Mailing lists - inconsistent behaviour?

[Sgte]

Outlook 2003 running on W7. In the Contacts the are a number who are categorised as "Clients". Those clients who have an e-mail address have been added to 1 contact called, imaginatively, Client E-mails.

In Contacts the sort order is Last Name, First Name. In the Client Emails it is mainly First Name, Last Name, and, in two instances (!!) Mr First Name Last Name [viz listed under Mr] This is soo inconsistant - is there any way to get it in the order Last Name, First Name

[HansV]

What happens if you open one of the contacts with 'Mr First Name Last Name' and click 'Full Name...'?
And how is it listed in the 'File as' box?

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[Sgte]

Hi again Hans,
I think I now understand why this happens: before this morning this client hadn't given us an e-mail address. When we entered it the Display as field is automatically completed. It is this field that is used in mailing lists NOT Last Name, First Name or First Name, Last Name (as I originally thought. However without editing all client e-mail address I am therefore stuck with it. How b*****y inconsistent this is!!

[HansV]

Try the following:
- Select Tools | E-mail Accounts...
- Click View or change existing directories or address books.
- Click Next >
- Select an address book.
- Click Change...
- Specify the order in Show names by.
- Click Close.
- Repeat for other address books (if available).
- Click Finish.
- Quit and restart Outlook.

If that doesn't help, you may be able to use VBA - see OL2000: How to Change the File As Field for All Contacts - it should work in Outlook 2003 too.