Sent Items - Arrange By

[Rebecca]

Why are items in the Sent folder displayed differently according to whether
or not it was an original email that was sent or whether it was an email that
you replied to?

E.g.

If I send an original e-mail to John Smith, I find it sorted under "S" for
Smith John

If I send a reply to John Smith, I find it sorted under "J" for Re: John Smith

How can this be overcome so that all emails from the same person are grouped
together?

Thank you

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Why are items in the Sent folder displayed differently according to whether
or not it was an original email that was sent or whether it was an email
that
you replied to?

E.g.

If I send an original e-mail to John Smith, I find it sorted under "S" for
Smith John

If I send a reply to John Smith, I find it sorted under "J" for Re: John
Smith

That's because you have the Display As value for John in your Contacts as
"Smith, John". John, however, has his "friendly name" (the name he's assigned
in his account settings) value as "John Smith". When you reply, Outlook will
use as the Display As for that address the string the original sender used.
it won't convert it to what you have in your Contacts.

How can this be overcome so that all emails from the same person are grouped
together?

Edit the message to change the Display Name field you don't like to be one you
do like. Open the message, click Edit>Edit Message, double-click the friendly
name "John Smith". That should bring up an "E-mail Properties" dialogue.
Change the "Display name" field to the format you want it, click OK, close the
message, and click OK to save the changes.

 

[Rebecca]

Thank you Brian.

That's because you have the Display As value for John in your Contacts as
"Smith, John". John, however, has his "friendly name" (the name he's assigned
in his account settings) value as "John Smith". When you reply, Outlook will
use as the Display As for that address the string the original sender used.
it won't convert it to what you have in your Contacts.


Edit the message to change the Display Name field you don't like to be one you
do like. Open the message, click Edit>Edit Message, double-click the friendly
name "John Smith". That should bring up an "E-mail Properties" dialogue.
Change the "Display name" field to the format you want it, click OK, close the
message, and click OK to save the changes.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Thank you Brian.

You're welcome.

 

[Rebecca]

Hello Brian - this is Roger, standing in for Rebecca. I understand your
instructions, and can make them work, but - as I understand them - it only
works on a specific e-mail, one e-mail at a time, once you have located it !
I don't need to change an individual e-mail once I have found it - I need all
the names to be formatted the same way round so that I don't have to do two
separate searches on one person's name. So I don't think it solves my
problem - unless I've got the wrong end of the stick ! It appears that
something, somewhere, has caused first name and surname in our SENT folder
(other folders are fine) to effectively swap around depending on whether
there is a "Re:" or a "Fw:" on the front or not. I do not use a Contacts
list - I just click on the "To" button and pick a name from the GAL, so l am
still rather perplexed, I'm afraid.

 

[Michael H. Lewis]

You say that you don't use a Contacts List. I believe that is the issue
here. Look at the first line in the original reply.

Michael

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

It appears that
something, somewhere, has caused first name and surname in our SENT folder
(other folders are fine) to effectively swap around depending on whether
there is a "Re:" or a "Fw:" on the front or not. I do not use a Contacts
list - I just click on the "To" button and pick a name from the GAL, so l am
still rather perplexed, I'm afraid.

The GAL *is* a Contacts "list", so clearly you are using a Contacts "list".

Are all the messages where you see this happen internal to your Exchange
server?

 

[Rebecca]

Apologies - yes, I do use the GAL. And we are not running Outlook on an
Exchange server. Should have mentioned that before, perhaps ? Sorry. It
happens consistently on all internal e-mail messages in my SENT folder (and,
as far as I know, on everybody's).

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Apologies - yes, I do use the GAL. And we are not running Outlook on an
Exchange server.

I don't know of any way to have the GAL available without using Exchange.
What type of account do you use? POP? IMAP?

Should have mentioned that before, perhaps ? Sorry. It
happens consistently on all internal e-mail messages in my SENT folder (and,
as far as I know, on everybody's).

If you're not using Exchange, then all addresses are "external" and the likely
cause is the one I described already.

 

[Rebecca]

Many thanks. I have re-read your original explanation. But in your reply to
our "how do we overcome this ?" question, the implication is that I would
have to adjust every replied-to message in my Sent folder, to turn the name
round. There seems no point in doing this at this stage, surely, because it
is too late by then ! So I'm afraid I don't see how that would achieve the
desired effect of causing all the Sent messages to be grouped together for
the same name, at the outset. Is there no solution at the Administrator or
set-up stage, rather than by the individual user ? (other than using
Exchange !). Cheers, Roger.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Many thanks. I have re-read your original explanation. But in your reply
to
our "how do we overcome this ?" question, the implication is that I would
have to adjust every replied-to message in my Sent folder, to turn the name
round. There seems no point in doing this at this stage, surely, because it
is too late by then ! So I'm afraid I don't see how that would achieve the
desired effect of causing all the Sent messages to be grouped together for
the same name, at the outset. Is there no solution at the Administrator or
set-up stage, rather than by the individual user ? (other than using
Exchange !). Cheers, Roger.

You have three choices: 1) make all of your Display As fields match the
strings your senders have elected for their own friendly names. 2) get all
your senders to make their friendly names match what you have chosen as your
Display As fields. 3) modify the incoming messages as I described.