Please note that personal address book (PAB) was deprecated, beginning with Outlook 2002, and their use is not supported in Outlook 2010. We highly recommend that anyone who still uses a PAB should import the contents into their Contacts folder.

While you can't use the PAB in Outlook 2010, you can import the PAB into Outlook 2010 using the File, Open, Import menu.

Also note that the PAB is a separate file that displays as an address list in Outlook, it is not the Outlook Address Book.

Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 (CW) | Outlook 2000 (and up) | More Information

Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 (CW)

Here's a somewhat tedious method for moving a distribution list from a Personal Address Book to the Contacts folder in Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 in Corporate/Workgroup mode:

1. Make a copy of the .pab file.
2. Create a new profile using a fresh, empty Personal Folders file and the copy of the PAB. You don't need any transports.
3. Open the Address Book to view the PAB.
4. Delete everything in the PAB except the distribution list.
5. Use File | Import and Export to import the PAB into the Contacts folder. Each DL member should appear as a separate contact entry.
6. Select all entries in the Contacts folder and assign a category to them.
7. Use File | Open Special Folder to open the Contacts folder from your mailbox or main Personal Folders file, then move the contacts from the distribution list to it.

Giving each entry from a single DL the same category allows you to later filter or group by that category to create distribution lists on the fly.

Outlook 2000

Beginning with Outlook 2000, Outlook supports distribution lists in any Contacts folder. When you import your Personal Address Book, a DL in Contacts is automatically created for each DL in the PAB.