How to display Company when adding names to distribution list?

[cte67]

1. When adding names to a distribution list, the only items displayed are the
name and the email address. How do I have it display the Company too?

2. The search on the contact screen searches the name, email adr, and
Company. How do I get the search for the distribution list (select members)
to also search the info listed in Company?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

1. You can't, of course, since DL's only contain names and electronic
addresses.
2. Post is too unclear. We have no idea which search method you want to use,
in which version, and what you want to do.

 

[cte67]

1. Ok. It would be nice if it did. Seems that since the DL has links to the
Contact names, it also has easy access to the Company info too.

2. This is regarding the search within the DL. DL -> Select Members ->
Search. The search capability is quite lame. Given a name with an email
such as: (e-mail address removed) ... the search will find knollway, but not juno.
Also, I'd like to be able to search by Company name ... makes it easy for me
to create a DL for folks in a specific company.

Is there a method for making the above suggestions for the next rev?

1. You can't, of course, since DL's only contain names and electronic
addresses.
2. Post is too unclear. We have no idea which search method you want to use,
in which version, and what you want to do.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

1. When adding names to a distribution list, the only items displayed are
the
name and the email address. How do I have it display the Company too?

2. The search on the contact screen searches the name, email adr, and
Company. How do I get the search for the distribution list (select
members)
to also search the info listed in Company?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

No. I can think of no reason one would need to search within a DL if they
were using DL's as intended. Why do you think you need to?
The functions you need exist for Contact Folders, which is the only place
they are needed.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

1. Ok. It would be nice if it did. Seems that since the DL has links to
the
Contact names, it also has easy access to the Company info too.

2. This is regarding the search within the DL. DL -> Select Members ->
Search. The search capability is quite lame. Given a name with an email
such as: (e-mail address removed) ... the search will find knollway, but not
juno.
Also, I'd like to be able to search by Company name ... makes it easy for
me
to create a DL for folks in a specific company.

Is there a method for making the above suggestions for the next rev?

1. You can't, of course, since DL's only contain names and electronic
addresses.
2. Post is too unclear. We have no idea which search method you want to
use,
in which version, and what you want to do.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

1. When adding names to a distribution list, the only items displayed
are
the
name and the email address. How do I have it display the Company too?

2. The search on the contact screen searches the name, email adr, and
Company. How do I get the search for the distribution list (select
members)
to also search the info listed in Company?

 

[cte67]

Here are some examples. Case 1: I have entered the names and email addresses
of state legislators as Contacts. I don't know their names very well ... I
pulled the info off of a web site. Now I want to add those names to DL.
Since I don't have the names memorized, I need to keep checking with the gov
website to ensure I get all of the names to create the DL. If I could search
the Company info which lists the phrase, Gov State, the search would
automatically filter out everyone else ... it would be trivial to create the
DL. Or if I could search for the email tag ".gov" I could find them too.

Case 2: I have entered the names and emails of Toastmasters ... again I
don't have all of the names memorized. If I could search the Company which
lists "Toastmasters", it would filter out everyone else ... again, making it
trivial to create a DL.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Any reason you cannot search your Contacts Folder?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Here are some examples. Case 1: I have entered the names and email
addresses
of state legislators as Contacts. I don't know their names very well ...
I
pulled the info off of a web site. Now I want to add those names to DL.
Since I don't have the names memorized, I need to keep checking with the
gov
website to ensure I get all of the names to create the DL. If I could
search
the Company info which lists the phrase, Gov State, the search would
automatically filter out everyone else ... it would be trivial to create
the
DL. Or if I could search for the email tag ".gov" I could find them too.

Case 2: I have entered the names and emails of Toastmasters ... again I
don't have all of the names memorized. If I could search the Company
which
lists "Toastmasters", it would filter out everyone else ... again, making
it
trivial to create a DL.

 

[cte67]

Yes, the Contacts Folder Search can filter the names. But when I go to DL ->
Select Members, all the names are listed, not the filtered list. So I must
scroll through the list, or enter each name one at a time, to find the ones
to add to the DL.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

So your real question was how do you sort the Outlook Address Book, not how
do you sort a DL. The Outlook Address Book can only be sorted by "First
Name, Last Name" or File As fields. If you are having trouble finding a
Contact, you search the Contact Folder, not the Address Book. All Outlook
search functionality resides in the Contact Folders, not the address book
view.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Yes, the Contacts Folder Search can filter the names. But when I go to
DL ->
Select Members, all the names are listed, not the filtered list. So I
must
scroll through the list, or enter each name one at a time, to find the
ones
to add to the DL.

 

[cte67]

This has nothing to do with sorting the address book. It has to do with
easily creating a DL.

Can this question be moved to a higher level of support? I'm unable to
explain the problem to you.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You don't understand newsgroups do you?
When you use "Select Members" you are using the Outlook Address Book. So the
answer will be the same no matter whom you ask.

 

[cte67]

Ok, let's try one more time.

Suppose Contacts has 500 names (along with email addresses and company
names). Of the 500 names. there are 30 people who work for IBM ... the
company name has the word IBM entered for those 30 people.

I want to create a DL for those 30 people. Please provide a step-by-step
set of instructions of how you would create the DL.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You have asked several different questions. Your problem is that you did not
organize your Contacts in any way when you created them and now have to rely
on the Outlook Address Book interface to find them for you when you create a
DL, since that is the only interface a DL can use for member selection.
Unfortunately, the Outlook Address Book interface was not designed to filter
or search your Contacts for you and is incapable of doing so.
The only interface designed for sorting or filtering Contacts is the
Contacts folder itself, where you can easily sort on the Company field to
see all your IBM Contacts. But you cannot create a DL from the Contacts
Folder interface.
For this and other reasons, DL's are a rudimentary and unreliable feature
that few use and most abandon. You would be far better off using Categories
or separate Contact subfolders to organize your Contacts. You can also sort
the Contacts Folder by company, copy those Contacts to a separate subfolder,
enable that subfolder as an email address book so it will appear in the
Outlook Address Book interface, then use it to create your DL.

 

[cte67]

To me, this is the clearest response you have given so far. Please provide a
step-by-step set of instructions of how you would create Categories and
separate Contact subfolders.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Already done. All in the Help files and posted here many times:
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/oloabcat.htm

 

[Gordon]

Ok, let's try one more time.

Suppose Contacts has 500 names (along with email addresses and company
names). Of the 500 names. there are 30 people who work for IBM ... the
company name has the word IBM entered for those 30 people.

I want to create a DL for those 30 people. Please provide a step-by-step
set of instructions of how you would create the DL.

The simple answer seems to be this: (Outlook 2007)
In Contacts, select the view by Company. Create a new folder called "IBM
Contacts", ensure that it contains contact data.
Select all the Contact items for IBM, and copy them to the new folder called
Contacts IBM.
Then do New-Distribution List, name it, click on select members, and in the
Addressbook drop down menu, select IBM Contacts.
select them all, and add them.

HTH

 

[cte67]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the clear, simple instructions. I tried it ... it worked. After
I created the DL, I moved everything back into Contacts => because many of my
contacts are in multiple categories of personal and business (I don't want to
maintain duplicate entries of the same people in different categories).

It sure would be nice if the DL search capability were made more powerful.

Again, thanks.

 

[Gordon]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the clear, simple instructions. I tried it ... it worked.
After
I created the DL, I moved everything back into Contacts => because many of
my
contacts are in multiple categories of personal and business (I don't want
to
maintain duplicate entries of the same people in different categories).

It sure would be nice if the DL search capability were made more powerful.

Again, thanks.

YW! You might want to look at categories in a bit more detail rather than
relying on DLs....

 

[robinkaspar]

*bump*

I stumbled upon this thread when searching for the very same answer as
cte67. I found Mr. Valentine's attitude very rude and condescending, with
little grasp of the problem at hand.

Here's my scenario. I am a media buyer who works with hundreds of
newspapers. I have my contacts set up in one folder and input my sales rep's
name in the Full Name box and the name of the newspaper in the Company box. I
frequently have quick turnaround projects where I have to send a mass
blind-copy message to a large number of these reps and because it's usually a
different group of them each time, I set up temporary DLs. Because the rep's
name is incidental to my task, I need to be able to select members by the
newspapers' names, not the reps'.

Has anything improved in the last 2 years? I'm using Outlook 2007 now and I
think not. I'm still not able to search on anything but name. Gordon's
"solution" is a workaround, but it demands the user take 2 steps when only 1
is the intuitive answer.

I share cte67's frustration and hope that someone at Microsoft is finally
listening with a sympathetic ear.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

As you suspected, nothing has changed or improved in the dialog used for
creation of DL's. It continues to use the Outlook Address Book interface.
Both that interface and DL's themselves are deprecated features in Outlook
that are no longer undergoing development. All filtering and sorting
features are now built into customized views of Contacts Folders, and
filtered views of Contacts (such as Categories) are now the preferred method
for selecting multiple recipients. I would examine creating a customized
view of your Contacts or using Categories to fit your needs. I doubt we'll
ever see Microsoft return to DL's as the preferred method for grouping
recipients.

BTW, you posted in an expired thread without quoting any posts. Makes it
very difficult to follow your train of thought or to "grasp the problem at
hand."