Changing how Contacts are displayed and filed in Outlook 2000, 2002, and 2003

In Outlook, Contacts are entries for people that you contact on a regular basis. Outlook allows you to keep and organize information for each Contact, ranging from phone numbers and multiple email addresses to your spouse's name and anniversary.

You can change the display order of your Contacts by alphabetizing them by first name, by last name, or even by the name of the company for which each person works.

To change the default for how entries are added to and displayed in your Contacts folder, follow the appropriate steps below.

Outlook 2002 and 2003

From the Tools menu, select Email Accounts....
Select View or change existing directories or address books, and click Next.
Select Outlook Address Book and click Change....
In the "Show names by:" field, choose either First, Last, or File as (Smith, John).
Click Close, then Finish.

Outlook 2000

From the Tools menu, select Services....
Highlight Outlook Address Book and click Properties.
Highlight Contacts: Mailbox - Lastname, Firstname, and in the "Show names by:" field, choose either First, Last, or File as (Smith, John).
Click Close, then OK.

To further organize the way your Contacts are displayed, from the Contacts folder, click the arrow beside the "File As:" field. This will allow you to override the default settings you created by following the steps above.

To see a list of your Contacts, click the Contacts icon on the Outlook Shortcut Bar. To view the complete information for a Contact, double-click the name of the Contact. From there, you can click the Details tab to add further information about your contact, such as a spouse's name or an anniversary.

You can display your Contacts in any of the following ways:

Lastname, Firstname	Smith, John
Firstname Lastname	John Smith
By Company	Acme Anvil Company
Lastname, Firstname (Company)	Smith, John (Acme Anvil Company)
Company (Lastname, Firstname)	Acme Anvil Company (Smith, John)