Critical Data Server Error 6097 or 6420 with the Outlook Add-in

When launching Outlook, or trying to link an email, you may receive one of the following errors: “6420 The discovery process for the Advantage Database Server failed.” OR “6097 Bad IP address specified in connection path or in ADS.INI file”. If so, follow the steps below:

Please verify that you are not receiving this error when also launching AbacusLaw by CARET. If you are, the below steps will NOT fix this issue! Follow the steps in this article first: Critical Data Server Error 6097 or 6420 on Launching AbacusLaw by CARET

1. Close Microsoft Outlook.
2. Copy the ads.ini located in the Abacus directory\vXX\Programs
   
   vXX indicates your installed version, either v22 or v23.
   
   
3. If your AbacusLaw by CARET version is v23.20 or later, paste ads.ini into the following directory: C:\ProgramData\Abacus\Abacus Outlook Addin.
4. The ProgramData folder is hidden by default. If you do not see it on your C drive, copy and paste the directory into your address bar directly, and you should be able to access it.
5. If your AbacusLaw by CARET version is 23.16 or earlier, paste ads.ini into the Microsoft Office directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX).
   
   
6. Re-open Microsoft Outlook.

If this didn't work, try copying the ads.ini file to C:\Windows\sysWOW64(C:\Windows\system32, if you are running a 32-bit edition of Windows). In some cases, the add-in cannot read the file from the directory specified above, but can do so from here.