Email addresses in Contacts not recognized?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Heck
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Bill Heck

I have been using Outlook 2000 as my email client for several years
(IMAP email). I pay no attention to the Address Book as such, but have
a large (500+ entries) Contacts file; all email addresses are here
(along with other info).

With Outlook 2000, if I type a partial name into the TO line and then
move to another field, Outlook usually finds the name and completes the
address. For example, if I type "J Smith" in the TO field and start
composing the messge, Outlook finds "Joseph Smith" and completes TO
entry accordingly. This works for multiple persons in the TO field as
well as the CC and BCC fields. This is a very quick entry method.

If Outlook cannot resolve the address, I click on the TO button and
select from the list. The list is sorted by last name, which is what I
want.

Outlook 2003 fails to recognize partial names. So if I type "J Smith"
in the TO field, it just underlines it in red. Then when I click on the
TO button, Outlook presents the list sorted by first name.

I tried going through the online training and followed the directions to
change the sort order, but the procedure did not seem to work.

A few additional notes: AutoComplete is turned on, but it seems to work
only for names or addresses that already were typed in -- and since
Outlook doesn't recognize the names that I type, that's no help. The
problem is not that Outlook can't find my Contacts list -- that does
come up when I hit the TO button (even though it's sorted on the first
name rather than last).

At this point, I have removed Outlook 2003 and reinstalled 2000. But
there must have been something wrong with my setup. How can I persuade
Outlook 2003 to act more like 2000?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
It would have. You just didn't give it time. Both your autocompletion cache
and your autoresolution cache need to be repopulated when you start over
with a new Outlook profile. You can change how the Outlook Address Book is
sorted here:
Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or address
books > Outlook Address Book > Change. > Set your sort order there
 
Russ said:
It would have. You just didn't give it time. Both your autocompletion cache
and your autoresolution cache need to be repopulated when you start over
with a new Outlook profile. You can change how the Outlook Address Book is
sorted here:
Tools > E-mail accounts > View or change existing directories or address
books > Outlook Address Book > Change. > Set your sort order there
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick response, I can give it another try.

"...when you start over with a new Outlook profile..."

Can I keep the old profile? And, if so, how?

Bill Heck
 
Sometimes. But as I recall you just did a two version upgrade, right?
Outlook 2000 didn't even support autocompletion. You need a new profile.
 
Russ said:
Sometimes. But as I recall you just did a two version upgrade, right?
Outlook 2000 didn't even support autocompletion. You need a new profile.
Click to expand...
Russ,

Thanks again. You are correct in that I was upgrading across two
versions -- and Outlook 2000 does not have autocomplete.

But it does appear that Outlook 2000 searches the entiire contacts list
to try to resolve a name. I just tried (in 2000) entering the partial
name of a person to whom I have never sent email before, and it still
resolved the name. Are you saying that Outlook 2003 can only resolve
names to which email has been sent in the past (because those names are
in the cache)?

I'm not really worried about the autocomplete feature as such, just want
to have it match names in the contact list when possible. (Of course, I
realize that it can't deal with multiple names that match...it's only
software!)

By the way, I am reinstalling and trying this again with a little more
patience. Just want to know what to expect.

Bill Heck
 
No, autoresolution should still work the same in Outlook 2003. (Sometimes
it's hard to know when you've left autocompletion behind and invoked
autoresolution.) If it isn't you may need to reset your Outlook Address Book
Service, which of course will occur if you create a new profile.
 
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