Outlook address book sort order, PhoneticDisplayName

Managing the phonetic display of user names in Outlook's address book involves understanding the capabilities and limitations of both the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and Outlook's sorting functionalities.

1. Entering PhoneticDisplayName in the Admin Center:

Currently, the Microsoft 365 Admin Center does not provide a direct field to input or modify the PhoneticDisplayName attribute for users. This attribute is designed to store the phonetic pronunciation of a user's display name, primarily for accessibility and sorting purposes. To set or modify the PhoneticDisplayName, administrators need to use PowerShell commands. Here's how you can do it:

Using Exchange Online PowerShell:

Set-Mailbox -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons -PhoneticDisplayName "Phonetic Name"

Replace email address removed for privacy reasons with the user's email address and "Phonetic Name" with the desired phonetic representation.

2. Sorting the Address Book by PhoneticDisplayName:

Outlook's address book sorting capabilities are somewhat limited and do not natively support sorting by the PhoneticDisplayName attribute through the user interface. The default sorting is typically based on the DisplayName or Last Name fields. While you can click on column headers like "Name" or "E-mail" to sort the address book accordingly, there isn't a built-in option to sort by PhoneticDisplayName.

3. Changing Sort Order by Column Headers:

In Outlook, you can change the sort order of the address book by clicking on the column headers such as "Name," "E-mail," or "Mobile Phone." However, this functionality is limited to the columns displayed, and PhoneticDisplayName is not among the default columns available for sorting. To adjust the sorting:

Open the Address Book in Outlook.
Click on the desired column header to sort by that column.
Keep in mind that the available columns for sorting are predefined, and custom attributes like PhoneticDisplayName are not included.

Additional Considerations:

Name Pronunciation Feature: Microsoft has introduced a feature allowing users to record the pronunciation of their names, which is accessible on their profile cards in Outlook and Teams. This feature enhances name pronunciation accessibility but does not affect the sorting order in the address book.