Outlook 2002 (XP) contact "check" order

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeremy Hopf
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J

Jeremy Hopf

Setup is as follows:

Running Outlook XP Sp2 on a W2K Pro machine which connects
to an IMAP server, and also an LDAP server.

Contacts are stored in the .pst file, and there are 3 sets
of "local" contacts, one set lives in the "Contacts"
folder, and the other two live in subfolders of the
contacts folder (lets call them folder a and b)

There are 2 LDAP entries (2 OU's, one for people, and one
for distribution lists) setup off the same server...
Effectivly with the local contact lists, appearing as 5
different contact lists to Outlook XP..

The search order is set to use the two LDAP servers, then
the 3 local contacts folders. I have verrified that all
5 folders work correctly on their own, but see problem
below..

PROBLEM:

So when composing a new message, I type a name into
the "To" field and hit the "Check Names" button (little
check mark next to a picture of a head) If there is only
one possibility Outlook XP performs the search as I
believe it should, but if there are several "suggestions"
from the two LDAP queries; however, there are no
suggestions from any of the local contacts.. If I
search for something that has no suggestions in either
LDAP directory it will list the proper suggestions from
the local contacts properly.. If I change the order which
they are searched I get varring results.. (none of which
seem to follow any simple rule)

Question:

Is this a bug? Is there a detailed explaination of how it
will behave? Any suggestions?


Anyone who can shed some light on this behavior would be
much appreciated..

Thank you,
-Jeremy
Help Desk Analyst
Vixel Corporation
 
The explanation is simple: Outlook searches one address list at a time. If it finds match(es), it doesn't search further. If it does not find a match, it goes to the next list.
--
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
 
Hmmm....

That's not how I understand it should work, and I suppose that's plausible,
but I have consistently seen it do otherwise..

(If I change the order, or remove certain accounts then I can get results
form 2 or more lists)

My most recent theory states that with LDAP and local contacts, the list of
results will continue to be created UNTILL a address-book of a different
type is reached.. For Example if I search 3 Local contact locations, and
then an LDAP location.. If it finds ANYTHING that might be considered a
possible result, it displays ALL results from all 3 local contact books, and
when it reaches the LDAP entry it stops creating results regardless if there
are more local contact lists after the LDAP entry.. This seems to work
both ways, If I have 2 LDAP entries it searches those, and displays results,
but no results from local contacts are displayed.....

Not saying that it works this way, just saying based on all tests I have
recently done on varying systems, this is the rule that best describes what
I am observing so-far...

I don't know if you understand what I'm saying... If anyone thinks I should
clarify further, I would be more than glad to.. I'm looking for any ideas,
suggestions or anything.. I'm sure the problem here is that this is an
uncommon setup, however we are transitioning from a Netscape client platform
to a MS Client platform.. With our mail server currently running iPlanet
mail server on a Sun-Solaris machine.. More than likely if we can get all
of our clients changed over to Outlook 2002, or 2003 then we can make the
next transition to an exchange server.. (If this happens it would be
several quarters away, if not several years)

Thanks,
-Jeremy

The explanation is simple: Outlook searches one address list at a time. If
it finds match(es), it doesn't search further. If it does not find a match,
it goes to the next list.
--
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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