Duplicate entries in Contacts

[Leo the Builder]

There seem to be a lot of duplicate entries in my Outlook 2003 contacts list
I have just done a test.
I created a new folder in Outlook 2003 for contacts.
I entered two new contacts and linked this to an Access table.
It created duplicate entries for both contacts in the Aceess table..
It seems to create duplicates for fax and email.
E.G.:

I get one entry for myname @hotmail.com and anther for "myname@+1(000)
000-0000 ----that's my fax number.
The other difference in the entries is for the email type column.....one
entry displays "SMTP" the other displays "FAX".
Another difference is in the Send Rich Text column where one field displays
"0" and the other field displays "-1".
These duplicate entries also appear when I use the "To" button in a new
email and select from the contact list
that holds just these two new contacts, with duplicates for each.
How can I avoid these duplicates. (if at all possible)
Thanks for any advice.

Leo

 

[Brian Tillman]

There seem to be a lot of duplicate entries in my Outlook 2003
contacts list I have just done a test.
I created a new folder in Outlook 2003 for contacts.
I entered two new contacts and linked this to an Access table.
It created duplicate entries for both contacts in the Aceess table..
It seems to create duplicates for fax and email.
E.G.:

I get one entry for myname @hotmail.com and anther for "myname@+1(000)
000-0000 ----that's my fax number.
The other difference in the entries is for the email type
column.....one entry displays "SMTP" the other displays "FAX".

Clearly if the mail type is different and the address is diferent, the
entries aren't "duplicates". To "duplicate" something means to make an
exact copy and obviously these aren't copies of each other.

Outlook considers FAX numbers to be valid electronic addresses and with the
right FAX software installed, Outlook can send a FAX using the FAX entries
in the Address Book interface. So, Outlook shows you not only the email
electronic addresses, but the FAX electronic addresses as well. If you
don't want it to show you the FAX numbers, don't put them in the Contacts
records or change them in such a way that Outlook cannot recognize them as
FAX numbers. Many people do this by prepending the letter "F" to the number
in the FAX number field.

Another difference is in the Send Rich Text column where one field
displays "0" and the other field displays "-1".

There is a setting in the address properties that specifies whether or not
you wish to force Outlook to send a RIch Text message to the particular
address. That's what this flag does.

 

[Leo the Builder]

Thanks Brian,

I like the suggested workaround with the F prefix for the fax number.

Leo