Below is a workaround for displaying Address Book contacts in "Last, First"
format by Paul Berkowitz.
----------------------
You can't [display in Last, First format]. Do note that the Name column
nevertheless _sorts_ by Last Name, not First Name.
You could copy LastName FirstName into the Nickname field or a custom field,
and then sort by that. You can also drag that column to the far left
(after making it visible in View/Columns) if you wish.
Transferring all the names in reverse order can be done easily by
AppleScript.
tell application "Microsoft Entourage"
set allContacts to every contact
repeat with aContact in my allContacts
tell aContact
set {fName, lName} to {first name, last name}
if fName "" and lName "" then
set reverseName to lName & " " & fName -- or:
--set reverseName to lName & ", " & fName -- with comma
else if fName "" or lName "" then
set reverseName to lName & fName
else if company "" then
set reverseName to company
else if (every email address) {} then
set reverseName to default email address
else
set reverseName to ""
end if
set its nickname to reverseName -- or:
-- set its custom field three to reverseName -- or whichever
end tell
end repeat
beep
activate
display dialog "All done!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon 1
end tell
You can run this from Script Editor if you wish (no need to save it.) If you
want a comma between last name and first, remove the first "--" in front of
that line with comma and insert "--" before the preceding line. Similarly if
you want to use a custom field and not the nickname, remove the "--" in
front of the custom view line and insert it before the nickname line (or
just remove that line). You can change the "three" to anything from "one"
through "eight".
----------------------
Be warned that Custom Fields are not indexed and as a result they do not
sort as speedily as other fields.
To copy a script, open Script Editor (/Applications/AppleScript/Script
Editor), and paste the script in. Then click the "Run" button.
Another option is to place the first name only in a custom field (say Custom
Field 3) using this script. Then, in the Address Book, go to View > Columns
> Custom 3, and click it to sort by first name. Then, the full names in the
name column should also be sorted by first name.
tell application "Microsoft Entourage"
set allContacts to every contact
repeat with aContact in my allContacts
tell aContact
set fName to first name
if fName "" and last name "" then
set newName to last name
else if company "" then
set reverseName to company
else if (every email address) {} then
set reverseName to default email address
else
set reverseName to ""
end if
set its custom field three to reverseName -- or whichever
end tell
end repeat
beep
activate
display dialog "All done!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon 1
end tell
On 9/27/07 7:22 PM, "Gene Weber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thank you for the response, Diane. I thought this topic was previously
> discussed, but I failed to locate it in the archives.
> I'll send this feature request via the Help feedback as you suggested.
> Thanks again,
> Gene
>
> On 9/27/07 7:09 PM, "Diane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> On 9/27/07 9:58 AM, "Gene Weber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>>> Contacts in my address book are sorted alphabetically by last name but are
>>> displayed in the format Firstname Lastname. Is there a way to display names
>>> in the format Lastname, Firstname (e.g., "Weber, Gene" instead of "Gene
>>> Weber")?
>>
>> Not in 2004. If you would like to see this feature added send feedback under
>> Help. You could put the first name in the Nickname field then drag your
>> columns to show "name" then "nickname".
>
--
Mickey Stevens (Microsoft MVP for Office:mac)
Office & Mac Resources: <http://home.earthlink.net/~mickey.stevens/>
