Set Default Address Book in Outlook 2010

So, I got a new PC at work, and I moved to Outlook 2010. A great annoyance was that whenever I tried sending email, the entire global corporate address book popped up. After some time searching, I figured out how to change this setting, and thought I should record my steps.

1. First, launch Outlook 2010 and look in the lower-left-hand corner. There will be options for "Mail", "Calendar", "Contacts", and so forth. Some may be visible with medium-sized icons and a word, others may be collapsed as tiny options along the bottom. Select the one labeled "Contacts".
2. In the menu bar at the top, find and select "Home".This will make the ribbon visible, but in a certain "Contacts" mode.
3. On the far right-hand side of the ribbon, find and click the button for "Address List". This will bring up a view of the address book. There are other ways to bring up the Address Book view, but this way brings it up with a menu bar.
4. Select "Tools" then "Options" from the menu bar.
5. This brings up the settings panel that allows you to control these settings. For myself, I chose a "Custom" order, I removed "Global Address List" completely and added my own corporate unit right below "Contacts".

I hope someone else finds this documentation productive. I'm sure I will the next time I need to accomplish this task.

Posted Fri 25 March 2011 by mcherm in Uncategorized