Outlook Contacts Displaying Incorrectly

[Shaun]

Hi,

I synchronise contacts with Outlook and my mobile phone (Nokia 6230). When a
contact comes from the phone it displays as Smith, John in the Outlook list,
however when I open the contact and try to edit it says display as John
Smith. There must be another setting that is overriding this somewhere!

Any ideas?

 

[Scott Atkins[MSFT]]

Hi Shaun,

By default, Outlook 2003 displays contact names that are in your Contacts list in the FirstName, LastName format, as opposed to the LastName, FirstName format. In this situation, the first
name of a contact is used to sort your Contact lists because the Contacts list is sorted alphabetically.

If you want to have your Contacts list sorted by the last name of the contact, you must change the contact display format from the FirstName, LastName format to the LastName,
FirstName format. This article below describes how to change the contact display format so that the Contacts list is sorted by the last name of the contact.

How to display the Contacts list in the last name, first name format in Outlook 2003 (823478)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;823478

Regards,

Scott Atkins MCSE, MCSA
Partner Technical Lead - Outlook
Microsoft Technical Support
for Platforms and Business Applications
--------------------

 

[Brian Tillman]

I synchronise contacts with Outlook

What version of Outlook?

and my mobile phone (Nokia 6230).
When a contact comes from the phone it displays as Smith, John in the
Outlook list, however when I open the contact

Open it where, in Outlook or the phone?

and try to edit it says
display as John Smith.

In what field do you see this display?

 

[Shaun]

What version of Outlook?


Open it where, in Outlook or the phone?


In what field do you see this display?

Hi,

I am using Outlook 2003, I open the contact in Outlook and the field is
'File as'.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Shaun]

Hi Scott,

Originally my contacts were listed by FirstName, however since synchronising
with my phone the contacts from the phone are displayed in the list in the
LastName, FirstName format. When I try to change this by opening the contact
in Outlook the 'File as' field says that it is being displayed in the
FirstName LastName format which is incorrect!

Any ideas?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am using Outlook 2003, I open the contact in Outlook and the field
is 'File as'.

What choices do you see when you click the drop-down for that field?

 

[Shaun]

What choices do you see when you click the drop-down for that field?

The choices I have are:

John Smith
Smith, John

I can change it to Smith, John then press save open the contact again and
change it to John Smith which solves the problem, however it would be nice
not to have to go through this process for every contact that comes from my
phone!

 

[Brian Tillman]

The choices I have are:

John Smith
Smith, John

I can change it to Smith, John then press save open the contact again and
change it to John Smith which solves the problem, however
it would be nice not to have to go through this process for every
contact that comes from my phone!

And when you click Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing directories
or address books>Next, select the Outlook Address Book, and click Change,
what radio button is selected at the bottom?

 

[Shaun]

And when you click Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing
directories or address books>Next, select the Outlook Address Book, and
click Change, what radio button is selected at the bottom?

First Last (John Smith)

 

[Brian Tillman]

First Last (John Smith)

Then change it, since this is the form you say you don't like. Select the
other radio button.

 

[Shaun]

Then change it, since this is the form you say you don't like. Select the
other radio button.

This is the format i like!

 

[Brian Tillman]

This is the format i like!

Oh. On your original message you said:

when I open the contact and try to edit it says display as John
Smith. There must be another setting that is overriding this somewhere!

I took this to mean you want to override "John Smith". My mistake..

What happens if you choose the other radio button? Also, check your sync
software and see if it has a setting.

 

[Shaun]

Oh. On your original message you said:


I took this to mean you want to override "John Smith". My mistake..

What happens if you choose the other radio button? Also, check your sync
software and see if it has a setting.

Hi Brian,

This is the confusing part, it is listed as Smiht, John but when I open the
contact File As shows it should be displayed as John Smith! I have had a
look at the Nokia software and there is no setting that relates to this.
Also changing the other radio button makes no differrence at all!

 

[Brian Tillman]

This is the confusing part, it is listed as Smiht, John but when I
open the contact File As shows it should be displayed as John Smith!
I have had a look at the Nokia software and there is no setting that
relates to this. Also changing the other radio button makes no
differrence at all!

Well, I thjink I have been misleading you some here. The options I've been
describing relate to the display in the Address Book and don't control
anything in the Contacts folder display. I apologize. The settings I
should have been asking about are on Tools>Options>Contact Options, as
described in the article Scott Atkins cited. My last bit of advice before
bowing out of this thread in disgrace is to follow all the steps the article
mentioned, exacxtly as described. Sorry for all the confusion.