Configuring Outlook Express to search for e-mail addresses

Newer versions of Outlook Express (and probably Outlook) have the ability to use LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) to search for e-mail addresses. This webpage leads you through the steps to configure Outlook Express 5.5 to query the Med School's server, and shows an example search.

Download setup info

Outlook has a nice feature that allows you to import the necessary information from a file, rather than having manually enter it. Download this file, UNDSMHS.iaf, to your computer, and remember where it was saved. (Putting it on the Desktop, or your My Documents folder would probably be the easiest to find again)

Configure Outlook

Startup Outlook, and from the menu select Tools/Accounts ...

In the dialog box that appears, click the Import ... button

Screen capture of Internet Accounts dialog box

Find the file you downloaded at the beginning of this "howto" and double-click on it. For this example, I placed it in the My Documents folder.

Finding the downloaded IAF file

If everything went well, you should be able to see the UNDSMHS directory service under the Directory Service tab of the Internet Accounts dialog. Click Close to finish up.

Screen capture showing imported account

Looking up an address

When composing a new message, you should now be able to type a name (try just first or last), and hit the Check button (or hit Ctrl-K).

Example of looking up an e-mail address

Outlook should contact the Med School's LDAP server, and look for that name. If it finds an exact match, it'll just underline the name to show it's been checked. If there are multiple matches, it'll show something like this:

List shown when there are multiple matches

Select the person you want, and hit the OK button (or double-click on the name), and it should show up underlined in your new message composition window.

Clicking on the Properties button will give you a little more information about the people. In some cases you'll see Department, City, maybe even a personal homepage.

Another way to lookup people

You can also query the LDAP server from within the Outlook address-book window, by clicking on the Find People button.

Find people feature of Address book

In the dialog box that appears, make sure the Look in: file is set to UNDSMHS, enter the name you're looking for and hit the Add button (so that the entry "Name contains *****" appears), and hit Find Now.

Example of searching a name

Any matching names will appear. You may select the one you're interested in, and Add to Address Book, which will put a copy in your personal addressbook, which you can access even when you're not online, and can't contact the Med School's LDAP server.

Barry Pederson <barryp@medicine.nodak.edu>
Revised 7/27/2001