OL2000: Location Settings Determine Phone Number Format

This article explains how Microsoft Outlook masks phone number fields based on your location settings and the number of digits in your telephone number. This masking behavior 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 setting, Outlook automatically masks the field, formatting the country code, area code, and number. This behavior also occurs 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 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 phone number field, Outlook masks the number as (222) 333-4444. If you type 3334444, Outlook masks the number as (222) 333-4444, where 222 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.

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. In the Contacts folder on the Actions menu, point to Call Contact, and then click New Call.
2. In the New Call dialog box, click Dialing properties.
3. In the Dialing Properties dialog box, enter the information under My Locations; then, click OK, and Close to close all dialog boxes.

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

• Eleven 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.
• If you are using Microsoft Windows 98, you can also set it to always dial 10 digits.