Using Multiple Contacts Folders

Outlook supports as many Contacts folders as you want to use. Although there are better ways to manage contacts, such as using categories, you can use multiple Contacts folders to manage your contacts. In some situations, it makes sense to use multiple Contacts folders:

• To keep business and personal contacts separate

• To separate contacts who are contacted by email only from contacts you also contact by phone or postal mail

• When you're using a shared Contacts folder stored in Exchange Server public folders

You can have all your Contacts folders enabled as Outlook Address Books or enable only some of the folders as address books. Select a different address list by choosing a different list from the Show Names From The list.

Add a Contacts Folder to the Outlook Address Book

To enable (or disable) a Contacts folder from displaying in the address book list, right-click on the Contacts folder you want to change and choose Properties, and then click the Outlook Address Book tab. Check (or uncheck) Show This Folder as an Email Address Book. You can enter a more descriptive name in the Name of the Address Book field. This field affects only the display name shown in the Address Book's Show Names From The list, not the folder name shown in Outlook.

If you have more than one address book set up in Outlook, you can change which folder displays first and control the order in which address books are used and searched using the following steps:

1. Use Tools, Address Book to open the address book, and then select Tools, Options to open the Addressing dialog box, as shown in Figure 11.5.

   Figure 11.5. Use the Addressing dialog box to manage your address lists.

   

2. Choose the address list you will use the most from the Show This Address List First: list.

3. Choose the location you want to use to for addresses that are automatically added to your address book from the Keep Personal Addresses In list. Only address books to which you have write access are listed.

4. Arrange the order of the address lists shown in the When Sending Mail, Check Names Using These Address Lists in the Following Order dialog box. Select an address list and use the arrow buttons to move that list up or down.

   You should put the most-used lists first and the least-used lists last. You should use local address lists first. LDAP and other address lists that are accessed over the Internet should be last in the list; otherwise, there might be delays when you're resolving addresses.

See "Phantom Address Books" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter if your Outlook Address Book lists more Contacts folders than you have in your mailbox.

TIP

When you use automatic name checking or press Alt=K (or Ctrl+K) to force name resolution, Outlook searches the address books in the order they're listed in the address book's Tools, Options menu. When a match to one or more of your Contacts is found, Outlook will not search the next address book in the list.