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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

47 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2025-06-26T20:38:38+00:00

    THANK YOU! It did not work for me at first, then I modified the formula and it worked. Here are my steps (ALL credit to Jeffrey on this!) that worked in the Outlook desktop app installed on Windows 11:

    HOW TO CODE MS OUTLOOK (DESKTOP) TO DISPLAY THE TRUE EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE LEFT COLUMN INSTEAD OF THE "FRIENDLY NAME"

    Ribbon

    View Settings

    View Tab

    Columns

    New Column…

    Name: From address

    Type: Formula

    IIf(Left([SearchFromEmail],2)="/O",[FROM]+"","<"+[SearchFromEmail]+">"+" ("+[From]+")")

    Under "Select available columns from:", select user-defined fields

    Move the new "From address" "column" to immediately above "From"

    Click on "From" and remove it

    OK

    OK

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-06-27T09:28:18+00:00

    Hello John,

    we all know, that Microsoft will do too less to solve problems from their user.

    It seems to be more important to make everything more colorful, larger, more space-consuming and less effective in use - this is called 'user-friendly' today.

    Today my biggest problem is to find an way to prevent Outlook to change the font, size and everything else if I copy and paste a table from word in a mail. Every paste option has no efffect - in all cases the table has after paste the font 'Aptos' and the size is 12 - this font and the size is nowhere in the Mail. The It seems that Microsoft want to introduce the ne font by force... Every update it will be worse if I must copy a text over the clipboard. The only option: paste it, then select it and format it again as it was in the template.

    At least there's 'Windows-V' now – it lets you insert text without formatting.

    Unlike a year ago, when you had to go through Notepad if you wanted unformatted text.

    But I digress... again... sorry - every day the is a new 'feature' that I will do not need. And I must search for a way to evoid the 'feature'

    I wish everybody a nice weekend!

    Bjoern

    0 comments