Outlook 2010 introduced a new feature when you hover over the address fields in email.
The contact card looks like screenshot below. With the basic contact card, you'll see the person's photo (if available) and their presence information. You can click the icons to send the person an email, IM, call the person or view additional options (see later screenshot). Use the down arrow (on the far right) to expand the card to show more information.
By expanding the card, you can see phone numbers and additional information. Note that this screenshot is from a user of an Exchange server mailbox and the user is signed in to Lync. If the contact is not in the Exchange address list, organization and member of tabs will not be present. The presence information requires a Lync or supported Messenger client.
By using Group policy or setting specific registry values, you can disable these features.
You can also change the placement of the calendar and location fields on the expanded card, change the field names and change the fields used.
How to Disable Contact Card Features
Outlook does not have an option to turn the card off, however, administrators can disable it using group policy. Note: It's in the Office ADM file, not Outlook.
To disable it without using group policy, open the Registry Editor, browse to the location given below and create or change the DWORD values.
After adding all of the values below, the contact card will resemble the one to the left.
Close Outlook. Press Windows key + R to open the Run command or in the Start menu's Search field, type regedit to open the registry editor.
Browse to the key in the registry editor and create the DWORD if it does not exist.
Turn off photo
With the TurnOffPhotograph value set to 1, the contact picture will not display in the contact card, message header, or other places that display the contact photo.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common
DWORD: TurnOffPhotograph
Value: 1 (no picture) or 0 (show picture)
If you don't want to edit the registry, we have a ready to use reg file here: TurnOffPhotograph. Download it (right click, use Save Link as in Firefox), then double click to run it and add it to your registry. Remember to restart Outlook for the registry edits on this page to take effect.
Don't show the card when you hover over the address
With this DWORD value set to 1, the contact card will not pop-up when the mouse hovers over the email address. You can still bring up the contact card by right clicking on the display name.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\contactcard
DWORD: TurnOffHoverFunctionality
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
Ready to use reg file: TurnOffHoverFunctionality. Download it (Firefox: right click, Save Link as), then double click to run it and add it to your registry. Restart Outlook.
Remove the tabs (Exchange GAL only)
These values remove the Organization and Member of tab (shown in the image above). These tabs are used only with Exchange server mailboxes, including Office 365 or hosted Exchange accounts.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\contactcard
DWORD: TurnOffOrganizationTab
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
DWORD: TurnOffMemberOfTab
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
Ready to use reg file to disable both tabs: TurnOff -Both- Tabs. Download the reg file (Firefox: right click, Save Link as), then double click to run it and add it to your registry. Restart Outlook. Note: if you don't want to remove both tabs, open the reg file in Notepad and edit or delete the value for the tab you want to keep. Save your changes before running the reg file.
Use the legacy address property dialogs or contact form
This key is misnamed, as it is not restricted to the old GAL dialog or Exchange accounts. When you click on an address in the reading pane, open message, or in a contact, you'll see an expanded contact card. With this key enabled, you'll see the old dialogs: the gal form, a contact, or the email properties dialog.
Users who want to immediately see the email properties dialog when they double click on an address in an open contact (the same behavior as in older versions) will enable it using this value. With the default value, you will need to go to Outlook Properties to open the address property dialog.
DWORD: TurnOnLegacyGALDialog
Value: 1 (enable) or 0 (disable)
Ready to use reg file: TurnOnLegacyGALDialog. Download the reg file (Firefox: right click, Save Link as), then double click to run it and add it to your registry. Restart Outlook.
This short video shows the address property dialogs that are affected by this value.
Remove IM presence in Office applications
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\im
DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIntegration
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
DWORD: TurnOffPresenceIcon (3 options)
Value: 0 (Show presence everywhere)
Value: 1 (Show only in quick contacts, contact card, sharepoint)
Value: 2 (Don't show presence)
Click to call or IM
Removes the button to contact the person by phone or IM in the contact card and ribbon.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\im
DWORD: TurnOffClicktoIM
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
DWORD: TurnOffClicktoPhone
Value: 1 (turn off) or 0 (enable)
Ready to use reg file: TurnOffClicktos. Download the reg file (Firefox: right click, Save Link as), then double click to run it and add it to your registry. To remove only one of the icons, open the reg file in Notepad and change the value for the key to 0 or delete it, then save and run the reg file. Restart Outlook.
Change the Expanded Contact Card
Use the following DWORD values to change the expanded contact card. All of the values are under the same registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\14.0\common\contactcard
These all require two values - one to tell Outlook you want to change the line, name, or field and the second values with the new line, new name, or new field.
Move to a different line
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabCalendarLineMove
Value: 1 (move) or 0 (use default line)
DWORD: CalendarValueLocation
Value: 1 to 8
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLocationLineMove
Value: 1 (move) or 0 (use default line)
DWORD: LocationValueLocation
Value: 1 to 8
Change label name
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceTitle
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: TitleLabelReplace
Value="New Title"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceOffice
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: OfficeLabelReplace
Value=="New Office"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceWork
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: WorkLabelReplace
Value="New Work"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceMobile
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: MobileLabelReplace
Value="New Mobile"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceHome
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: HomeLabelReplace
Value="New Home"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceEmail
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: EmailLabelReplace
Value="New Email"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceCalendar
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: CalendarLabelReplace
Value="New Calendar"
DWORD: TurnOnContactTabLabelReplaceLocation
Value: 1 (change) or 0 (use default label)
DWORD: LocationLabelReplace
Value="New Location"
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Last reviewed on Apr 6, 2012
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