Contacts Symbols, etc.

[Norma]

I hope you can help me here. I have two questions:
1. What is the difference between the contacts symbol and
the rolodex symbol which appear next to a contact?
Outlook Help does not include the rolodex symbol in its
list.
2. When I have an entry for a fax number, Outlook does
not allow me to autolook a particular contact. Instead,
it gives me an option of choosing that contact's e-mail
address or his fax number. Why is it doing that when,
obviously, I won't send an e-mail to a fax machine?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

1) Not sure. The rolodex symbol could indicate a custom form.

2) Outlook considers fax numbers to be valid electronic addresses, since there are many client- and server-based components that can use such addresses.

One method to hide fax numbers from the address book is to prefix the fax number with one or more letters (maybe B for business fax, H for home, O for other). If the fax number begins with a letter, Outlook won't show it in the address book. This definitely works in Outlook 2000 and 2002.

At http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook_Solutions.htm, you'll find a Hide Fax Numbers utility that adds a text prefix to fax numbers for all your contacts and removes it when you really do need to use a fax number in an Outlook message.

Another way to avoid avoid having fax numbers appear in the address book is simply not to enter data in the fax fields. Put fax numbers in some other (non-phone) fields.

Microsoft has a Knowledgebase article at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=305361 that explains further. Note that this is behavior is normal for Outlook 97 and for Outlook 98 and 2000 in Corporate/Workgroup mode. It's a big change, though for users upgrading from Outlook 98 and 2000 in Internet Mail ONly mode.



--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers