Multiple/Duplicate Contacts

I There,

I need some urgent assistance with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 contacts.

Here's the issue:

Recently reformatted my pc and as soon as I installed Messenger and logged
on there were double contacts of all my current contacts. I deleted the
duplicate ones and then all of a sudden when one of my contacts messaged my
and Messenger said "The following contact is not part of your contact lists,
do you want to add it".

Very confusing as I only delted the duplicates and left one of each contact
in the list.

I ignored this for a while but now it seems when I log in at home I have 3
and sometimes up to 4 of the same contacts! I thought I was the only one but
when speaking to some friends in other countries as well as my wife I found
that they have been experiencing the same issues.

If anyone can assist I would really appreciate it. I don't want to loose my
contacts as some of them are very old!

Thanks
Jean Claude

Hello,

I don't know whether this is related to your problem, but when I first
installed Live Messenger 8, I had the filtering on "Show all contacts"
instead of "Show only Messenger contacts", so I saw all my Hotmail and Live
contacts. Then, I deleted the double-listed, although I didn't want to - I
thought they were in my contact list.

Greetings,
Paolo D.S.

"Sandman" wrote:

> I There,
>
> I need some urgent assistance with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 contacts.
>
> Here's the issue:
>
> Recently reformatted my pc and as soon as I installed Messenger and logged
> on there were double contacts of all my current contacts. I deleted the
> duplicate ones and then all of a sudden when one of my contacts messaged my
> and Messenger said "The following contact is not part of your contact lists,
> do you want to add it".
>
> Very confusing as I only delted the duplicates and left one of each contact
> in the list.
>
> I ignored this for a while but now it seems when I log in at home I have 3
> and sometimes up to 4 of the same contacts! I thought I was the only one but
> when speaking to some friends in other countries as well as my wife I found
> that they have been experiencing the same issues.
>
> If anyone can assist I would really appreciate it. I don't want to loose my
> contacts as some of them are very old!
>
> Thanks
> Jean Claude

Greetings Jean,

As already mentioned, the Messenger list contains all your Hotmail contacts but additionally,
you can have the same people in multiple groups.

In the group scenario, right-clicking, choosing Group options, then Remove contact from this
group would be suggested as oppose to deleting the contact.

It's easy to readd them, just click the 'Add to Contacts' link in the infobar that says
they're not on your list.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
--

"Sandman" <> wrote in message
news:E3D4E887-5261-46DA-A5BD-...
>I There,
>
> I need some urgent assistance with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 contacts.
>
> Here's the issue:
>
> Recently reformatted my pc and as soon as I installed Messenger and logged
> on there were double contacts of all my current contacts. I deleted the
> duplicate ones and then all of a sudden when one of my contacts messaged my
> and Messenger said "The following contact is not part of your contact lists,
> do you want to add it".
>
> Very confusing as I only delted the duplicates and left one of each contact
> in the list.
>
> I ignored this for a while but now it seems when I log in at home I have 3
> and sometimes up to 4 of the same contacts! I thought I was the only one but
> when speaking to some friends in other countries as well as my wife I found
> that they have been experiencing the same issues.
>
> If anyone can assist I would really appreciate it. I don't want to loose my
> contacts as some of them are very old!
>
> Thanks
> Jean Claude

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for the reply but this is not the same issue. I even have duplicate
groups! My messenger at work is fine now but the one at home is completely
out. I even have duplcate contacts in the list "Non-Instant messaging
contacts"

For example I'll have a group called friends, but now there are three groups
called friends, all with different contacts and duplicate contacts in them!


Thanks
Jean


"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings Jean,
>
> As already mentioned, the Messenger list contains all your Hotmail contacts but additionally,
> you can have the same people in multiple groups.
>
> In the group scenario, right-clicking, choosing Group options, then Remove contact from this
> group would be suggested as oppose to deleting the contact.
>
> It's easy to readd them, just click the 'Add to Contacts' link in the infobar that says
> they're not on your list.
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> Associate Expert
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
> --
>
> "Sandman" <> wrote in message
> news:E3D4E887-5261-46DA-A5BD-...
> >I There,
> >
> > I need some urgent assistance with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 contacts.
> >
> > Here's the issue:
> >
> > Recently reformatted my pc and as soon as I installed Messenger and logged
> > on there were double contacts of all my current contacts. I deleted the
> > duplicate ones and then all of a sudden when one of my contacts messaged my
> > and Messenger said "The following contact is not part of your contact lists,
> > do you want to add it".
> >
> > Very confusing as I only delted the duplicates and left one of each contact
> > in the list.
> >
> > I ignored this for a while but now it seems when I log in at home I have 3
> > and sometimes up to 4 of the same contacts! I thought I was the only one but
> > when speaking to some friends in other countries as well as my wife I found
> > that they have been experiencing the same issues.
> >
> > If anyone can assist I would really appreciate it. I don't want to loose my
> > contacts as some of them are very old!
> >
> > Thanks
> > Jean Claude
>
>

Hi Jean,

You're supposed to have duplicate contacts in the non-instant messaging contacts, so just
leave those for now.

However, what you're describing otherwise is a rare event, but I've heard of it before. Are
you sure you're using the latest version of Windows Live Messenger (8.1)? If you're unsure,
press Alt-H on the keyboard in any Messenger window and choose About Messenger.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
--




"Sandman" <> wrote in message
news:BA980496-A5A4-4BA7-BD80-...
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> Thanks for the reply but this is not the same issue. I even have duplicate
> groups! My messenger at work is fine now but the one at home is completely
> out. I even have duplcate contacts in the list "Non-Instant messaging
> contacts"
>
> For example I'll have a group called friends, but now there are three groups
> called friends, all with different contacts and duplicate contacts in them!
>
>
> Thanks
> Jean
>
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Greetings Jean,
>>
>> As already mentioned, the Messenger list contains all your Hotmail contacts but
>> additionally,
>> you can have the same people in multiple groups.
>>
>> In the group scenario, right-clicking, choosing Group options, then Remove contact from
>> this
>> group would be suggested as oppose to deleting the contact.
>>
>> It's easy to readd them, just click the 'Add to Contacts' link in the infobar that says
>> they're not on your list.
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Kay
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
>> Associate Expert
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
>> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
>> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
>> --
>>
>> "Sandman" <> wrote in message
>> news:E3D4E887-5261-46DA-A5BD-...
>> >I There,
>> >
>> > I need some urgent assistance with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 contacts.
>> >
>> > Here's the issue:
>> >
>> > Recently reformatted my pc and as soon as I installed Messenger and logged
>> > on there were double contacts of all my current contacts. I deleted the
>> > duplicate ones and then all of a sudden when one of my contacts messaged my
>> > and Messenger said "The following contact is not part of your contact lists,
>> > do you want to add it".
>> >
>> > Very confusing as I only delted the duplicates and left one of each contact
>> > in the list.
>> >
>> > I ignored this for a while but now it seems when I log in at home I have 3
>> > and sometimes up to 4 of the same contacts! I thought I was the only one but
>> > when speaking to some friends in other countries as well as my wife I found
>> > that they have been experiencing the same issues.
>> >
>> > If anyone can assist I would really appreciate it. I don't want to loose my
>> > contacts as some of them are very old!
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> > Jean Claude
>>
>>

I had Messenger duplicate all of my contacts. When I restored my computer, I also restored all of the Users data. What I did to fix my duplicates was to delete the C:\Users\<username>\Contacts\<Windows Live Email Address> folder. It is hidden so you will need to change the default settings to show them.
I also deleted C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Window s Live Contacts just for kicks.
When I reloaded Windows Live Messenger, my contacts were back to normal.