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
    2025-01-09T21:09:15+00:00

    I agree with the others on here that this behavior is extremely dangerous and a boon for cybercriminals. I have no idea why Microsoft would promote this behavior. This response from Microsoft is also not helpful as it is only for composing messages and not for the reading pane. Additionally, as others have pointed out this is for the web page, but on that page its not even accurate as there is no "Always show email address." box anywhere. There is an "Always show From" (the one I think they are referring to) and "Always show Bcc", but like I stated earlier, this is only for composing messages. If some clicks on a link in a phishing email, this is of no use at all.

    Microsoft please be better.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-11-04T12:24:20+00:00

    We don't want plain text format we simply want to display the email address rather than the name (or at least both) but need to retain the ability to fomat text in our messages. Will Microsoft indemnify its customers if they lose out as a result of this design flaw?

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-09T02:27:06+00:00

    Has this issue not been fixed?.

    Very disappointing if this is an ongoing security flaw that hasn't been addressed.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-06T13:25:55+00:00

    There is no "Plain Text" or "Compose messages in this format" option under "Message Format" for me.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-08-15T13:52:04+00:00

    I have 1 question. Why hasn't this been changed yet? At this point, I consider anything short of a notification to Security and Entra Administrators that this feature REMOVAL is a WIP gross negligence.

    Ostensibly, at some point this become "Aiding and abetting a criminal".

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