"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote:
Try pausing the service then restart outlook.

Great! That does the trick! However, this brings up another (stupid)
issue: when I input the international format for the number, ie with the
leading plus sign, eg +33 for France, Outlook removes the plus sign!

You see what I mean? When "Telephony" service is on, brackets are added
to tel numbers! When "Telephony" is off, plus sign is removed! Come on!
..... I really don't know what to say....

The service will restart when you reboot, but as long as you don't touch the
button that brings up the check number dialog in contacts (Business... etc),
the format should not change once its enabled (never has for me). The
button is dead when telephony is paused.

I might have missed something: what button to "check number"? I don't
think I've ever pressed this button. Maybe its effect (ie check number) is
by default?