Suppose I open outlook and the screen that it opens to is the inbox.
If I then click on my contacts shortcut, the contacts window opens and
the first contact is highlighted.  I can then type a letter or letters
and outlook will "jump" to the contact it thinks I'm looking for
(that's what I mean by it being "active").

Contrarily, if I'm looking at the inbox and then click to open Outlook
Today and subsequently click on the contacts shortcut, the first
contact in my list is not highlighted and if I type a letter, nothing
happens; I have to first highlight one of the contacts.

My recollection is that this was not the case with previous versions.

For me, I like using Outlook Today, so not having it available is not
a viable option.  However, it seems to me that when any of the folders
is open, it should be "active" in the main window.  The same problem
occurs in all folders (tasks, calendar, etc.), after Outlook Today is
opened.

I hope you understand what I've tried to explain!