How to Export your Communicator 2007 Contacts

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There have been lots of posts on this so I will not rehash all that.  However, I get the question quite often; “How can a user export/import their own contact list?”  Which if I think about it, seems perfectly logical to me.  In the past we offered several admin methods for doing this, they are covered here;

But we have really never had a good solution for end users.  The reason for this is two fold.  First the OCS server maintains your list of contacts server-side in a SQL database.  This is primarily to accomplish your contacts following you no matter where you login (anyone remember Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging?)  Second the backup and restoring of server data is typically considered to be an admin responsibility.  I am sure we don’t want a bunch of end users pumping huge lists of contacts into our database!

Anyway, that doesn’t seem to change the fact that many (many) users still want to make their own backup of their contact list.  I suppose in this day and age of (what I like to call) data irresponsibility I should applaud these people for wanting to do this.  :)

So here it is.  The only methods I am aware of (without the use of 3rd party) to export your own Communicator contact list.  Notice I didn’t say import?  Read on…

First Method (if you want to consider it a method)

  1. In Communicator, right click on any contact and select copy
  2. Open NOTEPAD, paste (you will get the address of the user)
  3. Rinse and repeat for all desired contacts to export

Although I use the term loosely, to import simply copy from NOTEPAD and paste into the search bar in Communicator.  Assuming the user is not on your contact list, you may now add them.

Second Method (this is not pretty but it is an “export”)

  1. Enable logging in Communicator (Tools, Options, General: ‘Turn on logging in Communicator’)
  2. Sign out and back in
  3. Open %USERPROFILE%\TRACING on the client
  4. Locate the most recent Communicator-uccapi-0.uccapilog log file
  5. Open this log file (NOTEPAD or SNOOPER)
  6. Search for containers xmlns (this is a list of all contacts you are subscribed to)
  7. NOTE: Search for subscribers xmlns, it comes next (this is a list of all contacts subscribed to you)

So there you have it.  Obviously, use at your own risk.  No support provided for either of these methods although they should be pretty harmless.  Only works for PC based MOC clients (no Mac, CWA or CoMo).  Your mileage may vary!  Enjoy!

/\/\arkBarr