Saving and Updating Contact Information

Outlook stores contact information from different sources in separate address lists:

• Global Address List (GAL). If you're using Outlook to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server account, your organization's contact information is stored in the GAL. The GAL might include names, job titles, e-mail addresses, office locations, telephone numbers, and other contact information. It can also include organizational information (each person's manager and direct subordinates) and group membership information (the distribution lists and aliases each person belongs to). The GAL is administered as part of Exchange Server. Outlook users can view the GAL but not change its contents.

• Outlook Address Books. The Contacts address book automatically created by Outlook is your main address book. This address book does not appear in the folder structure within the Navigation Pane-you display it by clicking the Contacts button. You can create additional address books; for example, you might want to keep contact information for family and friends in an address book separate from client contact information, or maintain an address book for team members attached to a specific project. Each address book is a folder that contains contact items; in other words, a contacts folder. Contacts folders appear in the Navigation Pane along with other folders you create, and you can organize them in the same manner-for example, at the same level as your Inbox or within a project folder. All contacts folders are available from the My Contacts list in the Navigation Pane of the Contacts module.

  See Also For information about creating contact folders, see "Creating an Additional Address Book" later in this chapter.

• Mobile Address Book. A Mobile Address Book containing all the contacts in your main address book for whom you have mobile phone numbers listed is created automatically if you have an Outlook Mobile Service account

  See Also A discussion of Outlook Mobile Service is beyond the scope of this book. For information about Outlook Mobile Service and Mobile Address Books, refer to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Inside Out by Jim Boyce (Microsoft Press, 2007).

You can view all your address lists and address books in the Contacts module, or you can display a simple list from the Address Book window that opens when you click the Address Book button on the Standard toolbar. In the Address Book list, click the name of the Outlook address book or address list you want to display.

When you send an e-mail message to a person whose contact information is stored in one of your address books, you can quickly address the message to that person by typing his or her name into the To, Cc, or Bcc box, or by clicking the adjacent button to open the Address Book window and then selecting the intended recipient's name.

For each person whose information you record in an address book, you can store the following types of general information:

• Name, company name, and job title

• Business, home, and alternate addresses

• Business, home, mobile, pager, and other telephone numbers

• Business, home, and alternate fax numbers

• Web page address (URL), instant messaging (IM) address, and up to three e-mail addresses

• Photo or other identifying image

• General notes, which can include text and illustrations such as photos, clip art images, SmartArt diagrams, charts, and shapes

You can also store personal and organization-specific details for each contact:

• Professional information, including department, office location, profession, maager's name and assistant's name

• Personal information, including nickname, spouse or partner's name, birthday, anniversary, and the title (such as Miss, Mrs., or Ms.) and suffix (such as Jr. or Sr.) to use in correspondence

You can create a contact record containing only one piece of information (for example, a name or company name), or as much information as you want to include. You can quickly create contact records for several people who work for the same company by cloning the company information from an existing record to a new one. And of course, you can add to or change the information stored in a contact record at any time.

The order in which Outlook displays contact records is controlled by the File As setting. By default, Outlook files contacts by last name (Last, First order). If you prefer, you can change the File As order for new contacts to any of the following:

• First Last

• Company

• Last, First (Company)

• Company (Last, First)

To set the File As order, click Options on the Tools menu, and then in the Options dialog box, click the Contact Options button. You can change the File As order for an individual contact by selecting the order you want in the File As list in the contact record.

In this exercise, you will create and then edit a contact record. There are no practice files for this exercise.

BE SURE TO display the Contacts module before beginning this exercise.

1. On the Standard toolbar, click the New Contact button.

   A new contact window opens.

   See Also For information about the toolbars available in Outlook, see "Personalizing Your Outlook Workspace" and "Exploring the Advanced Toolbar" in Chapter 1, "Getting Started with Outlook 2007."

2. In the Full Name box, type John Emory, and then press the key.

   Outlook transfers the name to the File As box and displays it in the default order (Last, First).

3. In the Company box, type Wingtip Toys.

4. In the Job title box, type Assembly Plant Manager.

5. In the Internet area, type [e-mail] in the E-mail box, and press .

   The Display As box shows the contact's name and e-mail address as they will appear in the headers of e-mail messages you send and receive. You can change the display name, for example by removing the e-mail address or by adding a designator of Work or Home.

6. In the Web page address box, type www.wingtiptoys.com.

   Outlook automatically formats the text as a hyperlink.

7. In the Phone numbers area, type 9725550101 in the Business box, and press .

   Troubleshooting 

   The first time you enter a phone number for a contact, The Location Information dialog box opens, prompting you to enter your own country, area code, and any necessary dialing information such as a carrier code. Outlook sets up dialing rules based on the information you enter. You must enter at least your country and area code in the dialog box and then click OK; you can't close the dialog box without entering the requested information.

   Outlook formats the series of numbers you entered as a telephone number.

8. In the Addresses area, click in the text box, type 4567 Main Street, press the key, and then type Dallas, TX 98052.

   Tip 

   When you finish entering information in the Addresses area, Outlook verifies that the address conforms to a standard pattern . If Outlook detects irregularities in the address you enter, the Check Address dialog box opens, prompting you to enter the street address, city, state or province, postal code, and country in separate fields from which it reassembles the address. The intention of this feature is to verify that you have the information necessary to send mail to the contact. If you often create contact records with foreign addresses that don't conform to the pattern Outlook is looking for, you might find this annoying. If you determine that the information in the Check Address dialog box is correct, you can click Cancel to close the dialog box without making changes.

9. Click the Business arrow, and then in the list, click Home.

   The button label changes to indicate that you are displaying John's home address information.

10. In the text box, type 111 Magnolia Lane, press , and then type Flower Mound, TX 98053.

    Tip 

    If you record multiple addresses for a contact and want to specify one as the default mailing address, display that address and then select the This Is The Mailing Address check box.

    

11. On the Contact tab, in the Actions group, click the Save & Close button.

    The contact window closes.

    The Contacts pane now includes the new contact record for John Emory.

    

12. In the Contacts pane, double-click the contact record for John Emory.

13. On the Contact tab, in the Show group, click the Details button.

    Outlook displays the Details page of the contact record.

    Tip 

    You can assign follow-up flags to contact entries, and link contact entries to e-mail messages, appointments, tasks, and other Outlook items. You can view all items linked to a contact on the Activities page of the contact record.

14. In the Spouse/Partner box, type Barbara.

15. Click the Birthday arrow, scroll the calendar to July, and then click 31.

    

16. In the Actions group, click the Save & New arrow, and then in the list, click New Contact from Same Company.

    Outlook creates a new contact record, already containing the company's name, URL, phone number, and address.

17. In the Full Name box, type Andrea Dunker, and in the Job title box, type Sales Associate.

18. In the E-mail box, type [e-mail].

19. Save and close the open contact records.

20. Use the techniques described in this exercise to create contact records for the following people:

    Open table as spreadsheet

    Full name	E-mail address
    Greg Guzik	[e-mail]
    Jo Berry	[e-mail]
    Andy Ruth	[e-mail]

    You will use these contact records in later exercises.

CLOSE each of the open contact records to return to the Contacts pane.

BE SURE TO retain the contact records for use in a later exercise.

Quickly Communicating with Contacts

Contact records aren't useful only for storing information; you can also initiate a number of actions that are specific to the selected contact.

Here are some of the actions you can perform from within a contact record by using the commands in the Communicate group on the Contact tab:

• You can create an e-mail message addressed to the contact by clicking the E-mail button.

• You can create a meeting request that includes the contact by clicking the Meeting button.

• If you have Internet telephone capabilities, you can place a call to the contact by clicking the Call arrow, and then in the list, clicking the telephone number you would like to dial.

• You can create a task assigned to the contact by clicking the Assign Task button.

• You can display the contact's Web site by clicking the Web Page button.

• You can display a map of the contact's address by clicking the Map button.

If you have OneNote 2007 installed, you can create a OneNote note linked to the contact record. On the Contact tab, in the OneNote group, click the Contact Notes button.