Toolbar Contact Search

[drc]

It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name entered in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.

 

[Brian Tillman]

It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change the settings so it returns any contact record matching the
name entered in the search text box?

Advanced Find should do the job.

 

[drc]

My hope was that I could type a last name in the box on the toolbar, and have
it bring up that contact - saving the trouble of switching views or opening
other windows... It works fine for people for whom I have e-mail or business
fax entries in the record... Advanced find works properly, but for that
number of clicks, I might as well switch to the Contact window and scroll. I
don't understand why the toolbar
"Find A Contact" text box seems to filter for results with e-mail addresses
or business fax numbers.

 

[drc]

Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were imported from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the toolbar "Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find" the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up a bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact" failed to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a Contact"
doesn't find it.

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name entered in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You definitely have a corrupt address book service and may have a corrupt
profile as well. Importing Contacts does that. Remove and re-add the address
book service first. If that doesn't work, create a new profile. Never import
Outlook data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were imported
from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail
address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the toolbar
"Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find" the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up a
bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact" failed
to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a Contact"
doesn't find it.

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured
your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name entered
in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[drc]

I'm not sure what you mean by removing and adding back in the address book
service. My search in help leads me to instructions on removing and adding
address books - is that the same thing? IN the end, are you saying that if I
have 1000 contacts in some non-compatible program, the only way to transfer
them successfully is re-type the info?

You definitely have a corrupt address book service and may have a corrupt
profile as well. Importing Contacts does that. Remove and re-add the address
book service first. If that doesn't work, create a new profile. Never import
Outlook data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were imported
from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail
address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the toolbar
"Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find" the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up a
bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact" failed
to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a Contact"
doesn't find it.

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured
your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name entered
in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm not sure what you mean by removing and adding back in the address
book service.

With Outlook closed, open the Mail applet in Control Panel and click E-mail
Accounts. Select the "View or change existing directories or address books"
radio button and click Next. Select "Outlook Address Book" and click
Remove. Then click Add, select "Additional Address Books" and click Next.
Select "Outlook Address Book", click Next, then Next, then Finish. Start
Outlook and see if things are better.

 

[Brian Tillman]

My hope was that I could type a last name in the box on the toolbar,
and have it bring up that contact - saving the trouble of switching
views or opening other windows

It works for me. I have a contact with no email address and no fax number.
I entered that contact's last name in the "Look for" field, clicked "Find
now" and Outlook displayed the contact address card.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying you do not import Outlook data. You
did not say what your "company's database" is, so an answer to your question
becomes impossible.
Instructions on configuring the address book service can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002
Just make sure you remove the service, restart Outlook, then re-add it using
the posted instructions.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm not sure what you mean by removing and adding back in the address book
service. My search in help leads me to instructions on removing and adding
address books - is that the same thing? IN the end, are you saying that if
I
have 1000 contacts in some non-compatible program, the only way to
transfer
them successfully is re-type the info?

You definitely have a corrupt address book service and may have a corrupt
profile as well. Importing Contacts does that. Remove and re-add the
address
book service first. If that doesn't work, create a new profile. Never
import
Outlook data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were
imported
from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the
entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail
address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the toolbar
"Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find" the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the
contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up a
bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact"
failed
to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a Contact"
doesn't find it.

:

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured
your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have
your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records
that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name
entered
in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[drc]

I've removed the Outlook Address Book and added it back in, and the search
function now looks to be working as it should - thanks. Concerning
importation of data, my company is a church and they use a program called
Membership Pro for Windows, v5.4 from Decathlon Information Systems, and I
would love to update my Outlook Address Book with data from Membership Pro. I
did this once before by exporting selected data from Membership Pro to a csv
file, then using the import function in Outlook. The data came through, but I
believe that is when the toolbar search function became limited - are there
other options?

I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying you do not import Outlook data. You
did not say what your "company's database" is, so an answer to your question
becomes impossible.
Instructions on configuring the address book service can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002
Just make sure you remove the service, restart Outlook, then re-add it using
the posted instructions.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm not sure what you mean by removing and adding back in the address book
service. My search in help leads me to instructions on removing and adding
address books - is that the same thing? IN the end, are you saying that if
I
have 1000 contacts in some non-compatible program, the only way to
transfer
them successfully is re-type the info?

You definitely have a corrupt address book service and may have a corrupt
profile as well. Importing Contacts does that. Remove and re-add the
address
book service first. If that doesn't work, create a new profile. Never
import
Outlook data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were
imported
from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the
entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail
address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the toolbar
"Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find" the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the
contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up a
bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact"
failed
to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a Contact"
doesn't find it.

:

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or misconfigured
your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have
your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records
that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name
entered
in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not really since you have to transfer data from a non-native source. Just
realize that Outlook's import process is deeply flawed and you'll need to
reset the Outlook Address Book when you do so.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've removed the Outlook Address Book and added it back in, and the search
function now looks to be working as it should - thanks. Concerning
importation of data, my company is a church and they use a program called
Membership Pro for Windows, v5.4 from Decathlon Information Systems, and I
would love to update my Outlook Address Book with data from Membership
Pro. I
did this once before by exporting selected data from Membership Pro to a
csv
file, then using the import function in Outlook. The data came through,
but I
believe that is when the toolbar search function became limited - are
there
other options?

I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying you do not import Outlook data.
You
did not say what your "company's database" is, so an answer to your
question
becomes impossible.
Instructions on configuring the address book service can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002
Just make sure you remove the service, restart Outlook, then re-add it
using
the posted instructions.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm not sure what you mean by removing and adding back in the address
book
service. My search in help leads me to instructions on removing and
adding
address books - is that the same thing? IN the end, are you saying that
if
I
have 1000 contacts in some non-compatible program, the only way to
transfer
them successfully is re-type the info?

:

You definitely have a corrupt address book service and may have a
corrupt
profile as well. Importing Contacts does that. Remove and re-add the
address
book service first. If that doesn't work, create a new profile. Never
import
Outlook data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Some of my contacts are entered by hand, but a good number were
imported
from
my company's contact database. The "problem" is the same whether the
entry
was entered by hand or one that was imported - if there is an e-mail
address
or business fax number in the record, it will show up using the
toolbar
"Find
A Contact" text box - but if the record has no e-mail or business
fax
included, the "Find A Contact" function on the toolbar won't "find"
the
contact - I either have to use advanced find or just switch to the
contact
view and manually find it - it's just a bit annoying and slows me up
a
bit.
As an experiment, I modified a contact record that "Find a Contact"
failed
to
find by adding random numbers in the business fax field, and now
Find a
Contact" finds it. Erase the business fax number, and "Find a
Contact"
doesn't find it.

:

Not so. You must have migrated your data incorrectly or
misconfigured
your
profile. State how you created these Contacts. Verify that you have
your
Outlook Address Book Service installed and configured correctly.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
It seems that the toolbar contact search box returns only records
that
include an e-mail address or business fax number - Is there a way
to
change
the settings so it returns any contact record matching the name
entered
in
the search text box?

drc

I am running Windows XP, SP2; Office 2003 Professional , SP1