Contact & Address Book Options Settings

Contact and Address book settings are found in three locations in Outlook.

Address Book

In the Address Book's (Ctrl+Shift+B) Tools, Options dialog, you'll find the options to select which address book is shown first when you click To, where your personal addresses are kept, and the order auto-resolution searches your address books.

The dialog is slightly different in Outlook 2010, due to the new feature where Outlook chooses the sending account based on the folders you are viewing.

You can choose to start with the Global Address list (Exchange server accounts only), the Contacts folder, or Custom order. If you maintain one contacts folder for all accounts, the Custom order is best, but it can be confusing if you have separate address books for each account type.

Contact Options (in Options dialog)

In Tools, Options, Contact Options you can control the file as format and the default name order. In Outlook 2010, this dialog is at File, Options, Contacts.

The default name order tells Outlook that "Mary Smith" is in first name last name format. If you prefer to enter names in last name first name format, without using commas ("Smith Mary"), this is the setting you'll need to change. When Outlook files names in "Mary, Smith" format, check your default name order setting. Changing this setting will not change existing contacts, it applies only to new contacts.

Restart Outlook to insure changes made here to take effect.

Account settings, Address Book settings

Directory and Address book settings are found in Account Settings (Tools menu in older versions or File tab in Outlook 2010). This controls the sort order you see when you click the To button or view the address book. Double click on the address book or select it and click Change.

If your contacts use different FileAs formats, we have a macro you can use to change them to a universal format at Bulk Change File As Format for Contacts.