Outlook "Display As" fields reset

T

ThumperNut

Hi - can anyone provide a simple way to change the three “Display As
fields to a folder of Outlook 2007 contact items, so that the “Displa
As” fields are the same as the “Full Name” or “File As” field?

I used my Windows Mobile phone to sync my Contacts folder between m
home Outlook 2007 and office Outlook 2003, and all the Display As field
now only display the contact's email address.

Thanks
Glen
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

K

Karl Timmermans

You may find ContactGenie Toolkit of interest in regards to standardizing
either of these 3 fields -
http://www.contactgenie.com/toolkit_4_outlook.htm

One thing that should be kept in mind....

#1 - This issue will occur any time you sync your contacts
#2 - While CG Toolkit does provide the capability to standardize the
fields - it is a "bulk" update tool and not an addin that monitors
real-time changes on an item by item basis. The reason for mentioning that
in this case and for all who may make manual changes to any of these fields
is this caveat:

If you modify any of the underlying fields that apply to one of these
fields (i.e. email address for Email DisplayAs as an example) - the
contents of the field will be chnaged by Outlook when re-saving the
contact as Outlook. This is, however, not true in all cases for all fields
across all versions of Outlook - changing the FileAs to a non-standard
format will not result in Outlook making a change to it (as another for
instance).

Also, the standard Email DisplayAs format for Outlook '2007 is
"First Middle Last Suffix (email address)" so if your Outlook '2007 EDA's
have changed, would indicate that the mobile sync software is what is
making the change. Since Outlook would not create that format "unless"
there was no contact name.

Lastly, as a sidenote unrelated to the issue caused by syncing, a behaviour
that is worth noting in the Outlook UI, if you populate a "new" contact's
email address <BEFORE> entering the contact's name - the Email
DisplayAs will only contain the email address in the EDA field. The
EDA field will not change even you then proceed to enter the contact's
name. Additionally, if you subsequently make a change to the name - the
EDA does not get regenerated. Make a change to the Email Address and
the EDA will reflect the current contents of the Name and Email Address.

In short, what happens to a number of Outlook fields depends on what
is done, the sequence it's done in, and how it's done. This applies to both
the Outlook UI and programmatic solutions (whether 3rd party or
"roll-your-own"). There are several different ways that an Outlook
contact item can get updated programmatically and not all have the
same results without some kind of additional manipulation beyond
the simplistic "ContactField = value" / "ContactItem.Save".

Karl
--
____________________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - QuickPort/DataPort/Exporter/Toolkit/Duplicate Contact Mgr
"Contact import/export/data management tools for Outlook '2000/2010"
http://www.contactgenie.com
 

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