Prevent Certain Contacts From Displaying In Address Book View

[Crossword]

How can I prevent an Outlook 2007 Contact from appearing in the Address Book
view (i.e., the dialog box presented when "To", "Cc", etc, is selected). I
have certain contacts to whom I will never send email (e.g., deceased), but I
do not want to delete their Contact information (I realize I can remove their
email addresses to accomplish this, but that is part of the information I'd
like to keep). Thank you.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

I would use CATEGORIES for this and then build a FILTERED VIEW.

Follow the link below for information on Categories:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olcat.asp

On Microsoft is tutorial for Views: Create, change, or customize:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101209011033.aspx

I would create a category of HIDE or something like that, then assign
your chosen contacts with that category.

Then create a custom view that shows all but the HIDE category.

Nikki Peterson

 

[Crossword]

Hmmm. I was able to create a new Category easily enough, and I can modify the
view of the Contacts folder to suppress items in the "hide" category.
However, that's not exactly what I was attempting. I want to see ALL items
when viewing the Contacts folder, but do not want to see the "hide" category
items when I view the "Address Book" (i.e., the pop-up box that displays when
I click "To", etc). Can this be done (even if I have to do it
programmatically)? Thank you.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

Not that I am aware of. However, you may try asking in the
microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba

Nikki Peterson

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

What Nikki has so nicely demonstrated for you is a way to move away from the
address book view altogether and to start using categories, and filtered
views or customized views of your Contact Folders. She has an excellent
reason for doing so. All of Outlook's development has gone into making the
Contact Folders customizable and configurable to the users' needs. None
whatsoever has gone into the address book view--it is a legacy that has not
been improved for 12 years. I would suggest you follow her lead and look for
ways to use your Contacts Folders and categories, and wean yourself from the
address book view as soon as you can.

 

[Crossword]

Customizing the Contacts folder provides much flexibility and is pretty
straightforward, but unfortunately those modifications are not reflected in
the address book view. Though I am not particularly fond of the address book
view, as you indicated it is so heavily entrenched in Outlook that I don't
see any way around using it. Thanks, all, for your responses.

What Nikki has so nicely demonstrated for you is a way to move away from the
address book view altogether and to start using categories, and filtered
views or customized views of your Contact Folders. She has an excellent
reason for doing so. All of Outlook's development has gone into making the
Contact Folders customizable and configurable to the users' needs. None
whatsoever has gone into the address book view--it is a legacy that has not
been improved for 12 years. I would suggest you follow her lead and look for
ways to use your Contacts Folders and categories, and wean yourself from the
address book view as soon as you can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hmmm. I was able to create a new Category easily enough, and I can modify
the
view of the Contacts folder to suppress items in the "hide" category.
However, that's not exactly what I was attempting. I want to see ALL items
when viewing the Contacts folder, but do not want to see the "hide"
category
items when I view the "Address Book" (i.e., the pop-up box that displays
when
I click "To", etc). Can this be done (even if I have to do it
programmatically)? Thank you.

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

What do you mean that you don't see any way around using it? Explain your
common Contacts communications functions (eg email merging to clients with a
specific characteristic, sending only to people in my State etc) and we can
tell you how to do it using the Contacts Folders where you can filter, group
and sort your data.

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Trainer and Consultant www.pragmatix.com.au
My suggested settings for Outlook 2003 are FREE on my website.

..

Customizing the Contacts folder provides much flexibility and is pretty
straightforward, but unfortunately those modifications are not reflected
in
the address book view. Though I am not particularly fond of the address
book
view, as you indicated it is so heavily entrenched in Outlook that I don't
see any way around using it. Thanks, all, for your responses.

What Nikki has so nicely demonstrated for you is a way to move away from
the
address book view altogether and to start using categories, and filtered
views or customized views of your Contact Folders. She has an excellent
reason for doing so. All of Outlook's development has gone into making
the
Contact Folders customizable and configurable to the users' needs. None
whatsoever has gone into the address book view--it is a legacy that has
not
been improved for 12 years. I would suggest you follow her lead and look
for
ways to use your Contacts Folders and categories, and wean yourself from
the
address book view as soon as you can.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hmmm. I was able to create a new Category easily enough, and I can
modify
the
view of the Contacts folder to suppress items in the "hide" category.
However, that's not exactly what I was attempting. I want to see ALL
items
when viewing the Contacts folder, but do not want to see the "hide"
category
items when I view the "Address Book" (i.e., the pop-up box that
displays
when
I click "To", etc). Can this be done (even if I have to do it
programmatically)? Thank you.

:

Wow! Great advice. This sounds exactly like what I wanted. Thank you
for
your
prompt reply.

:

I would use CATEGORIES for this and then build a FILTERED VIEW.

Follow the link below for information on Categories:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olcat.asp

On Microsoft is tutorial for Views: Create, change, or customize:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101209011033.aspx

I would create a category of HIDE or something like that, then
assign
your chosen contacts with that category.

Then create a custom view that shows all but the HIDE category.

Nikki Peterson

How can I prevent an Outlook 2007 Contact from appearing in the
Address
Book
view (i.e., the dialog box presented when "To", "Cc", etc, is
selected). I
have certain contacts to whom I will never send email (e.g.,
deceased),
but I
do not want to delete their Contact information (I realize I can
remove
their
email addresses to accomplish this, but that is part of the
information
I'd
like to keep). Thank you.

 

[Crossword]

I apologize for not articulating my problem well. I think I got off track by
confusing the use of Contacts and Address Book (specifically, filtering
contacts and viewing the address book). I'm talking about the most
rudimentary email functions: send, reply, forward. When I click "To" ("Cc",
"Bcc", etc) an address book dialog box pops up with three columns: Name,
Display Name, and E-Mail Address (this is also the presentation when the
Address Book icon is clicked at various places in Outlook, such as assigning
tasks). In the presented list, a name, display name and email address is
displayed for every email address in the specified Contacts folder (i.e., if
a contact has no email address, it does not appear; if a contact has multiple
email addresses, it appears multiple times). There seems to be no obvious way
to filter these entries, even though they may be filtered by a customized
view when I look at the Contacts folder. As Nikki pointed out, filtering the
view of the Contacts folder can be done using categories, and that solution
works well. So I guess my original post has been addressed. However, now it
seems my question may be better stated as follows: is there a way to
customize/filter the "Address Book" view as it is presented in the address
book dialog box? Thank you.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

Again, as far as I know, no. You could make a separate Contact
folder for your "hidden" contacts and move them into it. But,
that would undo your desire to keep them all in one place.

The only other thing I could suggest is for you to place all their
information in the body of the contact. As an example, if I have a
contact for something like T-Mobile:
- I would remove the E-mail information in the field and copy
it into the body of the contact.

Now, when I bring up the Address book using the TO... in a
message, I will no longer be offered T-Mobile as a choice,
but I will still see it when I open my contacts folder.

Nikki Peterson

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

You are very attached to that window. If you could be bothered explaining
how you need to be able to communicate with various groups of people, we
could teach you about the power of using Contacts folders/view etc as they
do SO much more than that stupid little window.

Are you going to answer my questions so I can suggest alternative and
probably more effective methods or just pout about the window not working
the way you want?

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Trainer and Consultant www.pragmatix.com.au
My suggested settings for Outlook 2003 are FREE on my website.

..

 

[Crossword]

Come, now. In the overall scheme of things, this is only a minor annoyance. I
don't use Outlook for anything more than an email client, and respectfully
decline your offer to become a Contacts proselyte at this time. I do
appreciate your concern, though, and will try not to pout anymore. Thank you.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

Did you try my other solution of removing the e-mail information from
the email field and just placing it into the text of the contact?

I think this will accomplish what you wish.

Nikki

Come, now. In the overall scheme of things, this is only a minor
annoyance. I
don't use Outlook for anything more than an email client, and respectfully
decline your offer to become a Contacts proselyte at this time. I do
appreciate your concern, though, and will try not to pout anymore. Thank
you.

 

[Crossword]

Actually, I used your other method of a separate Contacts folder -- an
archive folder, if you will. That way I can still get to them via the
drop-down address book box in the -- dare I say it -- Address Book
window, but they don't clutter the list of names. Either way would work, and
I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

<giggle>

Nikki

Actually, I used your other method of a separate Contacts folder -- an
archive folder, if you will. That way I can still get to them via the
drop-down address book box in the -- dare I say it -- Address Book
window, but they don't clutter the list of names. Either way would work,
and
I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

 

[markymar]

Strange to find the exact same problem that I have been having bing actively
discussed here. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any solution other
than to juggle the contacts data base so that I don't have to wade through
all those useless entries in the "address book" after clicking the TO:
I imagined that at least there would be some way to mask or hide the entries
in the "address book" which uses the contacts data base. I even thought that
MS might have been kind enough to allow you to indicate if a contact was
"inactive" so that they would no longer appear in the "address book" when
sendint out an email.
At least I'm gratified to learn that there is someone else with the same
difficulties. The simplist solution would be to be able to tag those
contacts that I do not wish to see listed in the "address book" when I am
sending out my emails. But that's much to simple and practicle to be
available in Office 2007.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

 

[markymar]

Thanks, Russ,
The various views of the Contacts folder is wonderful and I use all of them
all of the time. But if I am going to reply to an email, or even to forward
a copy to another person, I can't understand how it is easier to use a view
of the contacts folder, since I am in the Mail folder and require only the
email address of the person I want to send the email to? This makes no sense
unless I'm missing something about the way to use the View of the Contacts
folder while composing and replying to me emails??? Can you explain?
In fact I had to go through all of my contacts (and there are way too many)
and remove any listings for FAX phones, because it automatically created a
double entry for each one in the address book making it cumbersome to go down
the list to find anyone. (And yes, I know I could just enter the first few
letters of a name and do a search, but that takes more time.)
Going from Office 2003 to 2007, I at least expected some improvements in the
way folks use the email and address book to quickly fill in an email address
or two. But nay, it is just the same which is not user friendly at all.
(And yes, I love the possible views of the contact folder! But that has very
little to do with trying to write a fast email and get the address to pop in
without having to scroll down a list of both active and in active contacts,
including their fax numbers.) I thought MS could do better than this.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

There has been no development of the address book view since the very first
version of Outlook. Microsoft expects us to use the various views of the
Contacts Folder to sort, filter or find Contacts.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Strange to find the exact same problem that I have been having bing
actively
discussed here. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any solution
other
than to juggle the contacts data base so that I don't have to wade through
all those useless entries in the "address book" after clicking the TO:
I imagined that at least there would be some way to mask or hide the
entries
in the "address book" which uses the contacts data base. I even thought
that
MS might have been kind enough to allow you to indicate if a contact was
"inactive" so that they would no longer appear in the "address book" when
sendint out an email.
At least I'm gratified to learn that there is someone else with the same
difficulties. The simplist solution would be to be able to tag those
contacts that I do not wish to see listed in the "address book" when I am
sending out my emails. But that's much to simple and practicle to be
available in Office 2007.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I agree. The Outlook Address Book has always been a hopelessly cumbersome
interface. I am told that the reason it never gets changes or improvements
is that the Microsoft's usage studies show few people use it (circular logic
if you ask me since few people use it because it not very useful).
For my own use, I've found that the new autocompletion feature has largely
obviated my need for the Outlook Address Book. You might want to try
utilizing it. It provides a highly filtered selection from among your last
1000 recipients.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, Russ,
The various views of the Contacts folder is wonderful and I use all of
them
all of the time. But if I am going to reply to an email, or even to
forward
a copy to another person, I can't understand how it is easier to use a
view
of the contacts folder, since I am in the Mail folder and require only the
email address of the person I want to send the email to? This makes no
sense
unless I'm missing something about the way to use the View of the Contacts
folder while composing and replying to me emails??? Can you explain?
In fact I had to go through all of my contacts (and there are way too
many)
and remove any listings for FAX phones, because it automatically created a
double entry for each one in the address book making it cumbersome to go
down
the list to find anyone. (And yes, I know I could just enter the first
few
letters of a name and do a search, but that takes more time.)
Going from Office 2003 to 2007, I at least expected some improvements in
the
way folks use the email and address book to quickly fill in an email
address
or two. But nay, it is just the same which is not user friendly at all.
(And yes, I love the possible views of the contact folder! But that has
very
little to do with trying to write a fast email and get the address to pop
in
without having to scroll down a list of both active and in active
contacts,
including their fax numbers.) I thought MS could do better than this.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

There has been no development of the address book view since the very
first
version of Outlook. Microsoft expects us to use the various views of the
Contacts Folder to sort, filter or find Contacts.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"(e-mail address removed)" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

Strange to find the exact same problem that I have been having bing
actively
discussed here. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any solution
other
than to juggle the contacts data base so that I don't have to wade
through
all those useless entries in the "address book" after clicking the TO:
I imagined that at least there would be some way to mask or hide the
entries
in the "address book" which uses the contacts data base. I even
thought
that
MS might have been kind enough to allow you to indicate if a contact
was
"inactive" so that they would no longer appear in the "address book"
when
sendint out an email.
At least I'm gratified to learn that there is someone else with the
same
difficulties. The simplist solution would be to be able to tag those
contacts that I do not wish to see listed in the "address book" when I
am
sending out my emails. But that's much to simple and practicle to be
available in Office 2007.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

:

<giggle>

Nikki

Actually, I used your other method of a separate Contacts folder --
an
archive folder, if you will. That way I can still get to them via
the
drop-down address book box in the -- dare I say it -- Address
Book
window, but they don't clutter the list of names. Either way would
work,
and
I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

:

Did you try my other solution of removing the e-mail information
from
the email field and just placing it into the text of the contact?

I think this will accomplish what you wish.

Nikki

Come, now. In the overall scheme of things, this is only a minor
annoyance. I
don't use Outlook for anything more than an email client, and
respectfully
decline your offer to become a Contacts proselyte at this time. I
do
appreciate your concern, though, and will try not to pout
anymore.
Thank
you.

:

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Even checking an 'inactive' field is juggling (and can be time consuming) -
the easiest method is to move them to a subfolder of contacts.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[markymar]

lThanks Russ,
The only problem with the "auto complete" which I DO use most of the time,
is when I want to send the same message to several folks that I would like to
pick out from my address book. And there are times, when there is a message
that I would like to forward to several others, outside of my usual lists
that are already created. For a one time creation of a list of email
recipiants, the address book is the only sensible option!
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

I agree. The Outlook Address Book has always been a hopelessly cumbersome
interface. I am told that the reason it never gets changes or improvements
is that the Microsoft's usage studies show few people use it (circular logic
if you ask me since few people use it because it not very useful).
For my own use, I've found that the new autocompletion feature has largely
obviated my need for the Outlook Address Book. You might want to try
utilizing it. It provides a highly filtered selection from among your last
1000 recipients.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, Russ,
The various views of the Contacts folder is wonderful and I use all of
them
all of the time. But if I am going to reply to an email, or even to
forward
a copy to another person, I can't understand how it is easier to use a
view
of the contacts folder, since I am in the Mail folder and require only the
email address of the person I want to send the email to? This makes no
sense
unless I'm missing something about the way to use the View of the Contacts
folder while composing and replying to me emails??? Can you explain?
In fact I had to go through all of my contacts (and there are way too
many)
and remove any listings for FAX phones, because it automatically created a
double entry for each one in the address book making it cumbersome to go
down
the list to find anyone. (And yes, I know I could just enter the first
few
letters of a name and do a search, but that takes more time.)
Going from Office 2003 to 2007, I at least expected some improvements in
the
way folks use the email and address book to quickly fill in an email
address
or two. But nay, it is just the same which is not user friendly at all.
(And yes, I love the possible views of the contact folder! But that has
very
little to do with trying to write a fast email and get the address to pop
in
without having to scroll down a list of both active and in active
contacts,
including their fax numbers.) I thought MS could do better than this.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

There has been no development of the address book view since the very
first
version of Outlook. Microsoft expects us to use the various views of the
Contacts Folder to sort, filter or find Contacts.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"(e-mail address removed)" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
Strange to find the exact same problem that I have been having bing
actively
discussed here. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any solution
other
than to juggle the contacts data base so that I don't have to wade
through
all those useless entries in the "address book" after clicking the TO:
I imagined that at least there would be some way to mask or hide the
entries
in the "address book" which uses the contacts data base. I even
thought
that
MS might have been kind enough to allow you to indicate if a contact
was
"inactive" so that they would no longer appear in the "address book"
when
sendint out an email.
At least I'm gratified to learn that there is someone else with the
same
difficulties. The simplist solution would be to be able to tag those
contacts that I do not wish to see listed in the "address book" when I
am
sending out my emails. But that's much to simple and practicle to be
available in Office 2007.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

:

<giggle>

Nikki

Actually, I used your other method of a separate Contacts folder --
an
archive folder, if you will. That way I can still get to them via
the
drop-down address book box in the -- dare I say it -- Address
Book
window, but they don't clutter the list of names. Either way would
work,
and
I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

:

Did you try my other solution of removing the e-mail information
from
the email field and just placing it into the text of the contact?

I think this will accomplish what you wish.

Nikki

Come, now. In the overall scheme of things, this is only a minor
annoyance. I
don't use Outlook for anything more than an email client, and
respectfully
decline your offer to become a Contacts proselyte at this time. I
do
appreciate your concern, though, and will try not to pout
anymore.
Thank
you.

:

 

[markymar]

Dear Diane,
I heartily agree with you and that is an excellent component to solving the
problem. Since I'm not absolutely confident in the methodology for copying,
removing and creating from one database of contacts; another one. perhaps you
would be kind enough to email me the instructions. Your kind assistance will
be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)

Even checking an 'inactive' field is juggling (and can be time consuming) -
the easiest method is to move them to a subfolder of contacts.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

Strange to find the exact same problem that I have been having bing
actively
discussed here. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any solution
other
than to juggle the contacts data base so that I don't have to wade through
all those useless entries in the "address book" after clicking the TO:
I imagined that at least there would be some way to mask or hide the
entries
in the "address book" which uses the contacts data base. I even thought
that
MS might have been kind enough to allow you to indicate if a contact was
"inactive" so that they would no longer appear in the "address book" when
sendint out an email.
At least I'm gratified to learn that there is someone else with the same
difficulties. The simplist solution would be to be able to tag those
contacts that I do not wish to see listed in the "address book" when I am
sending out my emails. But that's much to simple and practicle to be
available in Office 2007.
Marc Martin
(e-mail address removed)