OL2000: How to Control the Sort Order of Your Contacts

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By default, the Contact folder "Address Card" and "Detailed Address Card" views display the File As field first. These views also default to sort your contacts by the File As field; this field is ordered by a contact's "last name, first name." While there is no way to globally change this sort order for existing contacts, you can use the user interface to change the default for any new contacts.

To change the default File As field sort order, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then on the Preferences tab, click Contact Options.
2. Click to select the appropriate Default Full Name order and the Default File As order.
3. Click OK and OK to close all dialog boxes.
   
   NOTE: These settings will only apply to new contacts.

By defining a customized view or modifying an existing view, you can globally rearrange the contact field and sort order. In this way, you can sort your contacts on a different field, such as Company.

To create a new view that lists your contacts by Company instead of Name, follow these steps:

1. Open your Contacts folder.
2. On the View menu, point to Current View, and click Define Views.
3. In "Define Views for Contacts," click New.
4. In the "Name of new view" box, type Company Sort.
5. In the Type Of View list, click to select Card.
6. Under "Can be used on," click All Contact Folders, and then click OK. This will open the "View Settings for Company Sort" box. This box allows you to set the sort field and the order that fields appear in the Card view.
7. Click Fields to open Show Fields. This allows you to choose the fields that will be displayed and to arrange their order.
8. In the Available fields list, click to select the Company field, and then click Add. In the "Show these fields in this order" list, click to select the Company field and repeatedly click Move Up until Company is at the top of the list.
9. Click OK to return to the "View Settings for Company Sort" box, and then click Sort.
10. In the Sort Items By list, click to select Company.
11. Click OK, OK, and Close to close all dialog boxes.
12. On the View menu, point to Current View, and then click Company Sort.

Your contacts should now appear in card view with the company name appearing at the top of each contact. Your new view also sorts the contacts by company name. Those contacts with no company name appear first in the sort order.