Address Book does not display all Contact List entries

[robFSS]

I am experimenting with an outlook/exchange based faxing utility that enables me to send faxes right from my outlook, with all sorts of fancy features that I really like.

To send a fax to multiple recipients, I have to invoke the Address Book to select the different contacts. (there are 2600+ contacts in my company's fax directory.) And here's where the problem lies - only those contacts which have something filled in the "Full Name" field of the corresponding entry in the contact list show up in the address book. In other words - if I have an entry in my contact list in which I've only filled in the "Company" field, and the phone, fax, and email fields, it doesn't show up in the address book.

If I plug the company name into the Full Name field, that contact shows up in the address book. I'd like to find a solution that will enable me to access all my contacts from the address book without typing the company name in the full name field. There are certain companies which we have specific human contacts, and others which we do not. I'd like the list to be accuarate.

thx in advance for any input.
-r

 

[BenChristian]

Is the address list that the fax software uses an Address List in Exchange? If so, it should be relatively easy to modify the LDAP query of the Exchange Address list to acheive what you want.

http://www.benchristian.com

 

[Marcs41]

First of all, that's the way it works. Fill in the blanks, or get into these kind of troubles.

You also do not state WHAT faxsoftware it is, as for instance GFI FaxMaker does display all entries where a faxnumber is entered, even with a blank Name.

In other words, the problem could be with the faxsolution, not with Exchange.

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]

 

[DannoSV]

AS suggested by Marcs41, it sounds like the software is looking for the existince of a value in specific attributes of the Contact in Active Directory in order to populate the contact in its list.

If this is the case, a work around may be to enter a character in the Full Name field of the contact for those that only have a company name such as an apostrophe.

I would also ask the sotware's support department if there is a way to have the software look at a CustomAttribute field of the AD object for a value [i.e.: faxlist] to determine if the contact shoud appear in its list.

 

[robFSS]

Thank you each for your feedback.

I purposely didn't mention the fax software becuase I don't believe that point is relevant. I have had a wonderful experience with tech support at this company, and do not wish to undermine their organization by implying any fault with their product.

The only effect that the fax application has on outlook at the client level is the addition of an email form that is selected as an alternative to the normal email form. Messages sent with this form are handled differently at the exchange server than regular emails.

The issue I described previously occurs when using the address book to select vendors from either form - the natural outlook email message, or the modified fax form.

initiate a new email message, then click "To..." to select a recipient from the public contact list in question, any item in that contact list that doesn't have information in the full name field isn't available in the address list. This behaves exactly the same in either form. If I put something in the full name field, then it shows up.

If it's just the same to the experts, let's assume I have my reasons why the full name field will be left unfilled in many instances.

So - is there a way to encourage the address list that appears when I click the "To..." button in a message to display entries and sort on company name?

Thanks,
-r

 

[DannoSV]

Are these contacts being created programatically?

I would take a look at the objects in ADSI edit. Look at the attribute named showInAddressBook.

There should be a value for the GAL similar to this:
CN=Default Global Address List,CN=All Global Address Lists,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=ORG_NAME,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=DOMAIN,DC=com

There should also be an entry for the default Address List and another for any additional address list you've created which the RUS will add the object to based on your Recipient Policies.

Looking here will tell if you if the RUS is stamping the object with the appropriate address list entry. If not, maybe there is an issue with the LDAP query on your recipient policy. Does it require a value in the Full Name field?

Keep us posted...

 

[robFSS]

Holy acronyms batman!

I can say that this list was imported from an xls spreadsheet.

The rest of your comments, DannoSV, are a little over my head. I will forward this info over to my IT consultant for review.

Thanks

 

[DannoSV]

OK - good luck.

I asked about the contacts being created programatically because I have seen where certain attributes are not stamped correctly in that process.