Microsoft Outlook 2007

Contacts Viewing Options

Outlook 2007 allows you to adjust the Contacts view to best fit your needs. This document will explain what the various Contacts viewing options are and how to change them.

Changing Contacts Viewing Options
Understanding Contacts Viewing Options
Customizing Contacts Lists

Changing Contacts Viewing Options

Depending on how you are working with your Contacts, you may want to change the view to better suit your needs.

Click CONTACTS
If the My Contacts list does not appear, in the Navigation pane, click MY CONTACTS
Your Contacts lists appear.
Select the desired Contacts list
If the Current View list does not appear, in the Navigation pane, click CURRENT VIEW
Your Contacts viewing options appear.
From the Current View list, select the desired view
The view appears in the reading pane.

Understanding Contacts Viewing Options

Outlook 2007 offers eight different ways to view your Contacts, broken down into two sections: Contact Cards and Contact Lists.

NOTE: You may also customize your viewing options.

Contact Cards

You may view Contacts as Business Cards, Address Cards, or Detailed Address Cards. In contrast with Contact Lists, Contact Cards are visually appealing and can have customizable aesthetic features. The following table explains each option.

Option	Example Image	Description
Business Cards		This option provides name, company, job title, email, website, phone numbers, and the address of a contact. You may also customize background color and add a personal photograph.
Address Cards		This option condenses the Business Card format to only the street address, phone numbers, and email.
Detailed Address Cards		This option provides most forms of Contact information but does not possess customizable aesthetic features.

Contact Lists

Contact Lists provide a table of information rather than a formatted card. Each row is a Contact and each column is a profile field. The table has a Field Chooser, which makes table navigation simple.

HINT: For more information about the Field Chooser, refer to Using the Field Chooser.

Option	Example Image
Phone List	Lists Contacts by phone numbers
By Category	Lists Contacts by preselected color-coded categories
By Company	Lists Contacts by their company title
By Location	Lists Contacts by their address
Outlook Data Files	Lists Contacts that have a file attached to their profile

Customizing Contact Lists

You can customize how a Contact List appears. Before beginning, be sure to decide how you want to categorize your Contacts before customizing a Contact List. For example, if you choose to group by last name, you may need to think how you will sub-categorize Contacts that have similar last names. Consider a minimum of two levels of categorizing before grouping your Contacts.

NOTE: To add or remove Fields from the Field Chooser, refer to Using the Field Chooser.

Select a Contacts viewing option
NOTE: You must select a Contact List viewing option. Contact Cards cannot be customized in this way. For more information about the differences between the two types of views, refer to Understanding Contacts Viewing Options.
From the Navigation pane, select Customize Current View...
The Customize View: (selected view) dialog box appears.
Click GROUP BY...
The Group By dialog box appears.
Deselect the Automatically group according to arrangement option
The option is deselected if a checkmark does not appear before it.
To select the field for the first level of grouping,
1. In the Select available fields from pull-down list, select the desired field type
  NOTE: The selection you make from the Select available fields from pull-down list will influence the options that appear in the Group items by pull-down list.
2. In the Group items by pull-down list, select the desired field
3. To arrange Contacts in ascending or descending order, select Ascending or Descending
4. To make the field appear in the Contact List, select Show field in view
  NOTE: You should select this option for the first few levels of grouping.
To select the field for additional levels of grouping,
1. In the Select available fields from pull-down list, select the desired field type
  NOTE: The selection you make from the Select available fields from pull-down list will influence the options that appear in the Then by pull-down list.
2. In the Then by pull-down list, select the desired field
3. To arrange Contacts in ascending or descending order, select Ascending or Descending
4. To make the field appear in the Contact List, select Show field in view
  NOTE: You should select this option for the first few levels of grouping.
5. If necessary, repeat step 6 for third and fourth levels of grouping
Click OK
The Group By dialog box closes.
Click OK
The Customize View: (selected view) dialog box closes, and the Contact List appears as you have customized it.