On/Off For Fax Numbers As Valid E-Mail Recipients

[J Cope At Stratis]

I was looking for a way to show only e-mail addresses after clicking the
"To..." button, or after Alt-K presented its suggestions, instead of
including fax numbers as well. Searching this newsgroup came up with over 20
posts asking the same question.
While the Microsoft KB article and the resources suggested by Slipstick.com
are useful workarounds, it would seem like a good idea to build in a toggle
of some kind.
It would certainly save the MVPs here some work!

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[Brian Tillman]

I was looking for a way to show only e-mail addresses after clicking
the "To..." button, or after Alt-K presented its suggestions, instead
of including fax numbers as well. Searching this newsgroup came up
with over 20 posts asking the same question.

And that same search should have shown you the 20 answers that were included
in those threads. I'm surprised you didn't see many more that 20.

Fax numbers are valid electronic addresses. As such, Outlook will display
them. SO, to prevent Outlook from displaying them, either change them so
they're not recognizable as a phone number (for example by including the
letter "F" or the string "FAX" at the fron of the number) or by putting them
in some other non-phone text field that isn't being used. You can also
purchace a tool like:
http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/toolbox/hide_fax_numbers.html

 

[J Cope At Stratis]

And that same search should have shown you the 20 answers that were included
in those threads. I'm surprised you didn't see many more that 20.

Fax numbers are valid electronic addresses. As such, Outlook will display
them. SO, to prevent Outlook from displaying them, either change them so
they're not recognizable as a phone number (for example by including the
letter "F" or the string "FAX" at the fron of the number) or by putting them
in some other non-phone text field that isn't being used. You can also
purchace a tool like:
http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/toolbox/hide_fax_numbers.html

That search did show the 20 answers, which I referenced in the rest of my
suggestion:

"While the Microsoft KB article and the resources suggested by Slipstick.com
are useful workarounds, it would seem like a good idea to build in a toggle
of some kind."

Workarounds, while useful, are workarounds. And none of the workarounds
suggested are very intuitive (otherwise people wouldn't need to ask about
them so often). My suggestion was just that: a suggestion. It seems like if
there are an abundance of people asking how to do one thing in particular
that it would be helpful to make whatever it is easier and/or more intuitive.

 

[Brian Tillman]

"While the Microsoft KB article and the resources suggested by
Slipstick.com are useful workarounds, it would seem like a good idea
to build in a toggle of some kind."

Workarounds, while useful, are workarounds. And none of the
workarounds suggested are very intuitive (otherwise people wouldn't
need to ask about them so often). My suggestion was just that: a
suggestion. It seems like if there are an abundance of people asking
how to do one thing in particular that it would be helpful to make
whatever it is easier and/or more intuitive.

However, FAX numbers ARE electronic addresses and thus SHOULD be displayed.
Plus, there are several third-party tools that perform the function you
seek. I'd rather Microsoft spend its resources fixing problems than adding
functionality (and increasing the complexity of an already too-complex
application) already provided by other tools. But, as you say, it was a
suggestion and you're entitled to make it.

 

[J Cope At Stratis]

However, FAX numbers ARE electronic addresses and thus SHOULD be displayed.

I apologize for any confusion here. I agree that there should be an option
to display all electronic addresses, including fax numbers. My suggestion is
some kind of toggle, so that only e-mail addresses can be displayed if/when
the user so desires (which seems to be a fairly common occurrence).