Contacts order

Question

My contacts are sorted alphabetically by last name yet when I go to send an email and click on To or CC the contacts appear alphabetically by first name, how do I get them to appear alphabetically by last name??

Answer 1

Hi John Lyddiard,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand that your contacts are already sorted by last name, but when you compose an email and select recipients from To or Cc, the list appears by first name instead. This can be inconvenient, especially if you usually look up contacts by their last name. In classic Outlook, the setting to check is in the Address Book, not only in the Contacts/People view.

Please try the steps below:

• Open classic Outlook.
• Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
• Select the Address Books tab.
• Select Outlook Address Book, then choose Change.
• Under Show names by, choose File As (Smith, John).
• Close the windows, then restart Outlook.

This should change how names are displayed in the recipient selection window when you select To, Cc, or Bcc. If some contacts still appear by first name, please open those contact cards and check the File As field, as they may need to be saved in the Last name, First name format.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

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