Using Entourage 2004 v11.2.3.
I am trying to fathom how Entourage picks up the "From" element for incoming mail items.
All mail I receive via Entourage–[EMAIL PROTECTED] Letterrip.com appears in my Inbox as if they were sent directly to me by the Individual posters, such that I can sort on the "From" party and see, say, Barry Wainwright's posts grouped under his name.
Yet other Incoming Mail seems to act differently. Even if I have the sender's contact information recorded in my Address Book, when I sort on "From," sender's mail items are sometimes listed in the From column of the Inbox under his name, i.e. John Doe, while other messages are grouped under his email address, i.e. jdoe@ . . . Thus, when I sort on "From," I'll get a collection of messages organized under John Doe, and more under [EMAIL PROTECTED] . .
Is this normal?
Is the difference related to Sender's configuration of his Email Client? Perhaps he omitted to load his name in the Personal Information section of his Account configuration at one location, but did enter his name at the Account configuration he uses at the office?
It's quite simple. For sorting purposes, or if you set Preview Pane Below and have a "From" column, Entourage uses the "Display Name" ("John Doe") if there is one, and that's all. If there isn't a Display Name in the "From" header, then Entourage uses the email address.
What determines whether or not there is a display name in the From header has nothing to do with how you list the sender in your address book as a contact, nor whether or net s/he is even a con tact in your address book or not: you cannot control it. It depends on whether the sender has included a display name in his or her own email program, whatever it may be, for the email account. For example, if s/he has Entourage, that's what's recorded in Tools/Accounts/Mail/[some account]/Edit/Name. All email programs have an equivalent entry, and it's always optional, whereas Email Address is mandatory. All it depends on is whether the account the sender sent from has that (Display) Name or not. As you say, the fact that sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't from a particular sender on the same email address must reflect that s/he is sending from different computers, one of which has the Name entry and one of which doesn't.
To get all messages from that sender grouped together, do an Advanced Find on that folder (i.e. when that message folder is displayed) via cmd-opt-F or Edit menu/Advanced Find and enter just the email address in the From <Contains> text box. If you have one of his/her emails selected, the email address will be automatically entered for you when you switch the first popup to "From". Click Find button and all his/her emails will appear. If you think you'll need to check this particular sender's emails frequently, save it (or do it) as a Custom View, which is dynamic. Any time you go to that Mail View (at the bottom of the Folders List are the Mail Views), you'll get an up-to-date list of all his/her messages without having to re-enter the criterion.
--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>
PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using - 2004, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
