Strip fax field of "fx" and "fa" in 2003

[rbeckert]

I have 1500 contacts and over the years have used "fx" or "fa" to disguise
the fax field as an electronic address. I now have a fax program that uses
Outlook's fax numbers and it recognizes the disguising characters.

How can I strip my fax number entries in Outlook of the "fa" and "fx"?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

The tools that are used to mask the fax numbers may be able to remove the
prefixes.
See http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/nofax.asp for a list.

Otherwise, use a custom view with just the needed fields visible and in cell
editing enabled or export to excel, use search and replace then import.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



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[rbeckert]

Thanks Diane. I've seen those and I also tried to export my contacts to
Excel, strip the characters and then import as a .csv file but the fax field
was blank. Do you know why that is?

I don't understand your statement "use a custom view with just the needed
fields visible and in cell editing enabled".

The tools that are used to mask the fax numbers may be able to remove the
prefixes.
See http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/nofax.asp for a list.

Otherwise, use a custom view with just the needed fields visible and in cell
editing enabled or export to excel, use search and replace then import.


--
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.

I have 1500 contacts and over the years have used "fx" or "fa" to disguise
the fax field as an electronic address. I now have a fax program that uses
Outlook's fax numbers and it recognizes the disguising characters.

How can I strip my fax number entries in Outlook of the "fa" and "fx"?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Are you using the Default field mapping or a custom map? (its an option on
the last export screen) Default mapping should include all fields, custom
mapping may not.

Rather than open each contact to edit them, you can enable in-cell editing
and edit most fields without opening the contact form. If you see a row at
the top of the view that says "click here to add a new... " then in-cell
editing is enabled. If you can click in a cell and see the insertion cursor
it's enabled, even if 'click here to add' is not enabled. In-cell editing
is available in table (By Company, By Category or phone list are table
views) and address card views - but (IMHO) its easier to use a table list
view.

To do this, create or edit a table view. Customize the view and enable
in-cell editing (look on Other Settings section of Customize views) and you
can type in the fields in the view. Since you only need to edit the fax
field, remove most of the fields from the view so it's 'less busy'.


--
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.

Thanks Diane. I've seen those and I also tried to export my contacts to
Excel, strip the characters and then import as a .csv file but the fax
field
was blank. Do you know why that is?

I don't understand your statement "use a custom view with just the needed
fields visible and in cell editing enabled".

The tools that are used to mask the fax numbers may be able to remove the
prefixes.
See http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/nofax.asp for a list.

Otherwise, use a custom view with just the needed fields visible and in
cell
editing enabled or export to excel, use search and replace then import.


--
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.

I have 1500 contacts and over the years have used "fx" or "fa" to
disguise
the fax field as an electronic address. I now have a fax program that
uses
Outlook's fax numbers and it recognizes the disguising characters.

How can I strip my fax number entries in Outlook of the "fa" and "fx"?

 

[rbeckert]

OK, I figured it out. I went back and did the exporting-strip the
characters-import thing again and this time I noticed I had not only striped
"fx", "fa" and "fax" from the contact fax number cells in Excel but I also
deleted "Fax" from the first row which is the description of the column! DUH.
That meant when I imported back into Outlook, "Business" wasn't going to map
to "Business Fax".

Thanks for getting me thinking again!

Bob

Are you using the Default field mapping or a custom map? (its an option on
the last export screen) Default mapping should include all fields, custom
mapping may not.

Rather than open each contact to edit them, you can enable in-cell editing
and edit most fields without opening the contact form. If you see a row at
the top of the view that says "click here to add a new... " then in-cell
editing is enabled. If you can click in a cell and see the insertion cursor
it's enabled, even if 'click here to add' is not enabled. In-cell editing
is available in table (By Company, By Category or phone list are table
views) and address card views - but (IMHO) its easier to use a table list
view.

To do this, create or edit a table view. Customize the view and enable
in-cell editing (look on Other Settings section of Customize views) and you
can type in the fields in the view. Since you only need to edit the fax
field, remove most of the fields from the view so it's 'less busy'.


--
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.

Thanks Diane. I've seen those and I also tried to export my contacts to
Excel, strip the characters and then import as a .csv file but the fax
field
was blank. Do you know why that is?

I don't understand your statement "use a custom view with just the needed
fields visible and in cell editing enabled".

The tools that are used to mask the fax numbers may be able to remove the
prefixes.
See http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/nofax.asp for a list.

Otherwise, use a custom view with just the needed fields visible and in
cell
editing enabled or export to excel, use search and replace then import.


--
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.


I have 1500 contacts and over the years have used "fx" or "fa" to
disguise
the fax field as an electronic address. I now have a fax program that
uses
Outlook's fax numbers and it recognizes the disguising characters.

How can I strip my fax number entries in Outlook of the "fa" and "fx"?