Vista - Contacts versus e-mail addresses?

Need a little help understanding what Windows Mail is doing with my Contacts
File(s). When I create a new e-mail via "Create Mail> To:" I get a short
address list with several duplicates. When I go to Contacts via the
"Contacts" icon in Windows Mail I get the Contacts File I thought was the
one Win Mail was using but it has many more entries (a good thing) and does
not have any duplicates. I want Win Mail to use this Contacts File and get
rid of the "old/leftover/??" file it is using. The good Contacts File is
stored in C:>Users>Ken>Contacts. I don't know where Win Mail is gettting
the other file. At one time I had my wife and I both receiving mail to my
account. I have since set her up with a separate account. I don't know if
this caused the problem but it ain't good!

"Ken" <krlorenz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uEW17JudIHA.2448@xxxxxxThe short list Windows Mail uses when completing addresses is a list of
the last 29 addresses you sent messages to, stored as part of the registry
instead of as a file, and very hard to edit. It's easier just to just
messages
to the 29 addresses you want on the list.

If you'd rather use to contacts list, start a new message but don't type
any part of the address. Instead, click on Tools, then Select Recipients
in the new message window.

That does not make any sense to me. My wife's account shows 41 addresses in
the Windows Mail>To: and 41 addresses in the Users>Donna>Contacts folder.
When I add a new "To:" in Windows Mail it shows 42 addresses and
User>Donna>Contacts shows the same 42 addresses! In my account I show 116
addresses in the Windows Mail>To: and several hundred in the
Users>Ken>Contacts folder. When I add a new address in To: in Windows Mail
it also shows in the Users>Ken>Contacts folder. My wife's account is
relatively new and seems to work correctly. Something is messed up in my
Windows Mail setup which has been around for a lot longer. Help is still
needed!!

<robertmiles@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uqxxNuudIHA.4120@xxxxxx

Getting even more confused - I set up a new account "KenL" and copied the
"good" Contacts Users>Ken>Contacts folder to the new User under
Users>KenL>Contacts. I then set up Windows Mail and started a new Mail.
When I went to the To: in the new mail window I get the same old subset of
the Windows Contacts. It's like Vista has an old version of my Contacts and
as soon as I copy the current Contacts folder into the new Users area it
reverts to whatever! Is the Windows Contacts file corrupted? If so, is
there any way to get my Contact information exported so I don't have to
rebuild all that stuff. I know Windows Mail has Import/Export feature but
Window Mail has the wrong/outdated/old/corupted Contact information. Any
ideas on what the @#$% is going on?

"Ken" <krlorenz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uEW17JudIHA.2448@xxxxxx

I think I have answered my own questions! I deleted everything in the
Users>Ken>Contacts folder and tried to create a a new e-mail in Windows
Mail. The To: showed nothing present. I then copied the contact records
that I had saved to a temp location back into the Contacts folder and tried
to create a new e-mail in Windows Mail. The To: showed all the correct
entries! I then created a subfolder under the Contents folder and copied
additional records to the subfolder. Started Windows Mail and tried to
create a new e-mail and the To: showed all the entries in Contacts folder
and added the entries that were in the subfolder. So...everything is
working ok as long as you know that Windows Mail will just treat all the
entries as though there were no subfolders involved. On the other hand, the
Windows Contacts window shows the subfolders. As far as the Duplicates in
the To: in Windows Mail they are gone. Deleting everything in the Contacts
folder and starting Windows Mail must have caused the program to clean up
whatever caused the duplicate entries. Windows Mail works in mysterious
ways.

"Ken" <krlorenz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uEW17JudIHA.2448@xxxxxx