Content of Name Field in DL of Contact List in Public Folder

[nmorris510]

I've been searching for this issue elsewhere in the Discussion Groups without
success, so I'll broach it myself; I hope I do so clearly enough -- here goes
.. . .

I manage an Exchange 2003 SP1 server on a Windows 2003 Server SP1 and my
users all use OUTLOOK 2003 on Win XP Pro. I have a user who has created a
contact list containing a distribution list (DL) inside a public folder to
share with a small group of other users.

My user created the DL inside the Contacts folder in the Public Folder
successfully; however, she notices that in the main window of the DL, the
email address of each member appears in both the Name Field and the Email
field, rather than using the name of the contact, which is what is preferred.
I should point out that these entries pertain to contacts that are not
internal to the Exchange server GAL but are "outside" contacts.

The entries are taken from the Contacts Folder the DL lives in, which I
understand has some control over the DL list entry appearance. In each
contacts entry, the email address appears in the "Display as" field, which
appears to have been filled in automatically by OUTLOOK somehow, as the user
states she did NOT manually populate it in this manner. What I was
interested in finding out is why OUTLOOK chooses to replicate the email
address in the "Display as" field rather than the content of the "full Name"
field of the contact record. We've tried to manually alter the content of
the "Display as" field to reflect the content of the "full name" field, but
it doesn't seem to work -- OUTLOOK insists on using the email address there.
Can anyone explain to me why this is so, and if a workaround alteration
exists? Please advise.

nmorris510

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

The missing piece is what icon appears next to each of these entries in the DL. There are two ways to add a member to a DL. Only one involves any relationship with the original Outlook contact.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[nmorris510]

I got such a prompt reply -- thank you!!!

The icon that appears is the "index card" icon with a "picture" that
normally appears in a contacts list entry.

I have clarified some points of detail with the user to be sure I'm not
leaving out something relevant here, and sure enough, I almost did -- the DL
list was created using an import function from a .csv file generated from a
database and not simply from the contact folder it lives in, as I was
originally led to believe. Perhaps that affects how the records were built
in the folder. Might it be the only way to fix this is to edit the .csv file
and reimport it? I don't see why OUTLOOk won't simply let you edit the
record.

Hopefully you can clarify my understanding further, Sue; thanks so much for
replying!!

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook has no built-in feature for importing a distribution list from a ..csv file, so it's hard to imagine what might have been done.

In any case, what you describe are entries created from existing contact records. The purpose of the Display As field in those records is to set the name you want to be displayed. If all it has is the email address, that's all you'll see in the DL. If you want to see something else, update the Display Name in the contact, save the contact, then click Update in the DL.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[nmorris510]

Hello Again --

I went back to my user and went over the steps she took -- again -- and
discovered I was mistaken -- AGAIN -- ARGH!! The DL was indeed created
manually from a couple of contact lists that were created from the .csv file
import I referred to in my last message -- my apologies for the confusion.

Anyway, your information pointed us in the right direction, Sue; my user
went ahead and updated the Display As field for each of her contact records
with the contact's full name and then selected the UPDATE NOW button on the
DL's main window, and sure enough, the information now displays as desired.
We didn't see the UPDATE NOW button at first, which explains why the initial
edits didn't appear to "take".

--Sometimes, the more you stare at something, the LESS you see!! Oh, well!

Thanks again for the assist, Sue; much appreciated.