Outlook places comma in wrong place for some contacts

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Eric H - 26 Apr 2006 17:48 GMT

I have searched this forum and the MS knowlegebase and can not find a answer
to my problem.

Occasionally, Outlook will place the comma in the wrong place for a contact
in the "file as" box. If I enter Jim Smith, it sometimes appears in the
"file as" box as Jim, Smith.

I have the preferences set to sort by last name. This problem only occurs
occasionally. When it does occur, I am unable to edit the contact in order
to fix it. In fact, today I deleted the contact and re-entered it but it
still was displayed as Jim, Smith.

Any ideas?

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Eric H

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 26 Apr 2006 22:07 GMT

Looks to me like the name is in the wrong place, not the comma.
You failed to specify the setting you specified for the File As... field and
how you are parsing the name elements when you enter them. Nor is it clear
in what view you are seeing this. You also left out your Outlook version. So
there's pretty much nothing here we would need to guess at an answer.

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Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

>I have searched this forum and the MS knowlegebase and can not find a
>answer
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Any ideas?

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Eric H - 26 Apr 2006 22:34 GMT

Outlook 2003 ver. (11.8010.6568) SP2

The name IS entered correctly, it IS the comma that is appearing in the
wrong place. This only happens on rare occasion, it is not an everyday
occurance. I have been using outlook for many years. I am not a newby.

As I stated, the preferences are set to file as "Last First." I don't know
what you mean by "how you are parsing the name elements when you enter them?"
I entered the name in the Name field as Jim Smith. When I tab down it
appears in the File as box as Jim, Smith. Here is a screenshot so you can
see it with your own eyes.
http://members.cox.net/ehardman/outlookscreenshot.jpg

Signature

Eric H

> Looks to me like the name is in the wrong place, not the comma.
> You failed to specify the setting you specified for the File As... field and
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> >
> > Any ideas?

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 26 Apr 2006 22:53 GMT

Umm...
If you set your preference to be "Last, First"
and yet you see "Jim, Smith" how do you conclude that it is the comma that
is misplaced and not the names?
That sure looks like "First, Last" to me.
You confuse the issue when you mention "sorting" preferences. They are not
in play here. State more clearly to which "preferences" you are referring
and state the setting you specified for the File As..field. State precisely
how you are entering the name elements. Open the Full Name... dialog and
parse the name elements yourself into the correct fields and see what
happens. Outlook sometimes gets confused if you are entering very short
names into the Full Name field because it doesn't know how to parse them.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> Outlook 2003 ver. (11.8010.6568) SP2
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>> >
>> > Any ideas?

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Eric H - 27 Apr 2006 16:13 GMT

All this time, I never notice that there was Full Name button to click on.
Doing so revealed that Outlook had reversed the first and last name. After
making the correction using Full Name field, the File as window correctly
showed Lastname, Firstname. However, the Full Name field now shows Lastname
Firstname (no comma seperation).

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Eric H

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 27 Apr 2006 21:08 GMT

We're still waiting for you to tell us the preferences you set for each of
those fields.
Did you look?

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> All this time, I never notice that there was Full Name button to click on.
> Doing so revealed that Outlook had reversed the first and last name.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Lastname
> Firstname (no comma seperation).

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