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Why does my address book merge contacts when they are separate individuals?

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Matt

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I created a new contact for each student; some with the same last name and email address, yet their first names, birthdates and teams are individual. They are all within one address book, but not always within the same contact list. eg: Mark Smith, basketball and baseball (July 1), John Smith, volleyball and baseball (Sept 1) and Susan Smith, cheerleading (Dec 1).

In my address book, they are listed individually with their correct information. However, when I add Susan Smith to my cheerleading contact list, it is Mark's name that shows up within the contact list. I added both Mark and John to the baseball contact list, but Mark's name is listed twice, and Johns not at all.

This is really confusing for parents, and extremely frustrating for me, as it costs me too much time confirming by phone that the correct children are showing up for the correct practices.

Not to mention, not acknowledging birthdays because their sibling's birthday shows up twice, while theirs is completely lost.

Just to be clear, everything looks great in the Address Book, it is the Contact Lists that seem to have an issue.

Thank you for any help you can provide. Carol

I created a new contact for each student; some with the same last name and email address, yet their first names, birthdates and teams are individual. They are all within one address book, but not always within the same contact list. eg: Mark Smith, basketball and baseball (July 1), John Smith, volleyball and baseball (Sept 1) and Susan Smith, cheerleading (Dec 1). In my address book, they are listed individually with their correct information. However, when I add Susan Smith to my cheerleading contact list, it is Mark's name that shows up within the contact list. I added both Mark and John to the baseball contact list, but Mark's name is listed twice, and Johns not at all. This is really confusing for parents, and extremely frustrating for me, as it costs me too much time confirming by phone that the correct children are showing up for the correct practices. Not to mention, not acknowledging birthdays because their sibling's birthday shows up twice, while theirs is completely lost. Just to be clear, everything looks great in the Address Book, it is the Contact Lists that seem to have an issue. Thank you for any help you can provide. Carol

All Replies (1)

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Ok, lets get this clear. email is about email addresses. the display names are ancillary and what is displayed will be the first entry in the address book unless you turn off the option to use display names from the address book. Basically using the same email address for more than one person is not a good idea.

On the toolbar > Options > Display > advanced

Turning off this feature wil completely change the appearance of your mailing lists in your sent mail.