Office 2016 - Outlook??

[DD716TED]

I am starting to regret installing MS Office 2016 on my home shop computer.. seems like one problem after another.. I am trying to use OUTLOOK instead of Thunderbird for email.. I can set up accounts and receive email with no problem.. BUT.. when I try to copy my Thunderbird Contacts list (export) and (Import) it into Outlook 2016, nothing ever happens.. I have tried everything that I could find on the INET on how to do this but no luck.. Anyone else experienced anything like this?? I have exported and imported contact lists before with no trouble.. but not this time.. Maybe I should just stick with Thunderbird, however I am the kind of person that there is a feature installed (Outlook 2016), it should work.. Just looking for thoughts as I have already scoured the INET for procedures, none of which worked.. Stay Safe

[1492]

Outlook 2019 and Thunderbird (TB) work fine together with both running on my home Dell desktop. TB set as default client for personnel email accounts, and Outlook for work.

[RobWNY]

Gdetrailer wrote:

RobWNY wrote:
Why would you want to switch to Outlook which has been glitchy at best throughout the years. Lost emails, corrupt files, failure to open issues to name a few. Most people leave Outlook to use Thunderbird or use gmail or another web based email option. Very few switch to Outlook from another program. Just the problems you have at the moment should be enough to realize the program is problematic. You can use the other MS Office programs like Word, Excel etc. without having to use Outlook. That's what I've been doing for years.

Don't know WHAT "Outlook" you have been using that is "glitchy, loses emails, corrupts files, or fails to open..

I can say that I have NEVER experience once ANY such problems in over 22 yrs with any version of Outlook.. From Outlook Express up to Outlook 2013.. Corporate email servers and Pop/Imap every version of Outlook I have used for myself has been trouble free.

One of the only things I can say about Outook is it is not for every "user", it is more for "Power Users" that want more features and wizbang gadgets..

If you want a barebones dead straight no frills email client then go with Thunderbird.. After using Outlook for work purposes to me going to TB or any "web based" mail client is sort of going from a modern luxury car to a Chevy Chevette complete with no A/C and manual hand operated window cranks..

OP is also dealing with Office 2016, starting with Office 2013, you have no choice but to install Outlook and as such because everyone is stone scared to not have everything updated and patched 2016 and Win10 forces updates to your system which from the complaints I found resets Outlook 2016 as the "default" email client..

Can't uninstall Outlook 2016 either, you must uninstall ALL of Office 2016 products.

Since OP has it, it WILL be reset to default email client over and over anyways, may as well give it a try..

I'm glad you have never had any issues with any Outlook offering but don't assume because you have had good luck that it's the norm. If you think it's the biggest baddest email client good for you but don't knock Thunderbird or web based email programs. I've never been forced to install Outlook and I've had MS Office since their 2007 version. I now use Office 360. You just have to install each of the programs individually in earlier versions instead of the entire package.

[Bobbo]

I use Outlook, but keep my current Contacts list in my Google account. I keep them synchronized by occasionally exporting my Google Contacts and importing them into my Outlook Contacts (after deleting the Outlook contacts of course). I quickly learned that even though Google has an "Outlook CSV" format, it is NOT the same as my Outlook 2016 CSV format. I wrote an Excel macro that reads Google's version of "Outlook CSV" and converts it into Outlook's version of "Outlook CSV."

I bet you have the same problem, the output is incompatible with what Outlook needs. Even though both are CSV format, they have to have the same fields in the same order. An example, if TB has the contact as

"Jones","Sam","1234 Anywhere St"

and Outlook needs

"1234 Anywhere St","Sam","Jones"

you have a problem. And, if TB throws in a field that Outlook doesn't have, or deletes a field that Outlook has, you have a bigger problem. Outlook doesn't know what the data means, it is just importing string data into empty fields. It is up to you to be sure the data imported is what Outlook is looking for.

[magicbus]

Have you taken a look at the .csv contents? Maybe Thunderbird put in some blank leading columns and Outlook decided not to do the import. You should be able to view the .csv using a text editor like Notepad and the contents should make sense to you when you see them.

Dave

[Gdetrailer]

DD716TED wrote:
I am starting to regret installing MS Office 2016 on my home shop computer.. seems like one problem after another.. I am trying to use OUTLOOK instead of Thunderbird for email.. I can set up accounts and receive email with no problem.. BUT.. when I try to copy my Thunderbird Contacts list (export) and (Import) it into Outlook 2016, nothing ever happens.. I have tried everything that I could find on the INET on how to do this but no luck.. Anyone else experienced anything like this?? I have exported and imported contact lists before with no trouble.. but not this time.. Maybe I should just stick with Thunderbird, however I am the kind of person that there is a feature installed (Outlook 2016), it should work.. Just looking for thoughts as I have already scoured the INET for procedures, none of which worked.. Stay Safe

Did you try this one?

OUTLOOK TRANSFER

Looks like it should be straight forward IF your TB has the capability to export to "vCard" format..

Importing from CSV is not as straight forward..

Be aware, that there is two different versions of CSV (DOS and Windows), Not sure what version TB is using but Outlook should be able to import both versions.. You might be selecting the wrong CSV version in Outlook..

Barring that, I am including a search for importing from TB to Outlook that you might find helpful..

Search on how to import TB contacts to Outlook

[Gdetrailer]

RobWNY wrote:
Why would you want to switch to Outlook which has been glitchy at best throughout the years. Lost emails, corrupt files, failure to open issues to name a few. Most people leave Outlook to use Thunderbird or use gmail or another web based email option. Very few switch to Outlook from another program. Just the problems you have at the moment should be enough to realize the program is problematic. You can use the other MS Office programs like Word, Excel etc. without having to use Outlook. That's what I've been doing for years.

Don't know WHAT "Outlook" you have been using that is "glitchy, loses emails, corrupts files, or fails to open..

I can say that I have NEVER experience once ANY such problems in over 22 yrs with any version of Outlook.. From Outlook Express up to Outlook 2013.. Corporate email servers and Pop/Imap every version of Outlook I have used for myself has been trouble free.

One of the only things I can say about Outook is it is not for every "user", it is more for "Power Users" that want more features and wizbang gadgets..

If you want a barebones dead straight no frills email client then go with Thunderbird.. After using Outlook for work purposes to me going to TB or any "web based" mail client is sort of going from a modern luxury car to a Chevy Chevette complete with no A/C and manual hand operated window cranks..

OP is also dealing with Office 2016, starting with Office 2013, you have no choice but to install Outlook and as such because everyone is stone scared to not have everything updated and patched 2016 and Win10 forces updates to your system which from the complaints I found resets Outlook 2016 as the "default" email client..

Can't uninstall Outlook 2016 either, you must uninstall ALL of Office 2016 products.

Since OP has it, it WILL be reset to default email client over and over anyways, may as well give it a try..

[DD716TED]

RobWNY wrote:
Why would you want to switch to Outlook which has been glitchy at best throughout the years. Lost emails, corrupt files, failure to open issues to name a few. Most people leave Outlook to use Thunderbird or use gmail or another web based email option. Very few switch to Outlook from another program. Just the problems you have at the moment should be enough to realize the program is problematic. You can use the other MS Office programs like Word, Excel etc. without having to use Outlook. That's what I've been doing for years.

I am seriously thinking about staying with Thunderbird and ignoring Outlook 2016.. I just wanted to get it working.. A Challenge??

[DD716TED]

CarnationSailor wrote:
As the brother of another old Whiltsie sailor, let me ask, what is the format of the contacts file you are trying to import?

.csv

[RobWNY]

Why would you want to switch to Outlook which has been glitchy at best throughout the years. Lost emails, corrupt files, failure to open issues to name a few. Most people leave Outlook to use Thunderbird or use gmail or another web based email option. Very few switch to Outlook from another program. Just the problems you have at the moment should be enough to realize the program is problematic. You can use the other MS Office programs like Word, Excel etc. without having to use Outlook. That's what I've been doing for years.

[CarnationSailor]

As the brother of another old Whiltsie sailor, let me ask, what is the format of the contacts file you are trying to import?