OL97: Location Settings Determine Phone Number Format

This article explains how Microsoft Outlook 97 masks phone number fields, based on your location settings and the number of digits in your telephone number. The masking behavior of Outlook also affects phone number fields imported into Outlook.

In Outlook, when you type in a phone number field and the number of digits is valid for your location settings, Outlook automatically masks the field, formatting the country code, area code, and number. This behavior is the same when you import files containing phone number fields. Outlook can identify and resolve telephone numbers associated with over 40 countries.

For example, if you set your Dialing Properties Location to United States of America (1), and you type 12223334444 in a contact's phone number field, Outlook masks or resolves the number as +1 (222) 333-4444. Using this same location setting, if you type 2223334444 in a contact's phone number field, Outlook masks the number as (222) 333-4444. If you type in 3334444, Outlook masks the number as (111) 333-4444, where 111 is the area code in your location settings. If you type 122233344445, Outlook will not mask the number format because it does not recognize the number as a valid telephone number.

For the United States of America (1) country code, Outlook recognizes the following formats as valid telephone numbers:

• Eleven or thirteen digits for International telephone numbers.
• Ten digits for United States telephone numbers outside of your local area code.
• Seven digits for United States telephone numbers within your local area code.

The behavior of Outlook when masking phone numbers varies, depending on your location settings for country and area code and the number of digits in the phone number. If any of the location settings are incorrect, Outlook cannot properly format your country's telephone numbers.

To set your location in Outlook, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options to open the Options dialog box.
2. Click the General tab, click Dialing Options, and then click Dialing Properties to open the Dialing Properties dialog box.
3. Enter the information under My Locations, click OK, OK, and OK to close all dialog boxes.

For more information about setting your location, type "location settings" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Set a location for automatic phone dialing."

For more information about automatically adding the country code to local phone numbers, type "country code" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Automatically add the country code to local phone numbers you enter."

For more information about entering phone numbers for a contact, type "country code" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Enter phone numbers for a contact."