The penny dropped...I complicated something that had a simple answer. I
went to each mis-matched contact and in 'file as' deleted the 'lastname,
firstname' option which I had manually typed myself. The automatic
'lastname, firsname' then came up and I saved the contact. Everything is
now in the right order.

Thanks for your help !

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Remove individual addresses from the autocompletion cache by highlighting
the entry when presented in the suggested names list (use your arrow key to
migrate to the entry) and then hitting your Delete key before you tab out of
the field. If your autocomplete list contains only a single entry, use the
directions he
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;289975
If that article is unavailable, the gist of it is to send a message using a
name or address that will add another entry to that dropdown list. Then you
will have the ability to use the arrow key to select the name you want to
remove. This step is no longer necessary in Outlook 2003 and higher.

To clear the entire cache, follow the instructions he
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q287623


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Ron" wrote in message
...
When you create a new email and type a letter in the to... box, it will
show
previous email addresses. A user has changed some email addresses but it
still shows the old address when their name is type in. Is there any way
to
flush the memory or get it to forget the old address.