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People, Contacts, and Address Books

This article applies to: Microsoft Outlook , Outlook for Mac , Outlook for Windows , Outlook on the Web

Contacts in Outlook are also known as “People” and can be found in the People section of your application’s navigation pane. 

Create and Edit Contacts

Create contacts in Outlook for Mac.

Add, find, edit, or delete a contact in Outlook for Windows or Outlook on the web.

Create and Edit Contact Groups

Create a group of Contacts in Outlook for Mac.

Create, edit, or delete a contact group in Outlook for Windows or Outlook on the web.

Search Your Address Book

Your Contacts list is your address book, or list of People.

Although you can type in a person's email address while you compose a message or create a meeting invitation, Outlook provides a variety of ways to store and find addresses for you.

  • Auto-complete: Outlook remembers addresses you've sent to and received from, so when you begin to type in the To, Cc, or Bcc field, Outlook will look for matching addresses and auto-complete the entry for you.
  • Contact lists: You can maintain your own Contacts list (or lists), with as much or as little information on each person as you like.
  • Global Address List: This is a directory of everyone at Cornell.

In the standard configuration, when you type in the To, Cc or Bcc field, Outlook will begin to search for a match. It will check the auto-complete information first. Then it will search through your Contacts list, and finally it will search the Global Address List. It will display a list of possible matches. Click the one you want.

Removing Unwanted Auto-Complete Entries

Sometimes there’s an email in auto-complete that is incorrect, or otherwise complicating using auto-complete. As you type the email, a list of suggestions will appear. Hover your cursor over the undesirable entry, and an “X” will appear to the right. Click the “X” to remove that entry from auto-complete. 

Don't worry if you inadvertently delete an auto-complete entry you wanted to keep. Outlook will relearn it when you exchange email with that address again.

Contact Search Troubleshooting

Outlook will auto-complete NetIDs unless the person you're looking for uses a Cornell Optional Email Alias (like phil.schmertz@cornell.edu) instead of their NetID@cornell.edu address. People using alias addresses will only auto-complete when you type the beginning of their alias address.

If you start typing a name, Outlook will match what you type against both first and last names. If you type a space, it assumes that the text before the space is the first name. From that point on, you need to match the person's name exactly as it appears in the directory. Punctuation matters, but uppercase and lowercase do not. Here are some examples, which assume that Philip Q. Schmertz and Robert Philodendron are two entries in the Global Address List:

  • If you type "phil" you'll get both Philip Q. Schmertz and Robert Philodendron as matches.
  • If you then add a space after "phil" Robert Philodendron will no longer show as a match.
  • If you type "phil schmertz" you will not get a match.
  • If you type "phil q. schmertz" you will not get a match.
  • If you type "philip q. s" you WILL get Philip Q. Schmertz as a match. (The period after "q" is required.)

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