An Outlook user had this complaint:

Some of my contacts are in both the GAL and my local Contacts folder. Outlook updated my contacts (in my contacts folder) with information from the Global Address Book. How to disable this function? The GAL contains outdated information.

This is a feature of the Social Connector, with the automatic updates of contacts enabled by default. A change log is added to notes so you know what was changed.

Change the Update Settings

To change the setting in Outlook 2010, go to the View ribbon, People Pane, Account Settings, Settings button and change the update option from Update without prompting to Prompt before update or Never update.

In Outlook 2003 or 2007, the Account Settings dialog is accessed from Tools, Social Networking Account settings.

While it may be tempting to turn off updating, it defeats one purpose of the social connector: to keep your contacts updated. The change log in the notes field displays the changed data, should it try to update the contact with old information.

Disable Contact Updates Video Tutorial

Articles that may interest you:

Send an email when Outlook Reminders fire

iCloud and Outlook Problems: Syncing Calendar

iCloud and Outlook Problems: Syncing Contacts

How to Delete Outlook's Default Folders

Last reviewed on Apr 23, 2012