Deleting localcache.db breaks address list

One of the common solutions to several Outlook Connector problems is to deleted your localcache.db, effectively resetting Outlook Connector and letting it start from scratch. This shouldn’t be required on a regular basis, but a database reset is sitll occasionally needed.

After doing so, when you compose a new message Outlook may indicate that “The Address list could not be displayed”

First off, a workaround to avoid the problem entirely: Rather then just deleting localcache.db, instead, create a new profile. To create a new profile:

1. Shut down Outlook.
2. Open Windows Task Manager (press CTRL-ALT-DEL, this will either start Task Manager, or give you a menu to start Task Manager)
3. Go to the “Processes” tab, make sure that Outlook.exe is not listed.  If it is, select it and press “End Task”
4. Open the control panel.
5. Open the Mail item.  (Note that on 64-bit systems, go into “View 32-bit control panel items” to find the “Mail” icon)
6. Select “Show Profiles”
7. Create a new profile, and set up Outlook Connector normally.
8. If desired, you can also remove the old profile from this dialog, but I’d suggest keeping it until the new profile is up and running

If you’d rather fix the problem without creating a new profile, follow these directions instead:

1. Start Outlook
2. Go to Tools -> Email Accounts -> “View or change existing directories or address books”, remove existing Outlook Address Book.
3. Shut down Outlook.  It wouldn’t hurt to check in Task Manager (Steps #2 and #3 in the previous list) to make sure Outlook bothered to shut down.
4. Start Outlook.
5. In Outlook under Tools -> Email Accounts -> “View or change existing directories or address books” add a new Outlook Address Book.
6. Shut down Outlook and restart.
7. Select the Contacts folder and wait for it to synchronize.
8. Right click on the local Contacts folder, choose Properties.
9. Go to the [Outlook Address Book] tab, then tick option to ‘Show this folder as an e-mail address book’, then click “OK”
10. You can optionally add other Contacts folders to the addressbook, allowing these other folders to be used more easily when creating a new message.  Repeat steps #7 through #9 for each additional folder.

Also let me mention that this particular problem isn’t limited to Outlook Connector, it can happen with a PST too if the PST becomes corrupt and you either delete it and recreate it, change the default PST, or if ScanPST recreates your Contacts folder.

Deleting localcache.db breaks address list by Dave Warren (everything-mdaemon.com) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.