Personal Address Book

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What Does Personal Address Book Mean?

Personal Address Book (PAB) was a feature in Microsoft Outlook that allowed users to save their most frequently used contacts or addresses. It was removed from Outlook 2007 and later versions and replaced by Global Address List, Outlook Address Book, LDAP-based Internet directory services and third-party address books.

Techopedia Explains Personal Address Book

Personal Address Book was a component of the Personal Folder File in Microsoft Outlook. First introduced in 1996, it allowed users to save their most frequently used contacts. It used the file extension of “.pab”.

PAB was a security threat and was widely used for spreading spam. In 2004, a virus named “ILOVEYOU” spread on the Internet through emails via Outlook’s address book. This prompted Microsoft to replace Personal Address Book in later versions of Outlook, instead using several other tools in its place.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.