Stop changing the display of email addresses to names on outlook. This is supporting CYBERSECURITY Criminals.

Reported
Anonymous
2023-12-01T19:38:31+00:00

When I type an e-mail address to someone, Outlook changes it to the name in my contacts instead of leaving it alone as the actual e-mail address.

For example, I received an email from an unknown contact (a scammer) whose email address is **removed for privacy reasons**@gmail.com and outlook displays my CEO's name instead of the scammer's email address. How and why is my CEO's name displayed from an email address that has random letters??

The way Outlook is currently displaying names instead of email addresses makes people extremely vulnerable to scams, phishing, malware, and other cybersecurity threats.

Furthermore, I am not the first person to raise this issue. Please see this same issue raised at this link: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/show-the-actual-e-mail-address-instead-of-the-name/09baa36a-b494-456c-901f-475032c72b8d?page=1  Microsoft needs to address this issue and stop giving responses on forums that are unrelated to issue at hand. Instead please ESCALATE this issue to appropriate party responsible for making decisions and TAKE ACTION immediately.

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-06-26T15:57:17+00:00

    That workaround only seems to work for Windows desktop clients, not for the web client, nor for the macOS desktop client. Unless I'm wrong (I tried in both but didn't see any way to do something similar), then unfortunately it's not even an available workaround for many people.

    And even if all of my 2,000 users used the Windows desktop client (almost none of them do), it would be a royal pain to try to push out and maintain something like this. And add in things like ticketing systems as well.

    So it's not something that Microsoft should think gets anywhere near solving this ridiculous issue that remains unsolved after years of asking.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-06-26T10:45:39+00:00

    Before Microsoft gets any ideas that this entirely fixes the issue, it doesn’t for ticketing systems like Freshdesk.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-06-26T10:09:16+00:00

    Thanks Jeffery I appreciate it this "work around" actually works.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-06-26T09:42:36+00:00

    Hello Jeffrey,

    Whow, VBA is needed for this...

    Which brings us directly to the next incomprehensible Microsoft "feature".

    Why are field names in Outlook dependent on the language? Aliases are used everywhere - and where it would make sense, they don't do it:

    The field "FROM" is called "Von" in Germany - and can only be claimed in this way in the VBA script.

    But still better than formulas in Excel where the functions were also translated ('LEFT' is 'LINKS' in our Excel, because I have German as the display language). It's a miracle that English Excel spreadsheets work properly at all. Because I can only enter the formulas in German. I have no idea what happens when I have to change an English spreadsheet. But I digress... 🤣

    So I have at least a way to see externally received mail address immediately.

    Unfortunately, the "internal" mail address from our organisation are signed consistently with

    Jeffrey, thank you very much for this workaround - it is absolutly helpful!

    Björn

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-11T19:58:03+00:00

    Hello! Sanjana Chowdhury

    Thank you for your patiently waiting.

    I have a word from our internal team regarding of your concern.

    The quick answer is that Outlook, and I believe most email services, will show the "friendly name" that is chosen by the user who created the account, that is how things have worked for a long time. This does have a fraud/scam avenue, but one can easily check the true email address by hovering over the identity's profile or name, or by double clicking it to see any related account information including email address.

    We have more information on the subject as well as how to spot this kind of email here Protect yourself from phishing - Microsoft Support

    If you wants it to appear differently, this is not a bug, this will require you to suggestion this as a feedback in the feedback hub app for the developers to apply the change.

    You can follow the steps on how to submit a feedback here: How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365? - Microsoft Support

    I hope this helps!

    Thank you for patience and understanding.

    Best Regards,

    Vince
    Microsoft Community Moderator

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