Address book listing

[Timothy Mathews]

Still learning both the Mac and Entourage and as I've started organizing my
address book I can't seem to make sense of how the people and/or businesses
are listed. In my address book, for example, the listing "US Consulate" is
listed first and if I click "name" again, US Consulate moves to the bottom.
Since "US" wouldn't be the last listing if it's indexing and organizing
alphabetically assuming that's the first name, nor would "Consulate" be the
first alphabetically if it's being considered the last name.

So, my question is, how does the system organize the list of people and
businesses in my address book and can I control it to either index on the
first or last name?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Ed Kimball]

Still learning both the Mac and Entourage and as I've started organizing my
address book I can't seem to make sense of how the people and/or businesses
are listed. In my address book, for example, the listing "US Consulate" is
listed first and if I click "name" again, US Consulate moves to the bottom.
Since "US" wouldn't be the last listing if it's indexing and organizing
alphabetically assuming that's the first name, nor would "Consulate" be the
first alphabetically if it's being considered the last name.

So, my question is, how does the system organize the list of people and
businesses in my address book and can I control it to either index on the
first or last name?

Thanks,
Tim

I would first check to see if you accidentally entered a space before either
US or Consulate.

 

[Timothy Mathews]

I would first check to see if you accidentally entered a space before either
US or Consulate.

I just used that as an example there will be several consecutive listing
which appear to be alphabetized on the second name in the entry while others
appear quite random.

 

[Diane Ross]

Still learning both the Mac and Entourage

Cheers and Welcome to Mac! I have a few tips and links posted to help new
users here:

and as I've started organizing my
address book I can't seem to make sense of how the people and/or businesses
are listed.

In the Entourage Address Book, there are many ways to view your contacts. I
see you have Entourage 2008. Starting with 08, Entourage has the ability to
show First Name and Last Name. After adding these columns you might want to
deselect the "Name" column. See

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/ng_views/column_view.html>

You can sort by each column header to sort by that column type. You can
select under the popup to sort by Name, company, category, project. You can
use the new search box in the top right to find info based on several
criteria.

The Nickname field is only useful for you. It's never seen but is an easy
way to quickly bring up certain addresses and it helps when you have a lot
of people with the same first name. For example, you have a lot of Bobs in
your Address Book. You could use nicknames like listbob, workbob, friendbob,
fatbob, skinnybob, dufus, knucklehead...no one can see it but you.

I highly suggest you assign a category to every contact in your Address
Book. A contact can have multiple categories. Tip, to make your list more
manageable, set some of your categories with a root name then add sub names
like this:

Work, Work:Engineering, Work: Financial, Work: Travel

For groups do the same. Be sure to add all group members to the Address
Book. Entourage does not export groups and you can lose your groups if they
aren't in the Address Book.

Group: Soccer, Group: Christmas Cards, Group: Book Club, Group: Project XX

* When your category list gets long this makes it easy to sort by group and
to find the correct category to assign.
* When dups happen, they usually have "none" assigned so you can sort by
"none" and delete those.
* Using a category rather than an email address makes rules easier to set
up and keep updated. No more having to add new addresses for that contact.

In my address book, for example, the listing "US Consulate" is
listed first and if I click "name" again,

Are you referring to the Name column in the Address Book?

US Consulate moves to the bottom.
Since "US" wouldn't be the last listing if it's indexing and organizing
alphabetically assuming that's the first name, nor would "Consulate" be the
first alphabetically if it's being considered the last name.

Can you post a screenshot to show what you are seeing?

When you enter the name US Consulate, was the Name entered in the First Name
or Last Name column?

You can post a screenshot link using a service like ImageShack. ImageShack
is an easy-to-use free media hosting service. It can be used to upload
images. Registration is not required in order to upload files.

ImageShack® - Image Hosting <http://imageshack.us/>

How To Post Screen Shots To Newsgroups

1. On your keyboard, press Command-Shift-4.
2. On your keyboard, press the space bar.
3. Click the window you want. A picture file will appear on the desktop.
4. Go to http://imageshack.us/.
5. Click Browse, then navigate to and select the picture file.
6. Click "host it!".
7. Paste the "Show image to friends" URL in a newsgroup message.

 

[Timothy Mathews]

Cheers and Welcome to Mac! I have a few tips and links posted to help new
users here:



In the Entourage Address Book, there are many ways to view your contacts. I
see you have Entourage 2008. Starting with 08, Entourage has the ability to
show First Name and Last Name. After adding these columns you might want to
deselect the "Name" column. See

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/ng_views/column_view.html>

You can sort by each column header to sort by that column type. You can
select under the popup to sort by Name, company, category, project. You can
use the new search box in the top right to find info based on several
criteria.

The Nickname field is only useful for you. It's never seen but is an easy
way to quickly bring up certain addresses and it helps when you have a lot
of people with the same first name. For example, you have a lot of Bobs in
your Address Book. You could use nicknames like listbob, workbob, friendbob,
fatbob, skinnybob, dufus, knucklehead...no one can see it but you.

I highly suggest you assign a category to every contact in your Address
Book. A contact can have multiple categories. Tip, to make your list more
manageable, set some of your categories with a root name then add sub names
like this:

Work, Work:Engineering, Work: Financial, Work: Travel

For groups do the same. Be sure to add all group members to the Address
Book. Entourage does not export groups and you can lose your groups if they
aren't in the Address Book.

Group: Soccer, Group: Christmas Cards, Group: Book Club, Group: Project XX

* When your category list gets long this makes it easy to sort by group and
to find the correct category to assign.
* When dups happen, they usually have "none" assigned so you can sort by
"none" and delete those.
* Using a category rather than an email address makes rules easier to set
up and keep updated. No more having to add new addresses for that contact.


Are you referring to the Name column in the Address Book?


Can you post a screenshot to show what you are seeing?

When you enter the name US Consulate, was the Name entered in the First Name
or Last Name column?

You can post a screenshot link using a service like ImageShack. ImageShack
is an easy-to-use free media hosting service. It can be used to upload
images. Registration is not required in order to upload files.

ImageShack® - Image Hosting <http://imageshack.us/>

How To Post Screen Shots To Newsgroups

1. On your keyboard, press Command-Shift-4.
2. On your keyboard, press the space bar.
3. Click the window you want. A picture file will appear on the desktop.
4. Go to http://imageshack.us/.
5. Click Browse, then navigate to and select the picture file.
6. Click "host it!".
7. Paste the "Show image to friends" URL in a newsgroup message.

OK, hopefully I've done it correctly. Since my original post, I've put all
of my contacts into catagories and the shot I've sent is of the screen
showing all contact with my having clicked on "Name" so that they should be
alphabetically listed by name. As you can see, they're not.


http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2615/picture1kxw.png

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Diane Ross]

OK, hopefully I've done it correctly. Since my original post, I've put all
of my contacts into catagories and the shot I've sent is of the screen
showing all contact with my having clicked on "Name" so that they should be
alphabetically listed by name. As you can see, they're not.

Prior to Entourage 2008, you only had the Name column. The Address Book
displays the names as FirstName LastName, but they are sorted in
alphabetical order by LAST name, not first name.

If you add the First Name and Last Name columns as previously mentioned, do
they now sort correctly by last name?

If not, then can you post a screenshot showing the US Consulate where it
shows first name and last name. This is under the Name and Email tab.

There is confusion when you enter a contact with no name. you'll find those
will sort to the top over contacts with real first names and last names.

 

[Timothy Mathews]

Prior to Entourage 2008, you only had the Name column. The Address Book
displays the names as FirstName LastName, but they are sorted in
alphabetical order by LAST name, not first name.

If you add the First Name and Last Name columns as previously mentioned, do
they now sort correctly by last name?

If not, then can you post a screenshot showing the US Consulate where it
shows first name and last name. This is under the Name and Email tab.

There is confusion when you enter a contact with no name. you'll find those
will sort to the top over contacts with real first names and last names.

Ahah...now I've got it. I did the screenshot send before I took a look at
adding/deleting columns. Simply adding the first and last names took care
of the problem. Thanks so much for the help. I guess I just need to work
around and try things...I have to remember that if I do make a mistake, I've
got the backup "Time machine" so I can easily fix/restore things.

 

[Diane Ross]

I have to remember that if I do make a mistake, I've
got the backup "Time machine" so I can easily fix/restore things.

It's advised by the developers not to let Time Machine backup your Entourage
database. If the database is copied while being used, the backup could be
corrupt. You can set the Time Machine to exclude the Microsoft User Data
folder and create an iCal event to copy it over at night while not in use so
you get one backup daily in Time Machine.

Alternative method to use Entourage and Time Machine (does a once a day or
whatever time period you select)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/alternative_method_to_use_entourage_
and_time_machine.html>

To learn about how to backup including different options see:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/articles/backup_articles.html>