How Outlook masks phone numbers is based on your dialing location. It is
hard coded and cannot be changed. The only ways I know of to prevent
Outlook's masking of phone numbers are:
1. Enclose the phone numbers in quotes.
2. Set your operating system's dialing location to a null value. Current OS
do not permit you to do this through the GUI. You need to change two strings
in the registry to turn your location into a null setting. Outlook won't
nag you to set a location since you have a location set...Windows just
doesn't understand what it is. You can save the following lines as a *.reg
file to merge these keys to the registry. You can undo this action by going
back into the location settings under Phone and Modem Options, so you can't
really cause any major damage with this hack. Always back up your registry
anyway, just in case.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Telephony\Locations\Location0]
"AreaCode"="4"
"Country"=dword:0000fde1
