mru "TO" list changes randomly

[Keith G Hicks]

Outlook 2003.
Let's say I have someone named "Fred Jones" in my address book and his email
address is (e-mail address removed). Let's also say that I haven't used outlook
yet or have recently cleared the mru list. So the first time I want to put
him in the "TO" (or cc or bcc) of a message I have to pull up the address
window and locate him. That's fine. But now he's in the mru list so next
time I don't have to do that. I can just type "Fr.." or "coo..." to get his
name to appear. WHY DOES IT CHANGE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN NEEDING TO USE
"Fr.." and "coo.."?!?!?!?!?!? Sometimes I have to use one and sometimes the
other. There doesn't appear to be a pattern to this. It is VERY annoying.
I'd expect I could use either one and get the same result. Cleraly lot's of
folks' email addresses don't match their real names so having to remember an
address in order to make use of the mru list is really a pain. But like I
said, it switches back and forth. I might send Fred a message today and am
able to pull him up using "Fre..." but tomorrow I'll have to use "coo...".
Is this a bug in Outlook? Do I have something set funny in the overly
complex myriad of Outlook settings? I really like this new feature but it
tends to be more of a guessing game between me and Outlook than a useful
tool.

Please help if you can.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

To which "mru" list are you referring?
The one used by autoresolution or the one used by autocompletion?
If you don't know, then provide more detail on how you are invoking this
list.

 

[Keith G Hicks]

The MRU list in the "To..." box (or Cc... or Bcc...) that appears near the
top of a new message. I guess that's autoresolution (there's nothign in the
help file on autoresolution but I found some info on it here:
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20030814.htm).

To which "mru" list are you referring?
The one used by autoresolution or the one used by autocompletion?
If you don't know, then provide more detail on how you are invoking this
list.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Then you are talking about autocompletion, not one of the Outlook MRU lists.
Those search algorithms have never been documented by Microsoft. The
manufacturers of a program that can edit the autocompletion cache have
figured out the algorithm and have documented it here:
http://www.dcs-imaging.com/autocompletetips.htm
Look under the heading "The Autocompletion feature defined"
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

The MRU list in the "To..." box (or Cc... or Bcc...) that appears near the
top of a new message. I guess that's autoresolution (there's nothign in
the
help file on autoresolution but I found some info on it here:
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20030814.htm).

To which "mru" list are you referring?
The one used by autoresolution or the one used by autocompletion?
If you don't know, then provide more detail on how you are invoking this
list.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Outlook 2003.
Let's say I have someone named "Fred Jones" in my address book and his
email
address is (e-mail address removed). Let's also say that I haven't used
outlook
yet or have recently cleared the mru list. So the first time I want to
put
him in the "TO" (or cc or bcc) of a message I have to pull up the address
window and locate him. That's fine. But now he's in the mru list so next
time I don't have to do that. I can just type "Fr.." or "coo..." to get
his
name to appear. WHY DOES IT CHANGE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN NEEDING TO USE
"Fr.." and "coo.."?!?!?!?!?!? Sometimes I have to use one and sometimes
the
other. There doesn't appear to be a pattern to this. It is VERY annoying.
I'd expect I could use either one and get the same result. Cleraly lot's
of
folks' email addresses don't match their real names so having to remember
an
address in order to make use of the mru list is really a pain. But like I
said, it switches back and forth. I might send Fred a message today and
am
able to pull him up using "Fre..." but tomorrow I'll have to use
"coo...".
Is this a bug in Outlook? Do I have something set funny in the overly
complex myriad of Outlook settings? I really like this new feature but it
tends to be more of a guessing game between me and Outlook than a useful
tool.

Please help if you can.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[Keith G Hicks]

Thanks Russ for the info but according to the site you directed me to, once
I use Fred's address (in my example), I should be able to access it either
by "F" (the first letter of the alias) or by "c" (the first letter of his
email address). This is an excerpt from the page you sent me:

In the example below for instance, typing the letter "D" will not produce an
Autocompletion if you are trying to find John Doe's record. MS Outlook®
parses the Alias field and only searches the first part of the record. In
order to get the record below to autocomplete you would need to either type
the letter "J" or the letter "S". The letter "J" would find the word John
and typing the letter "S" will find the Salesmanjoedoe e-mail address.


Alias or Name Field E-Mail Address Field
John Doe (e-mail address removed)



It doesn't explain why one will work and then not the other and vice versa.
Unless anyone has a solution I guess I'll attribute this to a bug and just
live with it.

Keith

Then you are talking about autocompletion, not one of the Outlook MRU lists.
Those search algorithms have never been documented by Microsoft. The
manufacturers of a program that can edit the autocompletion cache have
figured out the algorithm and have documented it here:
http://www.dcs-imaging.com/autocompletetips.htm
Look under the heading "The Autocompletion feature defined"

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

That's the most accurate information I've seen. If you've discovered an
exception to what they have documented, then I'm sure they would love to
hear about it. You can contact them at the links at that site.