Outlook 2010 Beta: Are Unwanted Contacts Showing Up On Your Mobile Device?

Since installing the latest Office 2010 Beta, I noticed new contacts in Outlook 2010 showing up on my mobile phone that I sync with Outlook. Some were names I didn't recognize that consisted of an email address only, while some consisted of an email name only that was the "name" of the contact. I soon discovered that Office 2010 creates a complementary folder to "Contacts" named "Suggested Contacts," which consists of all of the email addresses it finds in your emails that aren't currently in your Contacts. Unfortunately, it creates these contacts and syncs them with your phone without asking you first. In order to stop this innovative, but potentially annoying behavior, take the following steps:

 

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Contacts.

4. Under the Suggested Contacts header, clear the "Automatically create Outlook contacts for recipients that do not belong to an Outlook Address Book" check box.

5. Click "OK" to exit the dialog.

For those contacts already in the Suggested Contacts, simply delete them and resync your mobile phone. Now life is good again. Enjoy!