Outlook nicknames

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Mickey Cunningham - 03 Feb 2005 17:41 GMT

I am brand new to Outlook (have used Pine previously) and am having a great
deal of difficulty figuring out how to type a single name in the "To" field
and have Outlook recognize who I'm sending to. Is there a field in the
address book that works such that when I type a name (i.e. John) it fills in
the address JohnDoe@www.com? Otherwise, how do I get the autofill feature to
recognize who I'm wanting to send to? Along the same lines, if I type "John"
and nothing else, I then get sent to a "Global Address Book" with a list of
names that appear for my institution rather than from my own contacts. Is
there a way to switch this so that at least my own address book shows up? In
general, the user-friendlyness of the ability to important email addresses
into my contacts (you *have* to use the mouse--no way to keyboard shortcut)
and to send emails without typing the entire address seems surprisingly low
given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] - 03 Feb 2005 18:23 GMT

You neglected to mention your Outlook version. It matters a great deal.

Signature

Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

>I am brand new to Outlook (have used Pine previously) and am having a great
> deal of difficulty figuring out how to type a single name in the "To"
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> low
> given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Mickey Cunningham - 03 Feb 2005 18:53 GMT

Sue,
Oops. 3 things. First, I'm using Outlook 2003. Second thing:
Typo below should read:

> > In
> > general, the user-friendlyness of the ability to *import* email addresses
> > into my contacts (you *have* to use the mouse--no way to keyboard
> > shortcut) . . .

Third, I didn't actually expect a response, I guess. I can clarify a little
more. In Pine, I could type "T" when I received an email, and this would
bring up any email address in the email and ask me if I wanted to add it to
my address book. Once I selected the email, I gave it a name, and when I
typed that name in the "To" field, it would fill in that address. In Outlook,
I imported my addresses from my old mail, but I can't figure out how I
actually give the contact a "name" so that when I type it in the "To" field,
that person's address is inserted.

Thanks for your help.

> You neglected to mention your Outlook version. It matters a great deal.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > low
> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] - 10 Feb 2005 12:33 GMT

Outlook 2003 has an autocompletion feature that will automatically suggest
names. The catch is that the autocompletion cache is not populated until you
send to a person once.

If the name is not in the autocomplete cache, Outlook will attempt to
resolve it from available address lists. You can set which address lists are
used for name resolution, in what order: Tools | Address Book, then Tools |
Options. My guess, from your description, is that your Contacts folder is
not first in the list.

Signature

Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

> Sue,
> Oops. 3 things. First, I'm using Outlook 2003. Second thing:
[quoted text clipped - 51 lines]
>> > low
>> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Mickey Cunningham - 10 Feb 2005 23:19 GMT

Sue,
Thanks for your response. I have two follow-ups. First, I did figure out
how to populate the autocompletion cache. However, it does not work
consistently. For example, when sending to a person named "Jim" it worked
fine for a few days. Yesterday when I typed "Jim," it gave me two other
options of people named "Jim" (from the correct contact folder), but not the
one I had already been using successfully. It seems to have stopped
recognizing the main "Jim" I send to. Any ideas why. Nonetheless, this I can
live with.
My second follow-up is just a clarification about what I think I *cannot*
do using Outlook 2003. Let's say I want to send an email to my dad. With my
old email, I gave his address a name ("Dad") and when I typed Dad in the
"To:" field, it put this address and no other. Of course, my Dad's first and
last name are not "Dad." There is no field in the contact folder than I can
give a name to a contact in and have that address appear in the "To" field if
I type the nickname (or whatever you want to call it, since Outlook's
"nickname" field does not do this, as far as I can tell), correct?
Thank you again for your help.

> Outlook 2003 has an autocompletion feature that will automatically suggest
> names. The catch is that the autocompletion cache is not populated until you
[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]
> >> > low
> >> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Randy - 11 Feb 2005 13:02 GMT

Mickey,

Your autocomplete cache is stored in a file called an NK2 file. It can
store a name such as "dad" with your dad's e-mail address. If entered that
way, it will autocomplete upon entering the letter "d" in the address box.

The NK2 file is directly linked to the "display as" field in your contact
folder under the e-mail address field. For more information regarding the
NK2 file, you may write to me at "sales" at www.dcs-imaging.com and I'll be
happy to send you all that we know and have learned about the NK2 file.

Randy

> Sue,
> Thanks for your response. I have two follow-ups. First, I did figure out
[quoted text clipped - 100 lines]
>> >> > low
>> >> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] - 15 Feb 2005 14:15 GMT

#1: I stopped worrying about why Outlook does quirky things with addresses
long ago. I suspect Jim will be back in time.

#2: Make a distribution list named Dad with one member, your dad's email
address.

Signature

Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

> Sue,
> Thanks for your response. I have two follow-ups. First, I did figure out
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>> Options. My guess, from your description, is that your Contacts folder is
>> not first in the list.

>> > Sue,
>> > Oops. 3 things. First, I'm using Outlook 2003. Second thing:
[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]
>> >> > low
>> >> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Mickey Cunningham - 03 Feb 2005 21:07 GMT

I found the following in another thread: Perhaps it is the closest thing to a
solution?

The developers of Owtlook (http://www.dcs-imaging.com/products.htm) have
developed a workaround to do this:
In MS Outlook, go to tools, options, mail setup, send/receive. Uncheck the
"Send immediately when connected box". Next, press the Send/Receive Button
(in Options) and uncheck "Schedule an automatic send/receive". Finally,
click "Work Offline, or if you want to be extra careful, disconnect your
computer from the internet by removing your network and/or telephone
connection.

Now open a new e-mail, press the bcc or to or cc button, select the contact
folder you would like to bring into your NK2 (autocomplete) file. Select
all names by highlighting first and last contact and then add them by
pressing the OK button at the bottom. With your computer disconnected from
your mail server, press the send button. This will automatically populate
your autocomplete file with all of the selected e-mail addresses. Next, go
to your Outbox and delete the e-mail(s) that you just created. Go back into
your Tools, Options, Mail Setup, Send/Receive and change your options back
to the original settings. Remember to put your mail settings back and plug
in your removed cables.

> You neglected to mention your Outlook version. It matters a great deal.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > low
> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Randy - 03 Feb 2005 23:01 GMT

Mickey,

We're the folks that Sue mentioned. We have a document explaining much
about the NK2 file (and also a little marketing plug for out NK2 editing
utility). I'll be happy to send it to you if you contact me using the sales
address at the www.dcs-imaging.com account.

Today, we also learned that it "might" be possible to increase the file
limitation currently set for the NK2 from 1,000 entries to ??? The registry
hack is only for OL2002. We tested it on our OL2003 installations and it
did not work but we are hopeful that if there is a hack for 2002 that there
might be one for 2003. Once testing is complete for the OL2002 product and
if we can find something for the 2003 product, we will incorporate it in our
next release of Owtlook. It will be a button to "Increase NK2 autocomplete
file?" Then, select the version and then enter. Again, it does NOT work
for 2003 and hasn't been tested for 2002 so this is very preliminary.
However, we ARE hopeful as we receive many requests for the ability to
increase the NK2 file's capacity.

Randy

>I found the following in another thread: Perhaps it is the closest thing to
>a
[quoted text clipped - 57 lines]
>> > low
>> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message

Mickey Cunningham - 08 Feb 2005 20:35 GMT

Sue,
After your initial very speedy response, I haven't heard any follow-up. I
still don't really understand the best way to set this up.

> You neglected to mention your Outlook version. It matters a great deal.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > low
> > given the ubiquity of the program. Thanks for any guidance.

Reply to this Message