Re: Can't bring up an arbitrary contact from my contact subfolders

From: Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] (russval_at_mvps.org)
Date: 10/10/04 

Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 05:23:39 -0500

That's what I thought. That is completely different than the "New Message to
Contact" action.

The Outlook Address Book is a poor choice for selecting recipients in the
way you want because it cannot be configured. Contact Folders will simply
appear in the order in which they were added. You can only select which
folder appears first and the order in which folders will be searched.
Moreover, folders will only be searched until there is a match and no
subsequent folders will be searched after that.
Outlook's search/find features are designed for use in the Contact Folder
interface, not the Address Book. 

-- 
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"david" <david@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:9C5CB3C0-C543-43DC-BBC2-A3E7E8690466@microsoft.com...
> Open Outlook 2003.
> Click on Inbox.
> Do "CNTL N" (to open a blank email.)
> Click on "To" (to bring up the pop up for selecting receipients)
> (and yes, my subfolders are enabled as email address books.)
>
> From here, I want to send an email to say 3 persons whose names I may not
> recall or know, and will need to search through my contact sub-folders in
> order to locate them.
> To find receipient #1, I would normally need to navigate through my 
> contact
> folder like this:
>   contact  -> customers -> New York    (and then pick from all my new york
> clients.)
> To find receipient #2, I may need to do this:
>   contact -> trades -> painters   (and then pick the name of a painter).
> Similarly for the third receipient.
>
> Unfortunately the "Select Names" pop up window does not present the 
> contact
> folders in hierarchy structure.
> It also does not give user a sorted view of the folders, which for 
> instacne
> would allow me to zeroed in on "painters" quickly if I want to locate all 
> my
> painter contacts.
> To appreciate the problem, please recall I do have many subfolders several
> levels deep, so it would not be practical to just browse through the names 
> of
> the subfolders (100's of them) if they are not presented to user in some
> logical order (such as "original hierarchy", or "sorted'.)
>
> I am hoping that someone out there has a solution that provide any or all 
> of
> these capabilities:
> (i)  ability to get the "Select Names" pop up to present contact 
> subfolders
> in collapsible  hierarch order;
> (ii) ability to get the "Select Names" pop up to present contact 
> subfolders
> in sorted order;
> (iii) ability to toggle the "email address book" setting for a subfolder 
> and
> all subfolders beneath it with one click;
> (iv) ability to accumulate recipient names for a new email as these
> receipients are identified by (A) clicking on the contact entry for the
> receipient in a contact subfolder; and (B) finding the receipient using 
> the
> "Advanced Find" facility.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
>
>> No. There aren't "several ways" to gain access to the New Message to 
>> Contact
>> command, and none of them  will invoke the Check name dialog.
>> Why don't you start by telling us the steps you are using. Include
>> information on how you have configured the Outlook Address Book and 
>> whether
>> you have enabled your subfolders as email address books.
>> -- 
>> Russ Valentine
>> [MVP-Outlook]
>> "david" <david@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:E160341B-1882-4E85-A440-057C08219966@microsoft.com...
>> > There are several ways to gain access to "Actions - New Message", doing
>> > which
>> > will cause a screen to be popped up for one to compose an email.
>> > Regardless of how the screen for composing email has popped up,
>> > whatI am trying to accomplish is to be able to search for and bring up 
>> > an
>> > arbitrary contact (or contacts), and send this contact an email.
>> >
>> > The "To" button on the email composing screen will spawn a new pop up 
>> > for
>> > one to select email receipients.
>> > But I don't see the complete contact folder and subfolders presented in
>> > the
>> > pop up.
>> > Hence I am not able to navigate to the desired folder, and can't locate
>> > the
>> > desired  contact.
>> > I am aware that I can always find the contact first by search through 
>> > the
>> > "folder list"  .  However, that is not what I wish to do.
>> > Hope this is not too confusing.
>> > David
>> >
>> > "Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
>> >
>> >> I don't understand.
>> >> Actions > New Message to Contact can only be launched from the Contact
>> >> Folder after you have already selected the recipient. Otherwise it is
>> >> grayed
>> >> out.
>> >> You must be using some other step. Clarify what you're really doing.
>> >> -- 
>> >> Russ Valentine
>> >> [MVP-Outlook]
>> >> "david" <david@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:5E2F3387-0645-44D8-BAA7-2C423777D151@microsoft.com...
>> >> > Hi,
>> >> > I have several levels of subfolders under my main contact folder.
>> >> > I want to send an email to a contact by doing:
>> >> > Action   ->   New Message to contact.
>> >> > and then select the receipient.
>> >> >
>> >> > A pop up appears, saying "Select Names":
>> >> > From this pop up, I am not able to navigate through my contact
>> >> > sub-folder
>> >> > structure and locate the contact(s) to whom I want to write an 
>> >> > email.
>> >> > I am using Office 2003  and Window XP, desktop version.
>> >> > Does anyone have a solution?  Thanks.
>> >> >
>> >> > David
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>