Hi, I have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to
anywhere...

I'm using Outlook 2003. I have formatted all of the contacts in my
contacts list very carefully so that they display in the "To:" (or
"Cc:" or "Bcc") fields as "Lastname, Firstname (Companyname)". This
is great for when I create new messages so that when I send them out
everyone knows what companies have received different information, and
it allows me to sort my sent e-mails by last name and have them group
correctly.

Now, let's say that someone sends me an e-mail and the display name is
set to "Firstname Lastname". My scheme no longer works because that's
how the from field displays in my inbox (and I would like to be able
to sort them by the way that I have them setup). Is there a way to
set it so that if I have a contact in my contacts list, and it is
formatted to display like I have it set above, that Outlook can
automatically change what the default display of the contact name in
the e-mail is to how I have it setup?

Furthermore, if I reply to one of the aforementioned e-mails, if I
want the contact names to display correctly, right now I have to go in
and manually change them to what I have stored in my contacts. Is
there a way to have this happen automatically?

If I could get these 2 issues worked out all of my incoming and
outgoing mail would have the same name formats and sorting and finding
e-mails would be a lot easier. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Your help is much appreciated! Thanks, -Eric

Seems to me you are confusing the File As... field (which you can configure)
with the Email Display As field, which you cannot.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"emackert" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi, I have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to
> anywhere...
>
> I'm using Outlook 2003. I have formatted all of the contacts in my
> contacts list very carefully so that they display in the "To:" (or
> "Cc:" or "Bcc") fields as "Lastname, Firstname (Companyname)". This
> is great for when I create new messages so that when I send them out
> everyone knows what companies have received different information, and
> it allows me to sort my sent e-mails by last name and have them group
> correctly.
>
> Now, let's say that someone sends me an e-mail and the display name is
> set to "Firstname Lastname". My scheme no longer works because that's
> how the from field displays in my inbox (and I would like to be able
> to sort them by the way that I have them setup). Is there a way to
> set it so that if I have a contact in my contacts list, and it is
> formatted to display like I have it set above, that Outlook can
> automatically change what the default display of the contact name in
> the e-mail is to how I have it setup?
>
> Furthermore, if I reply to one of the aforementioned e-mails, if I
> want the contact names to display correctly, right now I have to go in
> and manually change them to what I have stored in my contacts. Is
> there a way to have this happen automatically?
>
> If I could get these 2 issues worked out all of my incoming and
> outgoing mail would have the same name formats and sorting and finding
> e-mails would be a lot easier. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Your help is much appreciated! Thanks, -Eric
>

I've been able to configure both of them - I use the File As
"Lastname, Firstname" and the Display As "Lastname, Firstname
(Companyname)". Since I've set up the Display As like that, when I
create a new e-mail and select a name from my contact list, it comes
up just like that...

Thanks, -Eric

You can go through and manually edit EDA individually for each contact if
you want, but whether it affects the display will depend entirely on the
view to which you are referring.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"emackert" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been able to configure both of them - I use the File As
> "Lastname, Firstname" and the Display As "Lastname, Firstname
> (Companyname)". Since I've set up the Display As like that, when I
> create a new e-mail and select a name from my contact list, it comes
> up just like that...
>
> Thanks, -Eric
>