How can I keep the Country/Region field blank?

How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country field
as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word from
Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works
fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the "Country/Region"
field. The instance in which that field must be blank is when you are
working in Word and you want to insert the address of an Outlook contact
into an envelope using the Insert Address button in Word's Envelopes and
Labels dialog and you want it to obey the AddressLayout that you have
entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from Office
2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed this bug
after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was not worth its
while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button WILL
obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the Country/Region
field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and outlook2003 with a
97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on my own, I would like to
know how to do ensure that that field is always blank, other than by
manually removing the default entry Outlook insists on putting in every new
contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word from
Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to insert
an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works
fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook version.
In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the "Country/Region"
field. The instance in which that field must be blank is when you are
working in Word and you want to insert the address of an Outlook contact
into an envelope using the Insert Address button in Word's Envelopes and
Labels dialog and you want it to obey the AddressLayout that you have
entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from Office
2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed this bug
after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was not worth
its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button WILL
obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the Country/Region
field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and outlook2003 with
a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on my own, I would
like to know how to do ensure that that field is always blank, other than
by manually removing the default entry Outlook insists on putting in every
new contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word from
Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to insert
an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works
fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank is
when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of an
Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed
this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was
not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and
outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on
my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field is always
blank, other than by manually removing the default entry Outlook insists
on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word from
Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when
I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to insert
an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works
fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

None. Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default. That
behavior stopped the same time that Word stopped using AddressLayout. That's
why this just isn't an issue anymore. In older versions where the field was
filled in by default, you could just modify AddressLayout. Now there's no
need to.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank
is when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of an
Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed
this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was
not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and
outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on
my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field is always
blank, other than by manually removing the default entry Outlook insists
on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word
from Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field when
I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to
insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it works
fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

Russ -

You say "Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default."

My copy of Outlook 2003 is filling in the Country/Region field whenever I
create a contact. That's what it did right out of the box. That's why I
asked how I can make it stop doing that. If it does not do that by default,
there must be some way to make it stop. How do I make it stop?

Owen


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
None. Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default. That
behavior stopped the same time that Word stopped using AddressLayout.
That's why this just isn't an issue anymore. In older versions where the
field was filled in by default, you could just modify AddressLayout. Now
there's no need to.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank
is when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of
an Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed
this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was
not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and
outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on
my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field is always
blank, other than by manually removing the default entry Outlook
insists on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word
from Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field
when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in
the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to
insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it
works fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

Mine doesn't. Did you install clean?
Even if yours does, I still don't understand why you don't just modify the
AddressLayout. Despite your contention, that solution works for all versions
of Word/Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

You say "Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default."

My copy of Outlook 2003 is filling in the Country/Region field whenever I
create a contact. That's what it did right out of the box. That's why I
asked how I can make it stop doing that. If it does not do that by
default, there must be some way to make it stop. How do I make it stop?

Owen


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
None. Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default. That
behavior stopped the same time that Word stopped using AddressLayout.
That's why this just isn't an issue anymore. In older versions where the
field was filled in by default, you could just modify AddressLayout. Now
there's no need to.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank
is when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of
an Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not
Use AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have
fixed this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently
it was not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003
and outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered
this on my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field
is always blank, other than by manually removing the default entry
Outlook insists on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook
2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word
from Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field
when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in
the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to
insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it
works fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

Yes, it was a clean install, but I'm using a pst file that I had been using
in Outlook 2000.

From your references to modifying the AddressLayout I think we may have a
misunderstanding about the nature of the problem.

To be clear, Word obeys the AddressLayout just fine when a contact is
insterted directly into a Word document, whether the contact's
Country/Region field is blank or not. The problem occurs only when using the
Insert Address button that is hard-wired into Word's Envelopes and Labels
dialog. The problem is exactly as described in
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127
from which it seems apparent that modifying an AddressLayout was not a
solution in older versions.

Also, I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say "Word stopped
using AddressLayout." I wonder if we are both using that term to describe
the same thing.

Owen


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
None. Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default. That
behavior stopped the same time that Word stopped using AddressLayout.
That's why this just isn't an issue anymore. In older versions where the
field was filled in by default, you could just modify AddressLayout. Now
there's no need to.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank
is when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of
an Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not Use
AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have fixed
this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently it was
not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003 and
outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered this on
my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field is always
blank, other than by manually removing the default entry Outlook
insists on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook 2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word
from Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field
when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in
the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to
insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it
works fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen

I simply can't reproduce the behavior you describe, nor have I seen anyone
else report it.
Outlook 2003 no longer populates the Country/Region field by default for new
Contacts. Obviously, Contacts from earlier versions will still have that
field populated.
By modifying AddressLayout I can keep the Country/Region field out of any
address I insert into Word: Document, Envelope, or Label.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Yes, it was a clean install, but I'm using a pst file that I had been
using in Outlook 2000.

From your references to modifying the AddressLayout I think we may have a
misunderstanding about the nature of the problem.

To be clear, Word obeys the AddressLayout just fine when a contact is
insterted directly into a Word document, whether the contact's
Country/Region field is blank or not. The problem occurs only when using
the Insert Address button that is hard-wired into Word's Envelopes and
Labels dialog. The problem is exactly as described in
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127
from which it seems apparent that modifying an AddressLayout was not a
solution in older versions.

Also, I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say "Word stopped
using AddressLayout." I wonder if we are both using that term to describe
the same thing.

Owen


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
None. Outlook 2003 no longer fills in Country/Region by default. That
behavior stopped the same time that Word stopped using AddressLayout.
That's why this just isn't an issue anymore. In older versions where the
field was filled in by default, you could just modify AddressLayout. Now
there's no need to.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
What later version is there than Outlook 2003?

Owen

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You can't. That behavior is hard coded and varied with your Outlook
version. In later versions, the field is left blank by default.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
Russ -

It is not the Country field that must be blank, it is the
"Country/Region" field. The instance in which that field must be blank
is when you are working in Word and you want to insert the address of
an Outlook contact into an envelope using the Insert Address button in
Word's Envelopes and Labels dialog and you want it to obey the
AddressLayout that you have entered in AutoText.

In kb292127 Microsoft admitted that "Insert Address Button Does Not
Use AddressLayout AutoText Entry" in Word 2002:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;292127

This is also true in WD2003, as I discovered when I "upgraded" from
Office 2000 to Office 2003. It is a mystery why MS would not have
fixed this bug after discovering it several years ago, but apparently
it was not worth its while.

What the MS knowledge base article does not reveal is that the button
WILL obey the AddressLayout for Outlook contacts in which the
Country/Region field is blank (as far as I can tell, using word2003
and outlook2003 with a 97-2002 format .pst file). Having discovered
this on my own, I would like to know how to do ensure that that field
is always blank, other than by manually removing the default entry
Outlook insists on putting in every new contact I create in Oultook
2003.

Owen



"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
You failed to post your Outlook version.
I know of no instances where it is necessary to have an empty Country
field as long as you configure how to insert an address correctly.
To learn about ways to control how an Address is inserted into Word
from Outlook, take a look he

http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/insword.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q134901


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Owen Gray" wrote in message
...
How can I

1. Prevent Outlook from filling in the Country/Region field
when I
create a contact?

2. Efficiently remove the contents of the Country/Region field
from
existing contacts (other than editing them one-by-one)?


The reason for my question is that when a contact has something in
the
Country/Region field, Word will not obey the AddressLayout when the
Insert
Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is used to
insert an
address in an envelope. If the Country/Region field is blank, it
works fine.
So I would like my contacts to have blank Country/Region fields.

Owen