Well - after 1 1/2 hours of playing around with this, I feel like a complete dummie. I have resolved myself to having nearly 3000 contacts to import to my Gmail contact list. But I can't get anywhere. I have my AOl address book imported into Yahoo. When I try to import into GMAIL (doesn't matter if I use the older or newer version), it asks where to import from - and I can't find the .csv files. I have no idea where they'd be. Whe I select browse, it takes me to my documents - and it's not there. If I try to browse someplace else, I can't find it. It also occurred to me that it may not be in .csv form yet - but when I try to export from one Yahoo account (to say, thunderbird or another yahoo account) - it suggests I can export as csv file - I click on ("Yahoo! CSV: export) - and then it brings up a screen that says: you have chosen to open yahoo_ab.csv file from http://address.yahoo.com. What should firefox do with this file? My choices are "save file" or "open with: browse". If I click "save file" - I don't think anything is happening. And I wouldn't know what to select if I used open with .... Going back to GMAIL import, I have tried entering various names that I've seen in Yahoo mail. Including "yahoo_ab.csv" - but again, nothing happens. I had a similar problem trying to import into thunderbird - I simply don't seem to be able to locate the files to do it. I'd rather go directliy from yahoo to gmail (without going through thunderbird - bc. from what I was reading, thunderbird does not maintain my address groups - and that is important to me. In fact, if I could only import my groups - that is most critical part). I'm sorry I can't be more articulate about where I'm getting hung up. I have truly never felt so in the dark dealing with computer things (even as untechy as I am, I've had a little more grasp than this). Thanks. Lynn.

thanks tumblenweed, it appears i can not do what i want. i saw the categories but frankly these are distribution lists ie more than 1 email address bundled into 1 generic name. so if you want to email 12 different people, grouping them into a distrib list makes it easy to send an email to them as you select just 1 recipient vs selecting all 12 individually. it would make no sense to put my commonly contacted email addresses into a distb list as then i'd be sending email to all them. it sure was nice to be able to put people into groups (folders) and then open that folder and select the address i wanted vs looking thru dozens of email addresses. i am surprised that yahoo hasn't figured this out. the only way around this is to put a prefix in front of email names that will then sort them and group them together. what a dopey way to get this but i may do it. thanks, tom

Ladies, if you save your email addys via an export feature in your mail program, you should also be able to import it again, in to another email program. I have done this, when I went from earthlink to gmail. in gmail is the export opting like this: Export Contacts Export your contacts so you can transfer them to other accounts or save them offline. Who do you want to export? All of my contacts - 755 Only contacts in What format would you like to export to? Google's CSV format (for importing into another Google account). Outlook's CSV format (for importing into Outlook or other applications). vCard format (for importing into Address Book or other applications). I have a folder in mozilla (as that is my browser) where I export all my addresses about once a month. I always overwrite the file that's already there, thus I have the latest and up to datetest (LOL) file for emergencies. In the import option on gmail I have this: Import Contacts We support importing contacts in the CSV file format (Comma Separated Values). For best results, please use a CSV file produced by Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo!, or Hotmail. For Apple Address Book, there is a useful utility called "A to G". Please select a file to upload Import Above all, know where you save your address book!!! otherwise, you can't import it in to a new mail program. Another tip: Use a "free mail program", like hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc. With this your mail is web based, and you can pull it up on ANY computer, and you don't have to change addresses when you get a new server. That's my reason to have gmail (main addy) yahoo mail for gardenweb and KT, yahoo mail for cycling... LOL, see where I am going? I have several email addresses, and I use them for different purposes. All are web based and free. Moni

Making a phone list was the first thing I ever used Excel for, about ten years ago or more. I quickly discovered instead of listing name first to list the ten digit phone number since that column will always be the same size. And it is easy to keep alphabetized since a new entry can be inserted anywhere. I've never re-typed the list once. Just add or delete to the original. I print copies and three hole punch to put into a folder by our phone. Shrunk another copy to half size for the glove compartment of my car. At some point I started using the tabs at the bottom of the page to make new pages for: medical, school #'s, stores & restaurants, car info (insurance & parts & mechanics) and at least 5 or 6 more catagories. It is probably the most useful thing (even though it is fairly simple) I've ever done on the computer. The other very successful Excel file I started ten years ago was for medical appointments. I made a few columns that I fill in each time I schedule and complete an appointment. When I get the Explanation of Benefits in the mail weeks later and wonder what THAT was for I can check my own notes, in laymans terms. I also cross reference if I had a copay or needed some kind of follow up. It has helped me at the end of the year when I've had to claim Flexible Spending Account money. I have a medical condition so it has also been helpful to track my meds. The most helpful book I ever read on organization discouraged the use of PDA's. One of the common negatives that people fed back to her was the inevitable loss of data through a dead battery or "accident". I would never trust my dayplanner, medical history or address book to a PDA. At least on Excel you can have a hard copy printed out. I also have a copy on a flash drive. And I'm not that computer saavy!