How do I make Outlook autocomplete addresses from a list of recognised <full_names> only?

Status
Not open for further replies.

NessieNoo

New Member
Outlook version
Outlook on the web
Email Account
Office 365 Exchange
This is a little complicated so I'll try to explain as best I can, but maybe it isn't possible in Outlook.

Problem context: My partner works for a large public sector organisation. Mailing lists exist for different staff groups (e.g. "call handlers", "team leaders", "managers"), but these contain several hundred names because it is a 24/7 operation. In any given 24 hour period, only a RANDOM subset of these staff groups are working (approximately 40-50 people). Consequently, several hundred members of staff are being spammed with shift information on days when they are not working.

Data: The list of staff for any given shift is extracted from a rostering system and dumped into an Excel workbook so break times can be scheduled and shared. The data extracted from the rostering system is concatenated in Excel to make it display as <first name> <last name> in a single column for each member of staff (with subsequent columns containing their short and long break times).

Question: As we have a list of full names in Excel, how do we get Outlook (O365) to recognise these as recipients in the "To:" field so only those staff on the shift are emailed?

I've already tried...:
  • Creating a plain text string of comma separated values. Outlook understands these are separate names i.e. "Joe Bloggs, Mickey Mouse" but it cannot match them to autocomplete the email addresses. They keep showing up in red as [Joe Bloggs]X [Mickey Mouse]X etc., even though all of these names as exactly displayed in the spreadsheet are recognised when typed individually into the "To:" field.
  • Creating/editing a Contact Group. There seems little point in building out a new Contact Group in Outlook for each shift when it takes just as long to start typing each individual's name in the "To:" field and Outlook autocomplete it, especially when you recall from the above that every shift contains a RANDOM subset of staff so no two shifts are the same. (I know this sounds weird, but there is a small core team of full-time staff supplemented by a very large number of bank/occasional workers and part-time workers who work very different patterns.)
Will the matching have to be done in Excel instead (and, if so, how)? Thanks in advance.
 

Diane Poremsky

Senior Member
Outlook version
Outlook 2016 32 bit
Email Account
Office 365 Exchange
>>
"Joe Bloggs, Mickey Mouse" but it cannot match them to autocomplete the email addresses.
>>
Are those the names on their email accounts? If you are using Exchange and the GAL is set as the address book to check first***, it should resolve them - as long as the name matches the GAL entry. You could also add them to the contacts folder, but that can pollute the contacts, making it hard to find your personal contacts.

Does the company use standardized address formatting? j.bloggs@, m.mouse@ - if so, you can use Excel to generate the addresses.

Another option is getting a list of all names and addresses and cross reference them in excel. (if exchange, you can use a macro to get the addresses -as long as its not a huge company as it is slow.)


*** not 100% required, but if the name is not unique, checking the gal first is better.

2021-04-08_21-48-29-0000.png
 

NessieNoo

New Member
Outlook version
Outlook on the web
Email Account
Office 365 Exchange
Thanks ever so much for your guidance. Unfortunately, my partner is a recipient of the spam rather than an IT administrator so has no ability or authority to make changes to system settings, and some staff are firstname.surname@, while others are firstname.surname#@ with this number appearing to be fairly random so it isn't a standardised address format.

I think your last suggestion is probably most feasible i.e. for us to build a simple cross-reference system in Excel. Unfortunately, it is a big organisation with several thousand staff so we won't have the luxury of a macro option with Exchange, but appreciate the insight nonetheless (I'm sure it will help others who check out this thread). Thanks again for your help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
W Transfer Outlook 2016 autocomplete file to Outlook 2007 Using Outlook 1
J Outlook Autocomplete (Recipients) opens upward Using Outlook 2
C Outlook Autocomplete suggestions showing wrong person's name against an email address Using Outlook 0
M Outlook.com autocomplete list invaded by strange items Using Outlook.com accounts in Outlook 7
V Outlook 2013 - transfer autocomplete data Using Outlook 4
Michael Durthaler Outlook 2013 Autocomplete File Is Infected Using Outlook 1
G Outlook 2013 AutoComplete Limit Using Outlook 3
Z Copy Outlook 2007 "AutoComplete Contacts” to Outlook 2010 Using Outlook 7
V Outlook 2010 Autocomplete Using Outlook 7
N Outlook should use address in address book before the address in Autocomplete Using Outlook 0
Retired Geek Outlook for the MAC with Yahoo accounts now very broken Using Outlook 2
S Outlook 2002- "Send" button has disappeared. Help please. Using Outlook 1
L How Stop Outlook Nag Messages Using Outlook 1
TomHuckstep Remove Send/Receive All Folders (IMAP/POP) button from Outlook 365 Ribbon Using Outlook 1
L I Cannot Sign Into My Outlook Account? Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 0
icacream Outlook 2021 - Google calendar in the peek Using Outlook 0
e_a_g_l_e_p_i Question about installing my Gmail account on my iPhone but still getting messages downloaded to my desktop Outlook. Using Outlook 3
F Want to add second email to Outlook for business use Using Outlook 3
kburrows Outlook Email Body Text Disappears/Overlaps, Folders Switch Around when You Hover, Excel Opens Randomly and Runs in the Background - Profile Corrupt? Using Outlook 0
M using excel to sort outlook appointment items Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 4
e_a_g_l_e_p_i MY Outlook 2021 changed the format of the shortcuts for mail, calendar etc. Using Outlook 10
Z Outlook 2021 Outlook new emails notification not working Using Outlook 5
K Changing the Deleted Items location in Outlook 2019 Using Outlook 2
J Outlook 365 Outlook Macro to Sort emails by column "Received" to view the latest email received Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 0
V How to use Comas in a picklist in Outlook forms Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 3
e_a_g_l_e_p_i Question about reinstalling Outlook 2021 Using Outlook 5
A Outlook 365 Outlook (part of 365) now working offline - argh Using Outlook 5
M Outlook Macro to save as Email with a file name format : Date_Timestamp_Sender initial_Email subject Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 0
G LinkedIn tab missing in Outlook 365 (but working in OWA) Using Outlook 0
Jay Freedman Outlook forgets "not junk" marking Using Outlook 0
KurtLass Opening Graphics Attachments in Outlook 2021 Using Outlook 0
P now on office 365 but getting error messages about missing Outlook 2013 cache folders Using Outlook 2
B Outlook config download Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 1
M Short term workaround for when Outlook searching stopped functioning Using Outlook 0
D Outlook 2016 Creating an outlook Macro to select and approve Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 0
L Fetch, edit and forward an email with VBA outlook Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 2
BartH VBA no longer working in Outlook Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 1
L Synch Outlook 365 calendar with iPhone Using Outlook 0
W Can vba(for outlook) do these 2 things or not? Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 2
S Outlook 2016 and Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin Using Outlook 0
M "Attachment Detacher for Outlook" add in, does it update the server copy of the email? Using Outlook 1
M Outlook 365 Rename Outlook Priority Using Outlook 3
R Outlook 2019 accesses POP3 but says its offline (because of IMAP servers?) Using Outlook 0
R Outlook Working off line Using Outlook 0
D Outlook 365 Custom forms field limit? Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 4
W Outlook 2016 MSI - Possible to make work with O365 modern Auth & Win7? Using Outlook 4
T Outlook roaming signatures Using Outlook 4
S Adding a recipient's column to Sent folder in Outlook 2010 Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 1
J Outlook search bar in Office 2021 Professional Using Outlook 1
J PSA: How to create custom keyboard shortcut for "Paste Unformatted Text" in Outlook on Windows Outlook VBA and Custom Forms 1

Similar threads

Top