8. Manage contact records

Practice files

For this chapter, use the practice files from the Outlook2016SBSCh08 folder. For practice file download instructions, see the introduction.

You can simplify communications with specific groups of people by creating contact groups to which you can address messages as you would an individual contact. You can also create purpose-specific address books and organize contact records within the address books to make it easier to locate specific contact records. You can add contact records to a custom address book either by moving contact records that are already stored in Outlook, or by importing contact records from another app or file.

If you save contact information for business and personal contacts in Outlook, you can quickly accumulate a large collection of contact records. The search feature makes it easy to find a specific contact record based on any text within the contact record or any attribute, such as a color category, that you assign to it. Within each contact record, you can make preferred contact information easily discoverable by displaying it on the electronic business card version of the contact record. You can also display images—such as photographs or corporate logos—on business cards, to provide additional information when you view contacts in the default Business Card view.

This chapter guides you through procedures related to creating address books, importing and exporting contact records, creating contact groups, quickly locating contact information, and personalizing electronic business cards.

You can track all your contacts—business and personal—within the address book of your default email account. However, you might find it useful to create a separate address book that contains contact records for only a specific group of people. For example, you might want to have an address book that contains only clients, relatives, club members, neighborhood contacts, parents and teachers from your child’s school, or sports teammates.

An address book is actually a folder that is designed to contain contact items. To create a new address book, you create a folder and select Contact Items as the folder contents. You can create a contact folder (an address book) from within any module and save it anywhere in the existing folder structure, but for organizational purposes you might want to create contact folders as subfolders of the original Contacts folder.

The address books that you create appear in the My Contacts list in the People module. They aren’t visually differentiated from the address books that Outlook creates.

Unlike the Calendar module, in which you can display multiple calendars, the People module can display only one address book at a time. If you have multiple address books, you select the one that you want to display by clicking it in the Folder Pane.

You can populate an address book by creating new contact records in it, moving or copying existing contact records to it, or importing contact records from another file. You can share an address book with other Outlook users in your organization, or you can export it for distribution to other people.

To create an address book

1. Do either of the following to open the Create New Folder dialog box:

• In the Mail, People, or Tasks module, on the Folder tab, in the New group, click the New Folder button.

• In the Calendar module, on the Folder tab, in the New group, click the New Calendar button.

2. In the Name box, enter a name for the new address book.

3. In the Folder contains list, click Contact items. (If you create the folder from the People module, Contact Items is already selected.)

4. In the Select where to place the folder pane, do any of the following:

• Click your email account address at the top of the folder structure to create the new folder at the same structural level as the module folders.

• Click Contacts to create the address book as a subfolder of the default Contacts folder.

• Click any other folder to create the address book as a subfolder of that folder.

5. Click OK to create the new address book and add it to the My Contacts list in the Folder Pane of the People module.

To move contact records to another address book

1. In the People module, display the address book that contains the contact record or records you want to move.

2. In the contact list, click a contact record to select it. If you want to select additional contact records, hold down the Ctrl key and click each additional contact record.

3. Do any of the following:

• Drag the selected records from the contact list to the destination address book in the Folder Pane.

• Right-click and drag the selected records to the destination address book in the Folder Pane. When you release the mouse button, click Move on the shortcut menu.

• On the Home tab, in the Actions group, display the Move list, and then click a folder in the list to move the selected records to that folder.

To copy contact records to another address book

1. In the People module, display the address book that contains the contact record or records you want to move.

2. In the contact list, click a record to select it. If you want to select additional contact records, hold down the Ctrl key and click each additional contact record.

3. Do any of the following:

• Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the selected records from the contact list to the destination address book in the Folder Pane.

• Right-click and drag the selected records to the destination address book in the Folder Pane. When you release the mouse button, click Copy on the shortcut menu.

• On the Home tab, in the Actions group, display the Move list, and then click Copy to Folder to open the Copy Items dialog box displaying the full Folder List. Select the address book you want to copy the selected records to, and then click OK.

To delete an address book

1. Display the People module.

2. In the My Contacts list, right-click the address book you want to delete, and then click Delete Folder.

3. In the confirmation message box, click Yes.

Similarly, you can share contact records with other people who use Outlook or another contact-management app by exporting the contact records from Outlook into a .pst file or .csv file that other people can import.

You manage the import and export processes by using the Import And Export Wizard. The wizard provides a simple path through each process.

During the import process, you specify how Outlook should handle any contact records that exist in both the source file and the destination address book.

If the information that you import wasn’t originally created in Outlook, the fields might be identified by different names in the source file than the field names that Outlook uses. You can match the source fields to the standard Outlook field names by mapping the fields.

When you export contact records from an Outlook address book to an Outlook data file (instead of a comma-delimited file), you have two additional options:

You can export all the contact records in the address book, or filter the records during the export process to select only those that meet specific criteria.

You can password-protect the exported file.

To start the Import And Export Wizard

1. On the Open & Export page of the Backstage view, click Import/Export.

To import contact records from a .csv file

1. Start the Import And Export wizard.

2. In the Choose an action to perform list, click Import from another program or file. Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Import a File to indicate the path you’re following in the wizard.

3. In the Select file type to import from pane, click Comma Separated Values. Then click Next.

4. Click the Browse button adjacent to the File to import box. In the Browse dialog box, navigate to the .csv file you want to import records from. Click the file, and then click OK to insert the file path in the File To Import box.

5. In the Options section below the file path, indicate how you want Outlook to handle contact records from the .csv file that match the names of existing contact records in the destination address book. Click Next, and then:

• To overwrite duplicate items in the address book with those from the source file, click Replace duplicates with items imported.

• To create additional versions of duplicate items, click Allow duplicates to be created.

• To not import duplicate items, click Do not import duplicate items.

6. In the Select destination folder pane, locate the address book you want to import the contact records into. Click the address book, and then click Next.

The last page of the wizard displays a description of the import operation and provides additional configuration options.

7. If there is a possibility that the source file field names don’t match the Outlook address book field names, click Map Custom Fields to open the Map Custom Fields dialog box, and then do the following:

a. In the From pane, note the fields that are present in the source file.

b. In the To pane, click the Expand button (+) to the left of any field group to display its fields.

c. The Mapped From column displays the source file field that maps to each Outlook address book field. Review the mappings to ensure that they’re correct.

d. If you need to change a field mapping, drag the field from the Value list in the From pane and drop it on the Field list in the To pane. (Drag it from the left pane to the right pane.)

e. If you don’t want to import a field, drag that field from the Mapped from list in the To pane to the Value list in the From pane. (Drag it from the right pane to the left pane.)

f. When the mapping is correct, click OK to close the Map Custom Fields dialog box.

8. If you want to import the contact records to a different address book than you chose in step 6, click Change Destination to open the Select A Folder dialog box, click the address book you want to use, and then click OK. This doesn’t affect the field mappings.

9. Click Finish to import the contact records into the selected address book.

To import contact records from an Outlook Data File (.pst file)

1. If you want to import contact records into an existing address book, display that address book in the People module.

2. Start the Import And Export wizard.

3. In the Choose an action to perform list, click Import from another program or file. Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Import a File to indicate the path you’re following in the wizard.

4. In the Select file type to import from pane, click Outlook Data File (.pst). Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Import Outlook Data File.

5. Click the Browse button adjacent to the File to import box. In the Open Outlook Data Files dialog box, navigate to the .pst file you want to import records from. Click the file, and then click Open to insert the file path in the File To Import box.

6. In the Options section below the file path, indicate how you want Outlook to handle contact records from the .pst file that match the names of existing contact records in the destination address book. Click Next, and then:

• To overwrite duplicate items in the address book with those from the source file, click Replace duplicates with items imported.

• To create additional versions of duplicate items, click Allow duplicates to be created.

• To not import duplicate items, click Do not import duplicate items.

7. If the .pst file requires a password, the Outlook Data File Password dialog box opens. Enter the password in the Password box, and then click OK.

8. The wizard displays the contents of the selected .pst file. In the Select the folder to import from pane, expand the Outlook Data File folder, and click the address book you want to import records from.

9. If you want to import only contact records that meet specific criteria, click the Filter button. In the Filter dialog box, specify one or more conditions that the contact records must meet. Then click OK.

10. Do either of the following:

• If you want to import the contact records into the address book you displayed in step 1, click Import items into the current folder.

• If you want to create a new address book containing the imported contact records, click Import items into the same folder in, and then in the list, click the account you want to create the address book in.

11. Click Finish to import the contact records into the selected address book or to create the address book.

To export contact records to a .csv file

1. Start the Import And Export wizard.

2. In the Choose an action to perform list, click Export to a file. Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Export to a File to indicate the path you’re following in the wizard.

3. In the Create a file of type pane, click Comma Separated Values. Then click Next.

4. In the Select the folder to export from pane, locate and click the address book you want to export contact records from. Then click Next.

5. Click the Browse button adjacent to the Save exported file as box. In the Browse dialog box, navigate to the folder you want to create the .csv file in, and enter a name for the file in the File name box. Then click OK to insert the file path in the Save Exported File As box.

6. In the Export to a File dialog box, click Next.

The last page of the wizard displays a description of the export operation and provides the option to map the Outlook address book fields to custom field names in the output file.

7. Click Finish to export the contact records and create the .csv file.

To export contact records to an Outlook Data File (.pst file)

1. Start the Import And Export wizard.

2. In the Choose an action to perform list, click Export to a file. Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Export to a File to indicate the path you’re following in the wizard.

3. In the Create a file of type pane, click Outlook Data File (.pst). Then click Next. The name in the title bar changes to Export Outlook Data File.

4. In the Select the folder to export from pane, do the following, and then click Next:

a. Locate and click the address book you want to export contact records from.

b. If you want to export only contact records that meet specific criteria, click the Filter button. In the Filter dialog box, specify one or more conditions that the contact records must meet. Then click OK.

5. Click the Browse button adjacent to the Save exported file as box. In the Open Outlook Data Files dialog box, navigate to the folder you want to create the .pst file in, and enter a name for the file in the File name box. Then click OK to insert the file path in the Save Exported File As box.

6. In the Export Outlook Data File dialog box, click Finish.

7. The Create Outlook Data File dialog box opens. If you want to assign a password to the .pst file, enter the password in the Password and Verify Password boxes. Then click OK to export the contact records and create the .pst file.

Contact groups are like personal versions of distribution lists. A distribution list is available to everyone on your Exchange Server network; a contact group is available only from the local address book you store it in. You can, however, send a contact group to other people for their own use.

You can add individual people, resources, distribution lists, public folders, email-enabled Microsoft SharePoint site libraries, and other contact groups to a contact group.

You add a member to a contact group either by selecting an existing contact record from an address book or by providing a name and email address. When you use the latter method, you have the option to simultaneously create a contact record for the person.

When you send a message to a contact group, each member of the contact group receives a copy of the message. If you want to send a message to most, but not all, members of a contact group, you can expand the contact group in the address field to a full list of its members, and remove individual recipients from the specific message before you send it.

To start creating a contact group

1. Do any of the following to open a new Contact Group window:

• In the People module, on the Home tab, in the New group, click the New Contact Group button.

• In the Mail, Calendar, or Tasks module, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Items, click More Items, and then click Contact Group.

• In any module, press Ctrl+Shift+L.

2. In the Name box, enter a name for the group.

To add existing contacts to a contact group

1. Open the contact group window.

2. On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click the Add Members button.

3. In the Add Members list, do either of the following:

• Click From Outlook Contacts to open the Select Members dialog box displaying your default address book.

• Click From Address Book to open the Select Members dialog box displaying the address book designated as the first to check.

4. In the Select Members dialog box, if you want to choose contacts from a different address book, expand the Address Book list, and then click the address book you want to use.

5. In the Select Members dialog box, for each contact you want to add to the contact group, do either of the following to add the contact to the Members box:

• Click the contact, and then in the lower-left corner of the dialog box, click the Members button.

• Double-click the contact.

6. When you are done adding contacts to the Members box, click OK to add the contacts to the contact group.

7. In the contact group window, on the Contact Group tab, click Save & Close.

To add new contacts to a contact group

1. Open the contact group window.

2. On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click the Add Members button, and then click New E-mail Contact to open the Add New Member dialog box.

3. In the Display name box, enter the name you want to display for the contact group member.

4. In the E-mail address box, enter the email address for the contact group member.

5. If you don’t want to create a contact record for the new contact group member in your default address book, clear the Add to Contacts check box.

6. Click OK to add the new contact to the contact group and create the contact record, if that option was selected.

To share a contact group with other people

1. Open the contact group window.

2. On the Contact Group tab, in the Actions group, click Forward Group.

3. Do either of the following to create an email message with the contact group attached:

• To send an attachment that can be used by email apps other than Outlook, click In Internet Format (vCard).

• To send an attachment that can be saved in an Outlook address book, click As an Outlook Contact.

To update contact information for contact group members

1. Open the contact group window.

2. On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click the Update Now button. Outlook checks the group members against their contact records and updates the names and email addresses to reflect changes to the contact records.

To remove members from a contact group

1. Open the contact group window.

2. Select the member or members you want to remove from the group.

3. On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click the Remove Member button.

To expand a contact group in an email message address field

1. In the To, Cc, or Bcc field of the message composition window, click the Expand button (+) to the left of the contact group name. Outlook warns you that you can’t contract the list after expanding it.

2. In the Expand List message box, click OK to replace the contact group name with the individual names or display names of its members.

As you enter a search term in the Search box, Outlook filters the list to display only those contact records that contain the words that begin with the letters you’ve entered, and highlights the matches in the contact records. This highlighting appears in any view other than Business Card view.

To search for contact records that contain specific text

1. In the People module, do either of the following to activate the search box and the Search tool tab:

• Click in the search box at the top of the contact list.

• Press Ctrl+E.

2. In the search box, enter the term that you want to search for. Outlook filters the list to display only those contact records that contain the letters you’ve entered, and highlights the matches in the contact records.

To change the scope of a search

1. On the Search tool tab, in the Scope group, do any of the following:

• Click All Contact Items to display contact records from all address books.

• Click Current Folder to display contact records from only the current address book.

• Click Subfolders to display contact records from the current address book and any subfolders (address books stored below the current address book in the folder hierarchy).

• Click All Outlook Items to display any Outlook items that meet the search criteria, including contact records, email messages, appointments, and tasks.

To search for contact records by a specific field

1. On the Search tool tab, In the Refine group, click any button to display a list of related options, and then click an option by which you want to refine the search.

Outlook adds each refinement to the search box or displays it in a box below the search box.

To clear search criteria

1. At the right end of the search box or any search field box below it, click the Remove button (X) to remove the corresponding criterion.

To repeat a previous search

1. On the Search tool tab, in the Options group, click the Recent Searches button, and then click the criteria of the previous search you want to repeat.

To end the search and return to the original address book

1. Do either of the following:

• On the Search tool tab, click the Close Search button.

• Clear all the search criteria.

If an image is associated with the person through Exchange, SharePoint, or a social network to which you’ve connected Outlook, the contact record includes the image. You can change the types of information that appear, rearrange the information fields, format the text and background, and add, change, or remove images, such as a logo or photograph.

Creating a business card for yourself provides you with an attractive way of presenting your contact information to people you correspond with in email. You can attach your business card to an outgoing email message or include it as part (or all) of your email signature. The recipient of your business card can easily create a contact record for you by saving the business card to his or her Outlook address book.

You can send entire contact records to other Outlook users to add to their address books or, if you prefer to share only the information shown on the associated business card, you can send the business card. You can include a business card as part or all of your email signature by clicking the Business Card button while creating or editing a signature.

To add a picture to an electronic business card

1. In the People module, open the contact record that you want to modify.

2. On the Contact tab, in the Options group, click the Picture button, and then click Add Picture. The Add Contact Picture dialog box opens, displaying the contents of your Pictures library.

3. In the Add Contact Picture dialog box, browse to the file folder that contains the picture you want to use, click the image, and then click OK to replace the placeholder image in the contact record window and business card with the photo you selected.

To modify the layout of an electronic business card

1. In the People module, open the contact record that you want to modify.

2. On the Contact tab, in the Options group, click the Business Card button to open the Edit Business Card dialog box.

3. In the Card Design section, do any of the following:

• To move the picture, expand the Layout list, and then click the location where you want to place the image.

• To change the background color, click the Background Color button, and then in the Color dialog box, select a color.

• To change the percentage of the card that is allocated to the picture, in the Image Area box, enter or select the percentage.

• To modify the alignment of the picture, in the Image Align list, click the alignment you want.

4. In the Edit Business Card dialog box, click OK to apply your changes.

To change the text shown on an electronic business card

1. Open the Edit Business Card dialog box for the contact record that you want to modify.

2. In the Fields section of the dialog box, do any of the following to modify the business card (but not the contact record):

• To remove a field from the business card, click the field name, and then click the Remove button.

• To add a field to the business card, click the Add button, click the field category, and then click the field you want to add.

• To change the text displayed for a field, in the Edit section of the dialog box, edit the displayed text.

• To reorder fields, click a field that you want to move, and then below the Fields pane, click the Move Field Up or Move Field Down button.

• To insert a blank line between fields, at the bottom of the Fields pane, click one of the Blank Line entries. Then below the Fields pane, click the Move Field Up button to position the blank line where you want it.

3. Repeat step 2 for each other field you want to modify.

4. In the Edit Business Card dialog box, click OK to apply your changes.

To modify the display of labels on an electronic business card

1. Open the Edit Business Card dialog box for the contact record that you want to modify.

2. To select the field label you want to modify, do either of the following:

• On the business card preview, click the text.

• In the Fields pane, click the field.

3. In the Edit section of the dialog box, do any of the following:

• To remove the label from the field, in the Label list, click No Label.

• To display a label adjacent to the field, in the Label list, click Left or Right.

• To change the label text, select the label location, and then edit the text in the Label box.

• To change the label color, select the label location, click the Label Color button, select a color, and then click OK.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each other field label you want to modify.

5. In the Edit Business Card dialog box, click OK to apply your changes.

To format the text of an electronic business card

1. Open the Edit Business Card dialog box for the contact record that you want to modify.

2. To select the text you want to format, do either of the following:

• On the business card preview, click the text.

• In the Fields pane, click the field.

3. In the Edit section of the dialog box, do any of the following:

• In the text box below the formatting buttons, make any changes you want to the content of the field.

• To change the text color, click the Font Color button, select a color, and then click OK.

• To change the text size, click the Increase Font Size or Decrease Font Size button.

• To apply a font effect, click the Bold, Italic, or Underline button.

• To change the text alignment, click the Align Left, Center, or Align Right button.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each other field you want to format.

5. In the Edit Business Card dialog box, click OK to apply your changes.

To reset an electronic business card to the default settings

1. Open the Edit Business Card dialog box for the contact record that you want to modify.

2. Near the lower-right corner of the dialog box, click the Reset Card button.

To send an Outlook business card

1. In any view of the address book, click the contact record whose business card you want to send.

2. On the Home tab, in the Share group, click the Forward Contact button, and then click As a Business Card to create a new message that has the business card attached as a file and displayed in the content area.

3. Address and send the message.

Create address books

Import and export contact records

Create contact groups

Quickly locate contact information

Personalize electronic business cards

1. Create an address book named My SBS Contacts that is a subfolder of the primary Contacts address book.

2. Display the Contacts address book. Select any two contact records, and copy them to the My SBS Contacts address book.

1. Import the contact records from the SBSContacts.csv file in the practice file folder into the My SBS Contacts address book you created in the preceding set of practice tasks.

2. During the import process, map the field headings from the .csv file to the corresponding address book headings.

3. If you want to, export the contact records from your Contacts address book to an Outlook Data File.

1. Create a contact group named Team Leaders.

2. Add the following people from the address book to the contact group:

• Alexander Eggerer

• Stephanie Conroy

• Ingelise Lang

• Lee Oliver

3. Add the following person to the contact group and to your address book:

Name: Lisa Miller

Email address: [email protected]

4. Save and close the contact group.

5. Verify that the Team Leaders contact group and Lisa Miller contact record were created in the My SBS Contacts address book.

6. Create an email message addressed to you and to the Team Leaders contact group, with the subject Test message to contact group.

7. In the To field, expand the Team Leaders contact group to display its members.

8. In the To field, replace the individual contact group members with the contact group, make sure you’re still a message recipient, and then send the email message. (You’ll receive the message, and undeliverable notifications for the Trey Research employees.)

9. Open the message when you receive it, and notice how the recipients are specified in the message header. Then close the message and delete the undeliverable message notifications.

10. In the My SBS Contacts address book, edit the contact record for Lee Oliver, and then change the email address from [email protected] to [email protected]. Save and close the contact record.

11. Open the Team Leaders contact group, and update the member information. Notice that Lee Oliver’s email address changes.

12. Remove Ingelise Lang from the contact group. Then save and close the contact group.

1. Use the search function to search the address book for contact records that contain the text ma. Notice that the search results include only contacts with names or email addresses that begin with the specified letters, but none that have the letters in another position.

2. Change the scope of a search to include all address books in your Outlook installation. Notice any changes in the search results.

3. Filter the search to include only contact records that contain sales in the Title field.

4. Clear all the search criteria to return to the original address book.

5. Repeat the search from the Recent Searches list.

6. Close the search to return to the original address book.

1. Open the contact record for Jay Jamison.

2. Add the JJProfile picture from the practice file folder to the electronic business card.

3. Experiment with modifying the content, layout, and formatting of the business card.

4. Save and close the contact record.

5. Email Jay Jamison’s business card to yourself, and review the content of the message that you receive.