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We wrote this FAQ to answer the many questions we receive on this topic from our clients and other inquiring minds in the many electronic communities we frequent.

How to Get Outlook Contact Data from Inside Word 97

Q: When I use Word's Insert Address feature, the wrong address book is always on top. I want Contacts but I have to change from Personal Address Book first. Every time! Can I get Contacts to permanently be on top?

A: This is a bug in Word 97, and it has not been fixed in the SR-1 Enterprise Upgrade.

Even if you have set Outlook to always show Contacts first (in Outlook, the steps are Tools / Address Book / Tools / Options / select Contacts in the "Show this address list first" control / OK), Word's Insert Address feature ignores this setting. So when using Insert Address you'll have to change to the Personal Address Book every time. However, a company called Hexolutions has developed a Word 97 add-in called WordLookIn; the firm describes the add-in as follows, "WordLookIn allows you to select the Contact you need, and up to 6 contact properties to add to your current document. WordLookIn also stores your last updates based on the current document template in the registry, allowing you to quickly select a template and contact. All you need in your template are a series of bookmarks where you want to add the text. WordLookIn automatically scans for these bookmarks and adds them to the user interface." Click here for more information on WordLookIn.

Meantime, what exactly is Word's Insert Address feature, you ask? It's a control that allows you to select and insert from various address books or use a "quick list" of the most recently requested addressees. It's built-in implementation is clumsy at best: in Word select Tools / Envelopes and Labels / on the Labels tab click the address book icon at the top of the display / pick the desired address source / pick the desired addressee / OK / select the contents of the Address edit box / Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard / Cancel / Edit / Paste. You can save a bit of time (but not eliminate the PAB-always-on-top headache) by adding the Insert Address button to a toolbar, like your Standard toolbar: Tools / Customize / click the Commands tab / choose the Insert category / select Address Book from the Commands list (it's fourth from the bottom) / drag it onto your Standard toolbar / Close.

Now you'll be able to access Insert Address with a single click.

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