The Outlook Express Contacts Pane Shows Only 999 Addresses

The Contacts pane (below the list of mailboxes) is a handy shortcut to oft-used email and MSN Messenger contacts in Outlook Express. If you inadvertently hide it, it is easy to get it back.

But if the Contacts pane shows but displays not a single address (or only the MSN Messenger contacts) while your Outlook Express address book is full of them, the big guessing game starts.

The Outlook Express Contacts Pane Shows Only 999 Addresses

After some looking, trying and being clueless, it turns out the full address book may itself hold the answer to the empty Contacts pane mystery:

Outlook Express will

• not show any address book contacts in the Contacts pane
• if its address book contains more than 999 entries.
  • MSN Messenger contacts may still show up.