Sorry, but I have no idea how to begin to duplicate what you're seeing, much less how to fix it. I've never seen those symptoms, and I've spent a lot of time playing around with linked contacts and address book displays.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"rju166" wrote in message ...
Thanks, Sue. Could it be something be screwy on my end or is it just
Outlook? Outlook doesn't seem to handle names in any way that I can
understand or predict.

I just played around with two contacts in our client folder, both having the
same full name, i.e. "John Smith," but with different "File As" names. One
shows the full name in a linked Contacts box, like this: John Smith. The
other shows the "File As" name, like this: Smith, John (Wills & Trust). I
gave them both test emails. The one used the full name for the display name
and the other used the File As name--just as in the linked Contacts. OK. Not
what I wanted, but at least half way predictable, given the way the contacts
behaved in the linked dialog box.

So then I created an email, went to the address book, and found all of the
contacts in the client folder using the "File As" name in the address
book--all of them going Last Name, First Name and then a case identifier in
parenthesis. EXCEPT for the two contacts I just gave emails to--BOTH used
the same full name in First Name, Last Name order, thus I couldn't even find
them at first. This stuff just drives me straight up the wall. How can a
program be tolerable or understandable if it isn't predictable?

Maybe it's because I'm using Outlook here at home and Outlook is set up
differently in the office. But I'm using the same Exchange server and any
changes I make at home show up in my office Outlook. Like if I change the
view or the font sizes the same thing shows up in the office. So why won't
it behave the same in the address book? Is it because the OS is different?
Xp Pro at home, Win 2k at office.

If it's a problem on my end, then how do I fix it? I've got thousands of
contacts, I can't just reenter them one by one. Importing is supposed to be
a bad thing, so what are my alternatives?


"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
Outlook provides no way to control that. My own experience is that Outlook
always uses the Full Name value to display the name in the linked Contacts
box.


"rju166" wrote in message
...

Outlook 2003, SBS 2003, and Office 2000

When I open an Outlook contact, click on the "Contacts..." button in the
lower left corner, and add one or more contacts, sometimes the linked
contacts will show the "Full Name" instead of the "File As Name." How can
I make it show the "File As Name" always? Note that most of the time, it
does show the "File As Name."

Also note that when the link shows the "Full Name," a pinhead will appear
when you mouse over the link and there will be menu options when you
right
click on the pinhead. No pinhead will show up when the "File As Name" is
used. However either way works OK as a link.

I need the "File As Name" so I can distinguish between duplicate contacts
with the same full name.