Understanding the Outlook AddressBook
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Far too frequently the terms Outlook AddressBook (AB) and Contacts (specifically – contact folders) are used interchangeably based on the (incorrect) premise that both are one and the same thing.
Questions that are commonly asked include some of the following:
- How do I import contacts into my Outlook Address Book?
- Why is the sequence of the Outlook AB different from the default setting for either FullName or FileAs?
- Why can’t I export my Outlook AddressBook?
- I made a change in the Outlook AB but it didn’t take?
- Why don’t my contacts show in the AB?
The answer is simple – the Outlook AddressBook is not a standalone entity or to put it another way, it does not contain contact information in its own right. The Outlook Address Book is nothing more than a very customized “VIEW” of the contact folders on which it is based. It is purely a representation of the underlying contact folders but with it’s own special set of options that can be set which includes:
- Setting the contact folder from which the initial contacts will be displayed when the AB is opened
- Setting the sort order of the contacts that appear
The Address Book is unqiue to each individual Outlook profile based on the settings for that profile. It can not be “shared”, “saved”, “moved” or “copied” as a standalone entity.
Under normal conditions, the default contact folder is automatically a member of the AddressBook but the AddressBook can be made up of any number of contact folders.
To include/exclude a contact folder in the AddressBook:
–>Right click on the contact folder –>properties –>Outlook Address Book tab –>check/uncheck the box for “Show this field as an e-mail Address Book” (as required)
To change the the contact folder used to display contacts when the Address Book is first opened
–>Open the Address Book –>From the Address Book menu bar –> Tools –>Make the appropriate changes based on the options presented
There is no argument that the terminology used in some segments of the Microsoft user-interface (the above being one such example) or some areas of the documentation contributes to the confusion regarding a contact folder being an Address Book (and vice cersa). Microsoft could have selected a far better choice of words to avoid people thinking that a contact folder and Address Book are synonomous items
An overview of this material can be seen in the following video
Changing Outlook Address Book Settings
To change contact sort order of the Address Book:
In Outlook ‘2007 –>Outlook menu –>Tools –>Account Settings –>Select AddressBooks tab –>Highlight the applicable AddressBook –>Select “change” –>Select desired “Show Names” by sequence
In Outlook ‘2010/’2013 –>Outlook menu –>File –>Account Settings –>same steps as described for Outlook ‘2007 above
An overview of how to change Outlook settings can also be seen in
Category: Understanding Outlook
