Windows Contacts Search Problem

[Mike Schumann]

I just imported my Address Book from Windows XP to Windows Contacts in
Vista. I am running into a couple of problems:

1. In XP, I could sort the name field both ascending and descending on
either the first name or last name. In Vista, it looks like this only works
on the 1st Name. HELP!

2. I can't figure out how the search function in Vista Contacts works. I
have hundreds of contacts. Anything I type in the search field ends up with
nothing found. Even when I type in a single "a", I get nothing, in spite of
the fact that I have lots of names (both 1st and last) starting with "a".

Am I doing something wrong, or is this an example of the horror stories I've
been reading about Vista.

 

[Guest]

I just imported my Address Book from Windows XP to Windows Contacts in
Vista. I am running into a couple of problems:

1. In XP, I could sort the name field both ascending and descending on
either the first name or last name. In Vista, it looks like this only
works on the 1st Name. HELP!

2. I can't figure out how the search function in Vista Contacts works. I
have hundreds of contacts. Anything I type in the search field ends up
with nothing found. Even when I type in a single "a", I get nothing, in
spite of the fact that I have lots of names (both 1st and last) starting
with "a".

Am I doing something wrong, or is this an example of the horror stories
I've been reading about Vista.

Autocompletion of addresses works only if you have it enabled, and
even then doesn't use the contacts list. Instead, it uses a separate
list of the last 29 addresses you sent messages to.

If you'd rather use the contacts list, start a new message as usual
except don't type any part of the address. Instead, click on To:.

 

[Mickey Segal]

You can sort by any field you want; you first have to enable that as a
column. However, sorting takes a huge amount of time and it is better to
use the searching. Searching won't work initially since the contacts need
to be added by the autoindexer, which takes time.

Windows Contacts is indeed one of the biggest steps backwards in Vista.
I've included it in my list of Vista annoyances at www.segal.org/vista/.

 

[Dave]

1. In the Contacts folder:
Change the View to "Details".
Right-click on the "Name" column heading, click on "First Name", then click
on "Last Name"
Click on the "Last Name" heading to sort by that, or click on "First Name"
heading to sort by that.

In a Create Mail window:
Click on To:
Click on the "Name" column heading... it cycles thru 4 different sorts

2. In the "Select Recipients" window, clicking on "Find..." opens the "Find
People" window. When I type a "d" in the name field, and click on "find
Now", it finds 39 entries with a "d" in one of the fields. Typing a "d*"
produces a "there are no entries in Contacts that match your search
criteria" message.

You might try using the newer windows Live Mail. It works better in many
ways, including the search.