XCLN: Outlook & Exchange One-Off SMTP Address & Display Name Parsing

ID: Q184957

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

Microsoft Exchange and Outlook clients are unable to parse one-off SMTP addresses in the following forms:

<someone@microsoft.com>
First Last <someone@microsoft.com>
(First Last) <someone@microsoft.com>
"First Last" <someone@microsoft.com>
(First Last) someone@microsoft.com
"First Last" someone@microsoft.com
First Last <"<First>Last"@microsoft.com>
(First Last) "<First>Last"@microsoft.com
someone@microsoft.com (First Last)
someone@microsoft.com "First Last"
<someone@microsoft.com> (First Last)
<someone@microsoft.com> "First Last"


CAUSE

Microsoft Exchange clients and Microsoft Outlook 97 client versions 8.00, 8.01, 8.02, and 8.03 only accept one-off SMTP addresses in the form of:

someone@microsoft.com
Microsoft Outlook 98 version 8.50 accepts one-off SMTP addresses in the following forms:
someone@microsoft.com
First Last <someone@microsoft.com>
Outlook 98 parses the SMTP address from the one-off string in the last example above, but it uses the full original string as the display name.


WORKAROUND

Use the one-off SMTP addressing forms supported by the Outlook and Exchange clients.


RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the Latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

Additional SMTP one-off address parsing features are now available from Microsoft as an official hotfix for Outlook and Exchange clients. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.


STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the products listed above.

A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.

This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 2.


MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Exchange and Outlook clients can parse one-off SMTP addresses and display names in the following forms when you apply the hotfix:

someone@microsoft.com
<someone@microsoft.com>
First Last <someone@microsoft.com>
(First Last) <someone@microsoft.com>
"First Last" <someone@microsoft.com>
(First Last) someone@microsoft.com
"First Last" someone@microsoft.com
First Last <"<First>Last"@microsoft.com>
(First Last) "<First>Last"@microsoft.com
"First Last" "<First>Last"@microsoft.com
someone@microsoft.com (First Last)
someone@microsoft.com "First Last"
<someone@microsoft.com> (First Last)
<someone@microsoft.com> "First Last"
These additional addressing forms are only available as one-off addresses. The new parsing code successfully parses the display names and e-mail addresses from the strings. For example, if someone entered the following string as a one-off: 

     First Last <someone@microsoft.com>

it would be parsed as follows:
Display Name: First Last
E-mail Address: someone@microsoft.com
The new parsing functionality only applies to one-off SMTP addresses. PAB SMTP addresses still need to be entered as follows:
Display Name: First Last
E-mail Address: someone@microsoft.com
The new SMTP parsing code is only invoked when an SMTP address has been entered as a one-off on the "TO" line and a "check names" has been performed, or when the Outlook background name check thread is invoked.

The Outlook background name check thread is executed when an SMTP one-off address has been entered and the TAB key is selected to advance to the next field. The Outlook background name check thread was designed to remove white space from the one-off string. This was a useful feature for eliminating typos before processing the address. However, this feature needed to be removed, because the clients are now able to parse complex strings and addresses that may contain spaces. The new SMTP one-off parsing functionality was added to Mapi32.dll. The Outlook background name check function was modified in Outllib.dll. These were separate modifications, but both should be implemented when using the Outlook client. If the Outllib.dll is not updated, the display name will be parsed without a space and will appear as:
Display Name: FirstLast
E-mail Address: someone@microsoft.com 


Keywords          : exc55sp2fix XCLN 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,8.00,8.01,8.02,8.03,8.50
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: April 9, 1999