If you’re like most Outlook 2007 users, your Contacts folder will grow to contain a lot of contact entries—typically, too many to allow you to browse through the folder when you need to quickly find a particular contact. You’re also likely to encounter situations in which, for example, you need to locate contact information but can’t remember the person’s last name. Fortunately, Outlook 2007 makes it easy to locate contact data, providing two convenient ways to search contacts: Instant Search and the Search Address Books box on the Standard toolbar.

Instant Search works the same way across all of the Outlook 2007 folders, so to locate a contact, begin typing the contact’s name in the Search Contacts box. If you click the Expand The Query Builder button, the default search fields are:

If you want to add more fields, you can click Add Criteria and then select the fields in the list.

You can also use the Search Address Books box on the Standard toolbar, shown in Figure 33-8, to search for contacts. Type the search criterion (such as a first name, last name, or company), and then press Enter.

Figure 33-8. The Search Address Books box allows you to find a contact entry quickly.

If Outlook 2007 finds only one contact that matches the search criteria, it opens the contact entry for that person. Otherwise, Outlook 2007 displays the Choose Contact dialog box, shown in Figure 33-9, in which you can select the contact entry to open.

Figure 33-9. Select a contact when Outlook 2007 finds more than one that fits your search.