[jimcolyer]

Right, this is driving me nuts.

I have 164 contacts (not in the sim, proper contacts) Sync`ed from outlook.

When I try to search for them on the phone, it seems to come up in a random order, for example...

I want to find someone called Carla Smith - I go into the contacts list and hit `2abc` three times for `c` and hey presto, up comes Carla Smith, followed by Charlie Tester etc etc... (ie in alphabetcial order)

Then I want to find someone called Tina, so I do the same, go into contacts and hit `8tuv` once for `t` and for some reason I get `John Taylor` followed by `Alex Taplin` (for some reason this time, is is ordering the items by surnames, in reverse alpahbetical order). Tina is there, but right at the bottom end of the list!

If i type in T then I, tina will appear!

**bleep**?!?!

I have tried the first name/last name option in the display, and this just reverses the problem (and yes, my contacts all have the names the right way round!)

I am guessing this is a known bug, to be fixed soon, but is SO annoying - is anyone else finding this, or anything similar?

Is there any workaround to make the phone work correctly ?

[macn95user]

---

24-Apr-200710:21 AM
jimcolyer wrote:
hit `8tuv` once for `t` and for some reason I get `John Taylor` followed by `Alex Taplin` If i type in T then I, tina will appear!

---

Actually it's bringing up all contacts with the letter T in them in the first instance (then TI an so on). I think the reason they're random is Outlook & Sim transfers appear to put the contacts whole name into the Last Name field. To test this, open any of your contacts (Contacts Options Open). I think you'll see the following:

Last name
Alex Taplin(from your text- try a few others).

Only my new contacts seemed to be recorded ok initially so I checked the above,and a quick clean up in PCSuite (easiest way; N95 is cumbersome for big edits like an address book) saw everyone having a last AND first name again & the phones software then knows how to sort by Last Name (or First Name, whatever your pref.settings were).

Let me know. I didn't want to "uncleanup" mine to test it again.

Message Edited by macn95user on 24-Apr-200705:12 PM

[jimcolyer]

hmm, it was a good thought, but I have checked, and all my contacts seem to be stored correctly, all of them are synced from outlook.

the first names and last names are split correctly.

I have tried looking at all the obvious things, but banging my head against the wall now!

[richcowell]

This is a feature, not a fault...

It will automatically search for all contacts with the letter T in, then narrow it down as you type more letters... Which is why when you type Ti Tina appears... If you had other contacts with 'ti' in their names, they would be in that list too...

There's no way around this, but it doesn't take long to get used to

[jimcolyer]

...so why when I hit `c` do i get Carla straight away?

[richcowell]

Possibly because that's the first entry in the phone book containing the letter C...

Do any of your contacts beginning with A or B have the letter C in their names?

[patc]

Jim is correct: Contacts are not searched by initial characters, but by characters appearing anywhere in the contact name.

Once you get used to it, it's actually much better: if you had your contacts sorted by forename and could only remember a surname, then an initial character search would be useless. This way, it doesn't matter what part of the name you remember - or how bad your spelling is.

[kevineu]

Both are right and wrong...

I did a test. Sometimes if you keyed in letters mid-name, it appears and sometimes it doesn't. Weird...

[scottxe]

Can you advise how to sort the display to First Name Last Name order.

Thanks!

[macn95user]

Scottxe - To change sort order go into Contacts - Options - Settings - Select - Options - Select (Change)

then choose one of the 3 options
Last Name First Name
Last nm First nm
First Name Last Name
&OK

Done

[scottxe]

Thanks for your advice. However, in Contacts of on my N95, there is no settings option. Could you please tell me the complete steps as I may enter into wrong mode. Appreciate your further advice.

Thanks!

[sampercy]

This really annoyed me as a 'feature'.

I don't think it ever shows you contacts where the entered letter(s) is in the middle of the first or last name, only when either starts with the entered letters.

I can't test it now though as I've removed the feature, but in an annoying way.

Using PC Suite, though you could do it manually, I have changed all entries to be a balnk first name and a surname like 'JohnSmith' or 'Jenny-Manchester'. Using no spaces means the software only uses the first letter(s).

I know they mean it as a feature, but really they could allow us a few options to turn it off.

[jimcolyer]

Couldnt agree more - I did consider this work around, but as I use my Outlook contacts to sync to other sources, PDA, Offline email etc, it was not possible to do so.

Everyone else in the world uses the `hit the first letter of the name` method so why cant Nokia !!!!

It then wouldnt matter if you are looking for the First name or Surname, as you can sort names either way.

Hopefully this `useful` `feature` will be fixed in an upcoming firmware update.

Is there a suggestion box for Nokia, or do they actually read these forums ?

[scottxe]

Thanks for your advice. However, there is no setting option for me to select. Strange!

[ibizafx]

yeah this search feature is stupid, it search for first and last name at once and display all. for example if you search for letter "r" and you have "John Rogers" and "Ramond Clark" in your contact both will appear. to go around it just put contacts whole name in the first name spot. leave last name blank.