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December 5th, 2009 09:00
How Can I Control the Name Format in Outlook 2003 Messages?
I have Windows XP and Outlook 2003. When I start a new e-mail message in Outlook, typing partial names lists options as I type. Those options are in the Name + Address format, which makes it easy to select the right addressee. Once the addressees have been selected, most of them are listed on the To: line in the name-only format, as desired. However, some addressees are listed in the Name + Address format, with the address in parentheses. That makes the To: line cluttered, and I'd like to keep it from happening.
All of my Outlook Contacts show name-only in the Display as: box, and do not show the e-mail address. Since the listings work properly about 70% of the time, I thought the database might be corrupt. I deleted the Outlook.NK2 file, to force it to rebild; but that didn't help.
Any ideas? This behavior does not occur with Windows Live Mail, and both programs are using the same Address database.
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Mary G
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20.1K Posts
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December 5th, 2009 10:00
That is controlled by the "Display As" field in Outlook. There might be a way to change it globally, but I haven't found it. Go to the Contact's listing and take out the email address in the display field and save it.
jekeesl
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December 5th, 2009 18:00
Mary, thanks for the reply. I took out all of the e-mail addresses in the "Display As" field a long time ago. But about 20-30% of people still have e-mail addresses attached to their names in the To: field. If I delete a contact, and then recreate the information, that sometimes fixes the problems for an individual. But that same individual's address will often revert back to the name + address format in a few days or weeks. I hoped that there was a registry tweak to force the names-only format.
Mary G
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20.1K Posts
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December 5th, 2009 20:00
That could be because the list of addresses that you have used still has the emails in them. If someone has his email in his name field and you reply to that email, Outlook remembers it and uses it next time. There's really nothing you do about that except change each time, AFAIK. The list does not come from your address book. It is dynamic and sometimes remembers the incorrect format. If you reply and select Check Names before you reply or send, it will check your address book for a match. I don't think this is a big deal for most casual emails since many people still have their addresses as part of their names or use just the email as their names. You can delete incorrect or inaccurate names from the list by highlighting it in the dropdown list using the arrow keys (not the mouse) and pressing the delete key. It you start a new email it should be the way you want it since it does use the Display as field. One other thing, many names in Contacts have several entries with all the various formats or addresses. Makes it hard to keep up with changing them.
jekeesl
46 Posts
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December 6th, 2009 06:00
Mary, thanks. That seems to be a really good explanation of what's going on. I was hoping, though, that there was a work-around, since my Windows Live Mail program uses the same address book and doesn't have that problem. I'll probably buy a Windows 7 machine next year after Office 2010 comes out, so no big deal. Any idea if Outlook 2010 will provide better control off the address feature?
Thanks again