Overview of Contact Features

Using contacts, you can store names , postal and email addresses, phone numbers , personal information including spouse and children names, and assistant and department information. You can use this data to address email, make phone calls, and address letters and envelopes.

The contact form has five tabs:

• General ” Contains name , postal, email, IM addresses, and phone fields.

• Details ” Contains office information, personal information, and NetMeeting and Internet Free-Busy server settings.

• Activities ” Lists other Outlook items that are linked to the contact.

• Certificates ” Lists all digital certificates associated with the contact.

• All Fields ” A List view of all Contact fields. Fields are editable.

Many people only use the first tab, General, for contact data (see Figure 10.1). The contact form used by Outlook 2003 now also includes an image control so that you can add photos to each contact. The Activity tab is not user -editable and lists the items linked to the contact using the Contact field found on all Outlook forms.

Figure 10.1. The General tab of the contact form includes fields for your contact's name, three physical addresses, nineteen phone numbers, and three email addresses as well as Web site and instant messenger addresses.

You can customize the view used on the Activity tab using the same options you would use to customize any folder view. To access the Customize View dialog, right-click on the row of field names and choose C ustomize Current View, or select one of the other options from the context menu.

The Details tab contains fields for personal information, including the contact's birth date and spouse's name. Recurring events are added to your calendar automatically when you enter the birth date and anniversary to a contact.