I have no explanation for that because it's contrary to the way Outlook has always worked. The scenario you describe should occur only if the GAL contains no Mark.

Feel free to include a link to a screen shot in your next post.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Louie" wrote in message news
First off, I really want to thank you both for taking the time out to help me.

So rephrasing my question:

If BOTH the GAL and Contacts folder have a multiple "Marks" and "Mikes"
listed, why does the search of "Mark" open the Contacts first and a search of
"Mike" open the GAL first?

I'd really like to e-mail you guys screen shots if that's ok to make it more
clear what I'm seeing and what I'm asking. Thanks.


"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

PMJI, but Russ already told you: Outlook stops searching once it finds a match. You have Outlook set up to search the GAL before it searches Contacts. Therefore, if it finds a match in the GAL, it does not look in any other address book.

If you want it to search Contacts first, then change the order under "When sending mail, check names using these address lists in the following order."


"Louie" wrote in message ...
So what would be the best way to configure it?

It doesn't make sense to me why searching for "Mark" returns results from my
Contact folder but searching for "Mike" returns results from the GAL, even
though there are 40 "Mikes" in the Contacts.



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Not the way you have it configured.
It will return matches from the GAL.
Only if there are none would it return hits from your Contacts.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]