Outlook 2000 wanting to fax instead of email

[Ted Gavin via OfficeKB.com]

A user has Outlook 2K installed. User is running Win2K Professional, Office
2000 and Outlook 2000 (as a component of Office 2000 Pro).

User was using PAB for email addresses and his Palm device for his
calendar. We convinced user of the wisdom of consolidation, and user
recently imported his PAB into Contacts, sync'd his Palm Calendar into the
Outlook Calendar (which made Outlook his primary source for messaging and
calendar). We then imported about 4000 contacts from ACT! 6.0 via a comma-
delimited file. He now has about 4400 recipients in the Mailbox\Contacts
Folder.

Since the import from ACT!, when he sends an email to a recipient present
in the \Contacts folder, Outlook asks if he wants to email or send a fax.

Microsoft Fax Services do not appear in the Windows Components section of
Add/Remove programs. I've asked him to go through the process to try and
deinstall (or deprioritize) Fax Mail Transport services.

However, that's a pretty severe step, and it's likely that the response
will be akin to "that service isn't present in the list".

Is there a preference setting that I can use to simply turn off Outlook's
desire to fax messages to recipients in Contacts?

Many thanks,

tg

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You did not tell us the necessary information.
I would have started by telling us how the user is selecting the recipient.
I would also start by examining the electronic address fields of these
imported Contacts. They rarely survive imports intact.

 

[Ted Gavin via OfficeKB.com]

User selects receipient by typing last name in the receipient field of a
new email message.

I've confirmed that the email address data of the imported contacts is
correct - when the user selects 'email' as an option, the message is sent
(and received) successfully.

A newer point of information - by selecting to have the GAL searched for
addresses first (before Contacts), Outlook no longer prompts the 'fax or
email' selection for those parties that appear both in Contacts and in the
GAL. This indicates that it is something in the /Contacts data - however,
it also occurs when a receipient is a Contact other than those that were
imported.

Hope that provides additional information.

Thanks,

Ted

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Why does this surprise you? Sounds like normal behavior to me.
You are using autoresolution to select the recipient without having
sufficiently restricted the choices. Outlook should be prompting you for the
correct match.

 

[Ted Gavin via OfficeKB.com]

Why does this surprise you? Sounds like normal behavior to me.

You are using autoresolution to select the recipient without having
sufficiently restricted the choices. Outlook should be prompting you >for

the correct match.

Yes, typical Outlook behavior is for outlook to prompt. However, it is not
typical behavior for Outlook to select a FAX number as a potential match
for an email. I've been setting Outlook clients to select Contacts before
GAL and PAB for as long as there has been a /Contacts folder avilable.
Before that it was PAB before GAL. Never, not once, have I seen Outlook
present the option to fax to a recipient when addressing an email. I'm
unable to replicate it on my client, and many (but not all) of my Contacts
have fax numbers.

So, how do I make Outlook stop asking if a Fax number in the Contacts
folder is an acceptable recipient selection? Net, how do I restrict the
choices, or turn off autoresolution as it pertains to a fax number?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Your question makes no sense to me. Outlook does not know you are sending an
email. How could it? It only knows you are sending a message. The message
type is not determined until you select the recipient.
Outlook has always selected a Fax number as a potential recipient because
Fax numbers are valid electronic addresses. If it does not prompt you it is
because the only potential match is a fax number in your current
configuration.