2 contacts in Outlook 2002

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian Davidson
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian Davidson

I have just upgraded from Outlook 2000 to Outllok 2002.
Now when addressing a new #email# message on clicking the
To button I see many (but not all) contacts listed twice.
Seems that Outlook picks up the #fax# number as well as
the email address from a single contact and puts it in
the list. You don't see a difference until you double-
click or select the item and click To/CC/BCC. I've never
used Outlook for fax. Does anyone know how to stop this
stupid action?
 
The standard behavior for the Outlook Address book has always been to
display all electronic addresses (both fax and e-mail). That behavior cannot
be changed. The only way to prevent the display of fax numbers is to store
them in a different field or to disguise them (e.g., precede them with an
alpha character) so that Outlook won't recognize them as phone numbers.
There are also a number of utilities available that can do this for you
automatically. Some are listed here:
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/nofax.htm
 
Outlook considers fax numbers to be valid electronic addresses, since there are many client- and server-based components that can use such addresses.

One method to hide fax numbers from the address book is to prefix the fax number with one or more letters (maybe B for business fax, H for home, O for other). If the fax number begins with a letter, Outlook won't show it in the address book. This definitely works in Outlook 2000 and 2002.

At http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook_Solutions.htm, you'll find a Hide Fax Numbers utility that adds a text prefix to fax numbers for all your contacts and removes it when you really do need to use a fax number in an Outlook message.

Another way to avoid avoid having fax numbers appear in the address book is simply not to enter data in the fax fields. Put fax numbers in some other (non-phone) fields.

Microsoft has a Knowledgebase article at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=305361 that explains further. Note that this is behavior is normal for Outlook 97 and for Outlook 98 and 2000 in Corporate/Workgroup mode. It's a big change, though for users upgrading from Outlook 98 and 2000 in Internet Mail ONly mode.



--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
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