Outlook sucks more than I even imagined

WARNING: This is a rant. I’ll get back to normal blogging soon. 🙂

I just spent the last 2 hours trying to change my over 1000 contacts from “Lastname, Firstname” to “Firstname Lastname” in Outlook.

This should not be hard. I cannot believe that Microsoft charges actual money for products so flawed and un-user-friendly.

Microsoft’s official answer to someone who had the same question back in 2003 was

Outlook cannot apply your settings fo the File As field to imported Contacts. You have to do that manually or write code to do it after the import.

You’re telling your users that they have to write code to perform such a simple function? And take a look at the code example they pointed this poor soul at!

I will never buy a Microsoft product again.

But for any others of you chained to Outlook, here is a simpler solution:

  • Go to Tools->Macro->Macros…
  • Type in a name. E.g. “Fix_Stupid_Outlook_Contacts”
  • Click “Create”
  • Copy ‘n Paste this Code:
Dim items As items, item As ContactItem, folder
Dim contactItems As Outlook.items
Dim itemContact As Outlook.ContactItem
Set folder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts)
Set items = folder.items
Count = items.Count
If Count = 0 Then
    MsgBox "No contacts found."
    Exit Sub
End If
'Filter on the message class to obtain only contact items in the folder
Set contactItems = items.Restrict("[MessageClass]='IPM.Contact'")
For Each itemContact In contactItems
   itemContact.FileAs = itemContact.FirstName + " " + itemContact.LastName
   itemContact.Save
Next
MsgBox "Your contacts have been re-filed."
  • File->Save
  • File->Close and return to Outlook
  • Go to Tools->Macro->Macros…
  • Select your macro and press “Run”

3 thoughts on “Outlook sucks more than I even imagined”

  1. You think that’s bad? Try importing Distribution Lists from Outlook Express. Now, I can understand if Outlook had trouble importing from a third-party program, but Outlook Express and Outlook are BOTH FUCKIN’ MICROSOFT PRODUCTS! Sorry, I’ve been dealing with Outlook since my office installed it.

    Did you know you can’t save in-line images in Outlook as anything other than BMPs? You can in Outlook Express.

    Did you know you can’t have contacts added to your address book if you reply to them? You can in Outlook Express.

    Microsoft has a run-down of Outlook vs. Outlook Express, and of course they declare Outlook far superior. And while Outlook is fantastic for keeping track of tasks and calendars and notes, it is one of the worst, most un-friendly e-mail clients I have ever used. Even web-based e-mail can do more than Outlook can.

Comments are closed.