) for every live ID I have to keep them all in
sync? Since it seems wlmail keeps the Ids separate for each.

I just thought it should work automatically with my hotmail live Ids,
that's all.

Thanks again.



"Ildhund" wrote:

OK.
Windows Live Contacts (to give them their full name) are common to
WLMail, Hotmail and Messenger, and stay in sync all three places if
you sign in. They will also be available within other Live services,
like Spaces and SkyDrive. You will have one set of contacts for each
Hotmail-type Live ID.
Other contacts are either those associated with a non-Hotmail Live
ID, or not associated with any Live ID (the Default set).
If you use Messenger with a non-Hotmail Live ID, then the contacts
you see there will normally mirror those you see in WLMail when you
sign in with that Live ID. This happens locally.
If you Stop signing in (at [Tools >] Options > Connection), you will
see only that set of contacts known as Default. These don't appear
anywhere else, and will contain only those contacts you enter
manually or import while you're not signed in.
There is no way of synchronizing these various sets of contacts with
each other.

To answer your questions, then:
1. If you want the same contacts to be displayed irrespective of the
Live ID you sign in with, you will have to sign in with the Live ID
holding the contacts, export them as CSV, sign out and back in with
the other Live ID and import them again. Any changes you may
subsequently make will have to be made in both sets.
Note that this has nothing to do with being on- or offline; if you
are online when you sign in with a Hotmail Live ID, then that
account's contacts will synchronize with the ones on the web.

I think this answers question 2 as well.

Note that you could be signed in to WLMail with one ID, Messenger
with another, Hotmail with a third and, say, Spaces with a fourth. I
find it acerbates my schizophrenia if I do, though.

Unless you need to maintain separate lists of contacts (like I do,
with one for Family, another for Work and a third for
extracurricular activities...), you might just as well always sign
in with your live.com ID, once you've imported your contacts into
it. That way, you only have one set to bother about. The ID you sign
in with has no bearing on sending or receiving mail.

Clearer now?
--
Noel

"Visage" <Visage@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:E7F092FA-5236-4630-A572-ACECA5239052@xxxxxx

Crystal clear.
Thank you!

"Ildhund" wrote:

To add one final point..
Since any changes made to a Contact in one Live ID do not sync with contacts in the other Live ID, thus if you wish to 'maintain'
an equivalent list in both, you'll have to manually add/edit or repeat the earlier recommended process.

--
...winston
ms-mvp mail


"Visage" <Visage@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:61D19ED2-0227-4CD6-86A9-1192AC880F78@xxxxxx

Is "There is no way of synchronizing these various sets of contacts
with each other" and "Any changes you may subsequently make will
have to be made in both sets" not quite so crystal clear as the
rest? <g>
--
Noel

"...winston" <winstonmvp@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5B652B9B-AC45-41F9-A0CE-DB8ABEB778C6@xxxxxx

It was..
'Echo' would have been a better choice of words than 'add'

--
...winston
ms-mvp mail


"Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:eLiy45O1IHA.4164@xxxxxx