Re-naming the Contacts in Your List

Hi,

I have just starting using Messenger in Windows XP and have added contacts
from my Outlook Express address book by inserting email addresses into the
"Add a Contact" dialog box. Some of my email contacts have a .NET passport
and are added to my Messenger Contact List, and I can either ignore other
email contacts or send them an email asking them to get a passport. The
problem I would like advice on is how to change or re-name the contacts in my
Messenger Contact List, because lots of email addresses do not give me the
name of the person. How could I change, for example, " jndc9865@email.com"
to "John Brown" so that I could recognise or remember the name of the person.
I'm sure that other users of Messenger must have experienced this problem.

Greetings,

You're right, they have and apparently this will be addressed in future versions of
Messenger.

However in the current version there is no way to do this without using Messenger Plus! and
MSN Messenger 6 or higher. You can find Messenger Plus! here:
http://www.msgplus.net (lookout for the sponsor program choice during install as you probably
don't want that as well).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2005 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

"Jack in Ireland" <Jack in Ireland@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C79F9609-1BD5-4CD1-A831-F535D6D077A8@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I have just starting using Messenger in Windows XP and have added contacts
> from my Outlook Express address book by inserting email addresses into the
> "Add a Contact" dialog box. Some of my email contacts have a .NET passport
> and are added to my Messenger Contact List, and I can either ignore other
> email contacts or send them an email asking them to get a passport. The
> problem I would like advice on is how to change or re-name the contacts in my
> Messenger Contact List, because lots of email addresses do not give me the
> name of the person. How could I change, for example, " jndc9865@email.com"
> to "John Brown" so that I could recognise or remember the name of the person.
> I'm sure that other users of Messenger must have experienced this problem.
>
>

Hi Jonathan,

Many thanks for suggesting Messenger Plus! which I have downloaded and
installed. It gives me some nice extra features, but when I try to change or
re-name the contacts in my list, the program tells me that I need MSN
Messenger 6 or above to use the Custom Names feature, exactly as you said in
your helpful post. Since I'm quite happy with Windows Messenger, why should
I now change to MSN Messenger ? I guess that I will just have to wait until
good ole Microsoft produces an upgraded version of Windows Messenger !

Best regards

Jack in Ireland

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> You're right, they have and apparently this will be addressed in future versions of
> Messenger.
>
> However in the current version there is no way to do this without using Messenger Plus! and
> MSN Messenger 6 or higher. You can find Messenger Plus! here:
> http://www.msgplus.net (lookout for the sponsor program choice during install as you probably
> don't want that as well).
> ____________________________________________
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
> Associate Expert
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2005 Jonathan Kay.
> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
>
>

Hi Jack,

Unfortunately due to the way Windows Messenger works, there isn't a way for Plus to rename
the contact.

Also, the Windows Messenger team no longer exists, so don't hold out for an upgrade that's
never going to come. Although the next version of Messenger is called Windows Live
Messenger, it's simply MSN Messenger renamed.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2005 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

"Jack in Ireland" <JackinIreland@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:32A8BE2B-70E6-4195-9DB1-445FDF0BA931@microsoft.com...
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> Many thanks for suggesting Messenger Plus! which I have downloaded and
> installed. It gives me some nice extra features, but when I try to change or
> re-name the contacts in my list, the program tells me that I need MSN
> Messenger 6 or above to use the Custom Names feature, exactly as you said in
> your helpful post. Since I'm quite happy with Windows Messenger, why should
> I now change to MSN Messenger ? I guess that I will just have to wait until
> good ole Microsoft produces an upgraded version of Windows Messenger !
>
> Best regards
>
> Jack in Ireland
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> You're right, they have and apparently this will be addressed in future versions of
>> Messenger.
>>
>> However in the current version there is no way to do this without using Messenger Plus!
>> and
>> MSN Messenger 6 or higher. You can find Messenger Plus! here:
>> http://www.msgplus.net (lookout for the sponsor program choice during install as you
>> probably
>> don't want that as well).
>> ____________________________________________
>> Jonathan Kay
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
>> Associate Expert
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
>> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2005 Jonathan Kay.
>> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
>>
>>