OL97: Contact Fax Numbers May Fail with +1 Prefix (181066)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to send a fax to a contact created with Microsoft Outlook 97, sending to a Business Fax address may fail.

CAUSE

The failure of the fax may occur because Outlook has been set to add a +1 the to the beginning of the Business Fax number. The +1 is the country code for the United States. Some centrally managed phone systems such as PBX systems may not be able to process the +1 prefix as a country code.

RESOLUTION

If this setting conflicts with a centrally managed telephone equipment, the country code can be omitted. To disable the addition of the country code in new telephone numbers, follow these steps:

Start Outlook.
On the Tools menu, click Options.
On the General tab, click Dialing Options.
Click to clear the "Automatically add country code to local phone numbers" check box.
Click OK, and then OK again to close all dialog boxes.

When you add a new telephone number to a Contact, Outlook will not add the +1 prefix.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

Click to select Contacts on the Outlook Bar. On the File menu click new Contact.
Enter a name and to business fax number such as 555-5555. Assume an area code of 555.
Save and Close the Contact.
The Contact information for the person just added will read <name> followed by +1(555)555-5555. This is also true for Personal Address Book entries where the Contacts folder has been designated as an e-mail address book.

REFERENCES

For more information about using telephone numbers with a modem, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

171043 Microsoft Fax Does Not Process Dialing Properties

129049 How to Perform 10-Digit Dialing in Windows 95

142328 How to Change International Dialing Access Codes