Addressing e-mail in Outlook

[Rowan]

In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as" field,
which shows last name first?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order there

 

[Bob Eyster]

Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order there
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as" field,
which shows last name first?

Hi Russ,

I have this same issue but have been living with it. I followed your
direction above and when I do so I see outlook is using Windows Contacts.
When I which the address book to Outlook Contacts it tells me it is empty
and it is not. It has over 100 contacts in it. Outlook Contacts is my
default address book.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not possible. Outlook can never use Windows Contacts.
Make sure you have configured the Outlook Address Book Service correctly.
The Outlook Address Book should always appear empty. It simply hold the
Contacts Folder. To see the address book view of the folder, select the
folder.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order
there
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as" field,
which shows last name first?

Hi Russ,

I have this same issue but have been living with it. I followed your
direction above and when I do so I see outlook is using Windows Contacts.
When I which the address book to Outlook Contacts it tells me it is empty
and it is not. It has over 100 contacts in it. Outlook Contacts is my
default address book.

 

[Bob Eyster]

Not possible. Outlook can never use Windows Contacts.
Make sure you have configured the Outlook Address Book Service correctly.
The Outlook Address Book should always appear empty. It simply hold the
Contacts Folder. To see the address book view of the folder, select the
folder.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order
there
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as"
field,
which shows last name first?

Hi Russ,

I have this same issue but have been living with it. I followed your
direction above and when I do so I see outlook is using Windows Contacts.
When I which the address book to Outlook Contacts it tells me it is empty
and it is not. It has over 100 contacts in it. Outlook Contacts is my
default address book.

Well it is possible because it's there.

When I go to: "Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing
directories or

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Of course. It always has. Those are your Outlook Contacts.
Repeating: Outlook cannot show your Windows Contacts and never could.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Not possible. Outlook can never use Windows Contacts.
Make sure you have configured the Outlook Address Book Service correctly.
The Outlook Address Book should always appear empty. It simply hold the
Contacts Folder. To see the address book view of the folder, select the
folder.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order
there
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as"
field,
which shows last name first?


Hi Russ,

I have this same issue but have been living with it. I followed your
direction above and when I do so I see outlook is using Windows
Contacts. When I which the address book to Outlook Contacts it tells me
it is empty and it is not. It has over 100 contacts in it. Outlook
Contacts is my default address book.

Well it is possible because it's there.

When I go to: "Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing
directories or

 

[Bob Eyster]

Of course. It always has. Those are your Outlook Contacts.
Repeating: Outlook cannot show your Windows Contacts and never could.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Not possible. Outlook can never use Windows Contacts.
Make sure you have configured the Outlook Address Book Service
correctly. The Outlook Address Book should always appear empty. It
simply hold the Contacts Folder. To see the address book view of the
folder, select the folder.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Answered here daily.
Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or
address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… > Set your sort order
there
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
In Outlook 2003When I click "To:" to address a message, the list is
alphabetized with first name first.
How can I get Outlook to present my contact list by the "file as"
field,
which shows last name first?


Hi Russ,

I have this same issue but have been living with it. I followed your
direction above and when I do so I see outlook is using Windows
Contacts. When I which the address book to Outlook Contacts it tells me
it is empty and it is not. It has over 100 contacts in it. Outlook
Contacts is my default address book.

Well it is possible because it's there.

When I go to: "Go to Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing
directories or

address books > Outlook Address Book > Change… >" it lists 2 address
books, Contacts and Outlook Address Book

I guess this is one of those things you need to see to believe.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I guess this is one of those things you need to see to believe.

No, it's not. The "Contacts" that you see is not Windows Contacts, it's your
Contacts folder in Outlook. That's all you should see there. You shouldn't
see an entry called "Outlook Address Book" You should be in a dialogue whose
title is "Microsoft Outlook Address Book" with a pane labeled "Outlook Address
Books" containing just "Contacts" and below that pane, a button labeled
"Remove Address Book". Below that botton will be a :"Show names by" section
with two radio buttons. Below that section will be a button labeled "Close".
Are you saying you don't see that?

 

[Bob Eyster]

No, it's not. The "Contacts" that you see is not Windows Contacts, it's
your Contacts folder in Outlook. That's all you should see there. You
shouldn't see an entry called "Outlook Address Book" You should be in a
dialogue whose title is "Microsoft Outlook Address Book" with a pane
labeled "Outlook Address Books" containing just "Contacts" and below that
pane, a button labeled "Remove Address Book". Below that botton will be a
:"Show names by" section with two radio buttons. Below that section will
be a button labeled "Close". Are you saying you don't see that?

The Contacts that are used when I press the To: button IS NOT the Outlook
Address Book. It does not have the same entries as the Outlook Address Book
but DOES have the same as the Windows Contacts. You MVP's can say what you
want but I know what I'm looking at.

Is the Windows Contacts an MAPI type address book? If not then there is
another Contacts on my system I am not aware of.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It's easy to get confused when dealing with the "address book" in Outlook,
and you are. The following are all true statements to which there are no
exceptions:
1. There is no address book in Outlook. The address book view is simply a
view of the electronic addresses contained within the Contact Folder(s) in
your Outlook Profiles. It contains no data of its own and can display no
other data source. It can only display a Contacts Folder that you have
enabled for viewing by designating it as an electronic address book in its
properties.
2. How you display the address book view will determine what you see. If you
choose to display the "Outlook Address Book" from the dropdown, you will of
course see nothing except the statement that there are "no entries in the
address book." Instead, you must display the Contact Folder that contains
the entries you want to see.
3. The address book view cannot display the Windows Address Book or Vista's
Windows Contacts.

With that information, you should be able to figure out what is wrong with
your installation. Only you can do so. You've provided no information that
tell us what's wrong. Many users have a corrupt address book service because
they migrated their data incorrectly (by importing it for example). Many
have simply not configured their view correctly by not showing the correct
Contacts Folder. Some have corrupt Contact entries: only Contacts with valid
resolved electronic addresses will appear in the address book view. Start by
reviewing the documentation on how to configure the address book view
correctly and compare your setup to what it should be:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

The Contacts that are used when I press the To: button IS NOT the Outlook
Address Book. It does not have the same entries as the Outlook Address Book

Of course not the Outlook Address Book doesn't contain anything. It's a
service that shows you what's in your Contacts folders that are
address-book-enabled.

but DOES have the same as the Windows Contacts. You MVP's can say what you
want but I know what I'm looking at.

Apparently you don't know what you're looking at. Outlook cannot reference
the Windows Address Book.

Is the Windows Contacts an MAPI type address book?

No.

 

[Bob Eyster]

Of course not the Outlook Address Book doesn't contain anything. It's a
service that shows you what's in your Contacts folders that are
address-book-enabled.


Apparently you don't know what you're looking at. Outlook cannot
reference the Windows Address Book.


No.

OK guys,

First of all I know what I'm looking at. I supported MS apps for 8yrs before
retiring from the IT department for the City of Annapolis.

This discussion was started when I replied to this thread about having the
same problem with sorting, it was started by someone else.

When I followed Russ' direction to change the sort order, I noticed there
where two listing, one named "Contacts" and one named "Outlook Address
Book". I changed the sort in the one named "Contacts" from first name to
last name. when I viewed the sort order via Outlook 07 it had not changed,
it was still displaying by the first name. I relayed this info to Russ and
the rest is history.

I know what you are saying about the Contacts folder in the *.PST file.I
will say this for the last time the Contacts that is/was listed in the
Accounts Setting under Tools is not the same as the folder in the PST file.
From this point on and it may take some time, I will figure this out myself.

Russ, and Brian, thanks for all your help up to this point.

 

[Bob Eyster]

It's easy to get confused when dealing with the "address book" in Outlook,
and you are. The following are all true statements to which there are no
exceptions:
1. There is no address book in Outlook. The address book view is simply a
view of the electronic addresses contained within the Contact Folder(s) in
your Outlook Profiles. It contains no data of its own and can display no
other data source. It can only display a Contacts Folder that you have
enabled for viewing by designating it as an electronic address book in its
properties.
2. How you display the address book view will determine what you see. If
you choose to display the "Outlook Address Book" from the dropdown, you
will of course see nothing except the statement that there are "no entries
in the address book." Instead, you must display the Contact Folder that
contains the entries you want to see.
3. The address book view cannot display the Windows Address Book or
Vista's Windows Contacts.

With that information, you should be able to figure out what is wrong with
your installation. Only you can do so. You've provided no information that
tell us what's wrong. Many users have a corrupt address book service
because they migrated their data incorrectly (by importing it for
example). Many have simply not configured their view correctly by not
showing the correct Contacts Folder. Some have corrupt Contact entries:
only Contacts with valid resolved electronic addresses will appear in the
address book view. Start by reviewing the documentation on how to
configure the address book view correctly and compare your setup to what
it should be:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

The Contacts that are used when I press the To: button IS NOT the Outlook
Address Book. It does not have the same entries as the Outlook Address
Book but DOES have the same as the Windows Contacts. You MVP's can say
what you want but I know what I'm looking at.

Is the Windows Contacts an MAPI type address book? If not then there is
another Contacts on my system I am not aware of.

Russ & Brain, you are going to love what I'm about to say...

*I stand corrected.*

This is how I found what was happening. Before I learned how to use MS
Office, I use to use WordPerfect, WP has the ability to use Outlook
Contacts. I opened WP's address book, selected to use Outlook Contacts. When
contacts displayed, everything displayed except those with out a valid email
address or Fax number. I then went to Outlook to send an email, I clicked in
the To: button and all entries displayed except those with a valid email
address. To confirm this I went to outlook contacts and gave an entry
without a valid email address a valid address and it showed up when I
clicked on the To: button.