Why is "FAX" a valid e-mail type in address book?

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Opus - 13 Jan 2006 19:13 GMT

For some reason, my Outlook Address Book thinks that a fax number is a valid
e-mail address. When I put a contact name in the address line of a new
e-mail, the auto finder asks me to choose between the normal e-mail address
(SMTP) and the contact's fax number (FAX). When I open the address book,
there are two e-mail types listed in the "E-mail Type" column: SMTP and FAX.

How do I reset Outlook so that it doesn't have this issue?

Thanks.

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Brian Tillman - 13 Jan 2006 19:46 GMT

> For some reason, my Outlook Address Book thinks that a fax number is
> a valid e-mail address.

It thinks a pager number is a valie address, too, and with good cause.
There are many tools with which Outlook integrates that allow sending of
messages by Fax or pager. Can't address a message if the address isn't
there.

> How do I reset Outlook so that it doesn't have this issue?

You can't "reset" Outlook to not show fax numbers. What you can do, though,
is to use another field to hold the number, or modify the number in such a
way as to make it unrecognizable to Outlook as a fax number. For example,
prepending the letter "F" to it will cause it to not display in the Address
Book view. It will also cause it to be unusable by a FAX add-in, but if you
don't care about that, then you've achieved your goal.

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Brian Tillman

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 13 Jan 2006 19:54 GMT

It's because fax numbers ARE valid electronic addresses.
The standard behavior for the Outlook Address book is to display all
electronic addresses (both fax and e-mail). That behavior cannot be changed.
The only way to prevent the display of fax numbers is to store them in a
different field or to disguise them (e.g., precede them with an alpha
character) so that Outlook won't recognize them as phone numbers.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> For some reason, my Outlook Address Book thinks that a fax number is a valid
> e-mail address. When I put a contact name in the address line of a new
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Thanks.

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Opus - 13 Jan 2006 20:24 GMT

Thanks you very much for the response. I've learned something new today!.

> It's because fax numbers ARE valid electronic addresses.
> The standard behavior for the Outlook Address book is to display all
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> >
> > Thanks.

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