Sharing Contacts But Not Able to See New Additions 1

[jan526]

Hi All,

We are having a problem where one of our users has shared some of his Mailbox folders (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts) with Editor rights to his assistant. They both can add, delete and edit items, and can see them all just fine in his Calendar and Tasks, but his Contacts is another story. The problem is in adding new Contacts (deleting or editing a contact works OK). If he adds a new Contact she cannot see it (he can). If she adds a new contact, it appears for an instant then is gone, but he can see it. I have tried everything I can think of—using Owner rights, setting her up with Delegate rights—with no luck; she can’t see any of his ‘new’ Contacts.

I have tested this with other users and didn’t have a problem seeing new Contact additions. I don’t see any difference with this user except that he has way more Contacts (1,250) then anyone else, but I must be missing something. His Contacts folder does not have any subfolders, either.

I’m just stumped—does anyone have any ideas? I would really appreciate it!!

Thanks,
Jan

 

[joegz]

Any chance that the contacts are being marked as PRIVATE which would keep the delegates from seeing the information. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[zoeythecat]

How are the contacts being shared? Also, how are the shared clients connecting to his contacts? Are you using File==>open==>Other users folders? Or are you adding the person who is sharing the contacts to their mailbox by going into Tools==>Services==>Microsoft Exchange Server properties==>Advanced==>(under Mailboxes) Add the user who is sharing his/her contacts.

What version of Outlook are you using?

If you an answer the above questions I can give a guess what I think the problem may be.

 

[jan526]

No, the new Contacts aren't being marked as 'Private'. Any other ideas come to mind?

I have noticed that when the shared private folder is opened to check the permission status (File/Folder/Properties for Contacts), the information under the Summary tab does not reflect the current information. Do you know how that would happen?

Thanks.

 

[zoeythecat]

Jan,

I may have some ideas if you can answer the questions I listed.

"How are the contacts being shared? Also, how are the shared clients connecting to his contacts? Are you using File==>open==>Other users folders? Or are you adding the person who is sharing the contacts to their mailbox by going into Tools==>Services==>Microsoft Exchange Server properties==>Advanced==>(under Mailboxes) Add the user who is sharing his/her contacts.

What version of Outlook are you using?"

Just trying to figure out how the clients that you shared are connecting to the contacts. I have an idea on how this needs to be setup.

 

[jan526]

We have Outlook 97. The Contacts share was set up by adding a permission in the Contacts properties. The shared clients connect to the Contacts by File==>Open Special Folder==>Exchange Server Folder==>Name/Folder.

I do see the share name there when I look in the Tools==>Services==>Microsoft Exchange Server/Properties==>Advanced.

 

[zoeythecat]

Jan,

I think the problem may be the clients opening up the contacts via the fil==>open special folder==>Exchange Server Folder==>Name/Folder.

I have outlook2000 but I'm sure with outlook 97 it is similar. The way you need to have them access the contacts is by adding the person to their outlook email so the contacts appear in their outlook view. Just let me give an example (because I don't know your users names) of UserB, UserC and UserD having access to UserA contacts. Here is the process I would do to set this up (Again, I have outlook 2000 but is should be similar.)

(I'm sure you already did these steps, i'm just giving an example) (You have to set permissions in 2 places)
UserA - (1) Right click on the outlook today properties and
select Permissions and Add UsersB+C+D as Editor
(2)Right click on the Contacts, and select
properties and permissions. Add UsersB+C+D as
Editor
UserB+C+D (1) From their outlook client, go into
Tools==>Services==>Microsoft Exchange Server
properties==>Advanced
Add Mailbox UserA here.
* From UsersB+C+D, exit outlook and go back into it. You should now see UserA in the view. Click the + sign and you should be able to see UserA's contacts. And you can manipulate the contacts from here just like you could if you were opening up the folder. I think the method of opening up the folder if 2 people are doing this at the same time you could run into problems.

* This is the method I would use working with the contacts in question. The method of doing a File==>Open Special Folder==>Exchange Server Folder==>Name/Folder may be causing the problems.

Hope this helps and I didn't confuse the situation. Just wanted to give you another method you could try.

Good luck and please let me know how you make out either way.

 

[jan526]

I deleted the permissions I had set up and then re-established following your example. I added some new Contacts and at first it seemed like nothing was different (still weren't showing up), then it seemed to 'kick in' and everything I added started showing up. I noticed that a few of the other new Contacts that had been added previously had the 'Private' box checked (and did appear as soon as I unchecked it). The user says that he didn't add them that way, but at any rate, it's easy to fix.

Thank you very much for your help and ideas - I've wrestled with this problem for awhile and really needed to come up with a solution as the user involved is the General Manager.

Thanks again!!

 

[zoeythecat]

Happy to help Jan.

Cheers!