Addresslist order (Outlook 2002)

[ErikJan]

When I open up my address-book in Outlook, in the upper right corner there is a box called "Show names from the:".

I want to change the order of the address books here (NOT the order in which Outlook looks up my email addresses that I type in, I know how that works. Also NOT the order in which entries are sorted)... Cannot find how that is done but recall it did work once (in an older version)...

Does anyone know? Thanks!

Erik Jan

[bewens]

From Outlook, Go to Tools - Address Book.
Select Tools - Options

And that would be where they hid it! I had to look for that setting forever before I found it!

Hope this helps,
Becky

[ErikJan]

Thanks, but no, that's not it... it's the ORDER the entries are listed in the drop downs that I'm looking for...

[bewens]

So you want to change the order that the address books appear in the list? For example, you would like to move Contacts to the top of this list?

[ErikJan]

Yep... here's why (in more detail):

* I want to find someone's email address
* I have enabled (by default) that Outlook should FIRST look in my PAB
* Now this time I know, the email address is not in my PAB so... I go to the "Show names from the..." drop-down to select another list (we have many!)... Now it appears that the selected PAB is all the way at the bottom of the existing list and each and every time I need to scroll all the way back up to get to the list I need...

To answer your question: YES, I'd e.g. like to move Contacts to the top (sort of)

It's a nuisance (and I'm lazy)... <img src=/S/doze.gif border=0 alt=doze width=15 height=15>

Erik Jan

[JohnBF]

ErikJan, if I follow the problem, the best way for you to handle this is to open your Address Book, go to Tools | Options, and Add all the address books you might ever need. (I use my PAB, my Contacts and my company's Global Address List, I could add many more subdivisions of my company as address lists, but they are all in the GAL.) That way any address you use will be resolved against those lists and you won't need to go dragging down address lists to select for resolution. Does this make sense?

Not certain, but I don't think you can sort those lists, I believe that the sort order is set by Server Admin.

[asimpkins]

That doesn't work, as Outlook doesn't offer all matches as possibilities. I frequently have to get an address from an address book; for example I have many contacts with 'john' somewhere in the name, including the same person with two email addresses, people with the last name of Johnson, etc. When I type 'john' into the 'To:' field, it does not list them all and I end up having to go the appropriate address book. I have many contact folders and it would be much easier to find the one I want if I could sort them alphabetically.

[jscher2000]

What wacky order is that?? I wonder whether that is the order you added them to either (1) the PST or (2) the address books list? I think this is why we have PABs... one central place for e-mail addresses. <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[JohnBF]

'That doesn't work' isn't consistent my experience, but I'm addressing a corporate environment with a GAL. Perhaps you should merge your contacts folders and use Categories to manage the Contact type. Any Outlook Item can have multiple categories. In a multiple Contacts folder environment, if your address list derives from contacts and you can't remember the exact name, isn't it easier to run an Advanced Find on all Contact folders (using the Adavced | Categories option if Categories are maintained) and then select Actions | New message to contact?

[JohnBF]

Another reason that I stick with PABs. As with several other things in Outlook, the display order appears to be the creation date order, oldest first.

[JohnBF]

You remind me, as far as the EricJan's original question, that with a huge number of address lists it might be easiest to create a PAB, then import all the separate address book entries to it. I don't have all posssible environments to test, but I can import any of the 30 or so corporate server address books, including the GAL, into my PAB by selecting them all (click the first entry, shift-click the last), right click and select Add to PAB.

The only hassle would then become subsequent maintenance of the PAB.

I don't encounter the problem Andrew has with not all addresses showing, so I might be missing something.

[asimpkins]

<font color=red>>> What wacky order is that??</font color=red>

That's what I'd like to know. I think it's the order I added them to my address book list. I'm not on an Exchange server, just standalone Outlook so I don't have a PAB. I have more than 800 contacts, personal and business, and I have to organize them in multiple Contacts folders. I'd just like to be able to sort the list.

[jscher2000]

I migrated my PAB all the way from Outlook 97, so I don't know if you can create one from scratch in Outlook 2002. I could try it.

[Futzing with computer]

Well, it seems that in theory you could do it

Tools>Email Accounts>Add a new directory or address book>Additional address books>Personal address book

(I can't because it says I can only have one.) If you don't have the option to add a PAB in that dialog, well, hmmm, I'm not sure. Perhaps the mail control panel would be more empowering?

But anyway, as MaryJ has said before, MS would like us all to stop using these legacy PABs, so maybe you don't want to go down that road.

[asimpkins]

No, I don't want to go down that road. My contacts folders contain over 800 contacts and change just about every day. I cannot possibly spend the time needed to update the PAB every time I add or change a contact. I would just like to be able to sort the order they are listed in the 'Select Names' dialog box. Does anyone here know how to do this? Does it require some sort of hack? I presume all this info is in the outlook.pst file and is not controlled by the registry.

[MaryJ]

1) learn proper contact management and use categories (and views). if you had all of the contacts in one contacts folder every john would be found when you type in john.
2) the items are listed in the order they were added.. delete all address books and add them back.
3) type in as much of the name as you can recall and let autoresolut work, rather than messing around with the To button. You should use the To button as a last resort. (and if your contacts were in one or two folders, it would work as a last resort.)