in outlook 2007 can u chg the phone fmt to be - not () for prefix

  • Thread starter Thread starter chefdave86
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chefdave86

I would like to change the default format for the phone number field in
Outlook 2007, contacts, to have only hyphens between the numbers. I do not
want to have (xxx) for the area code. Is this possible? My desired format is
xxx-xxx-xxxx .
 
Who decided that brilliant one? Every culture does it differently, and for a
few folks in Redmond to hardcode that is tragically incompetent.

Any chance they might do the right thing in the service pack?

David

Russ Valentine said:
No. Masking of phone numbers in Outlook is hard coded.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
chefdave86 said:
I would like to change the default format for the phone number field in
Outlook 2007, contacts, to have only hyphens between the numbers. I do not
want to have (xxx) for the area code. Is this possible? My desired format
is
xxx-xxx-xxxx .
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
David Teich said:
Who decided that brilliant one? Every culture does it differently,
and for a few folks in Redmond to hardcode that is tragically
incompetent.
Click to expand...

There are international standards for telephony and Outlook complies with
them, as far as I can tell. You are asking for a non-standard expression of
the phone number.
 
Wrong again. The '+' is a standard, but some places use parenthesis, others
hyphens. Over the last ten years, the use of periods has grown among high
tech and a few other companies. Many moons ago, when I was a programmer,
we'd never think of limiting to a single format. It's called "parsing". Study
it.

BTW: The internet's a great thing. Check out some pages.
http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/numbers.html#telephone,
university publications standard saying parens shouldn't be used.

http://www.dfas.mil/contractorpay/electroniccommerce/electronicdatainterchangeedi/810SAMMS.pdf,
Military EDI interchange spec, specifying no punctuation in phone numbers so
folks can format themselves

Just about everywhere else you check, you'll see that specs are set to be
format independent. Try it.

David
 
Russ Valentine said:
Why would you ask us? Do you think it is a good idea for Outlook to
disregard the standard conventions? How is that the "right thing?"
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
David Teich said:
Who decided that brilliant one? Every culture does it differently, and for
a
few folks in Redmond to hardcode that is tragically incompetent.

Any chance they might do the right thing in the service pack?

David

Russ Valentine said:
No. Masking of phone numbers in Outlook is hard coded.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I would like to change the default format for the phone number field in
Outlook 2007, contacts, to have only hyphens between the numbers. I do
not
want to have (xxx) for the area code. Is this possible? My desired
format
is
xxx-xxx-xxxx .
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

All mobile phones recognise the following:

+XXXXXXXXXXXX however many x's there may need to be.

Mobile phones do not need to know which element of the number is the
international code, which is the local code.

Waiting for standards, particluarly telephone standards to tell you what is
useful in life is I am afraid ignorant.

When I sync my contacts with my mobile phone I can call precisely 0% of the
numbers. Well done MS!
 
You seem to have it backwards, or just aren't paying attention. The only
standard is the +. Parenthesis and spaces within the numbers are
"preferences" that change from company to company and nation to nation. What
you're doing is unilaterally defining what you think should be a standard,
regardless of how out of date and limited to the US it may be.

More importantly, as i've also mentioned. Good programs can strip the the
formatting when both storing or sending a phone number, so that each system
can use its own formatting. Ooops, sorry, I mentioned "good programming"...

Russ Valentine said:
Why would you ask us? Do you think it is a good idea for Outlook to
disregard the standard conventions? How is that the "right thing?"
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
David Teich said:
Who decided that brilliant one? Every culture does it differently, and for
a
few folks in Redmond to hardcode that is tragically incompetent.

Any chance they might do the right thing in the service pack?

David

Russ Valentine said:
No. Masking of phone numbers in Outlook is hard coded.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I would like to change the default format for the phone number field in
Outlook 2007, contacts, to have only hyphens between the numbers. I do
not
want to have (xxx) for the area code. Is this possible? My desired
format
is
xxx-xxx-xxxx .
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
David Teich said:
You seem to have it backwards, or just aren't paying attention. The
only standard is the +. Parenthesis and spaces within the numbers are
"preferences" that change from company to company and nation to
nation. What you're doing is unilaterally defining what you think
should be a standard, regardless of how out of date and limited to
the US it may be.

More importantly, as i've also mentioned. Good programs can strip the
the formatting when both storing or sending a phone number, so that
each system can use its own formatting. Ooops, sorry, I mentioned
"good programming"...
Click to expand...

You seem to think Russ has some control over what Microsoft chooses to do
with its programs. Russ doesn't work for Microsoft and had no part in
defining how Outlook formats numbers.
 
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