OL97: Imported Phone Numbers Have .000 Appended

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SYMPTOMS

When importing data containing phone numbers from other programs such as Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel, the phone numbers may be displayed with ".000" appended to the end. The numbers will not contain any parentheses or hyphens and in some cases the number may be completely different from the number in the original program.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because Outlook does not recognize the numbers being imported as phone numbers, even if they look like phone numbers when viewed in the original program; this happens when the number is imported from a Numeric-type field. An example of this is when a field in Microsoft Excel is formatted as a phone number even though it is typed as a 10-digit number. In Microsoft Excel, it is possible to use a "Phone Number" format; once this format has been applied, you may type a number such as 5551234567 and Microsoft Excel will display it as (555)123-4567. When this number is imported into Outlook, it is interpreted as 5551234567 instead of (555)123- 4567. If a phone number is typed into Microsoft Excel with the parentheses and hyphens, Outlook will interpret it as a phone number.

RESOLUTION

If the phone number is typed into the original program with the parentheses and hyphens, Outlook will interpret it correctly. If you are importing a large amount of data and it is not practical to manually add the parentheses and hyphens, try exporting the data from the original program as a Comma Separated Value (.CSV) file. Most programs such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel will include the parentheses and hyphens as part of text file, thus making it possible for Outlook to properly interpret the data.

For information on exporting data from your original program as a comma separated value text file, consult the documentation supplied with that program.