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I am currently using Outlook 2013 as my email client. Here's my issue:

  1. I have contacts stored in my own Contacts Address Book, not the Global Address List (GAL);
  2. When an email is received from someone, what I see in the FROM field is not equivalent to what is located in MY Contacts Address Book in Outlook.
  3. I see, what I assume, is the way the user set up their account in their respective email service providers.
  4. As an example, I have "Good Friend ", but when I receive an email from this person, it displays, e.g. "John Smith ".

How can I get Outlook "know" to display what my contacts' info in MY contacts address?

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This is not possible.

Your e-mail is coming to you from someone outside of Exchange and using SMTP to send the e-mail to you. This by design and how Internet e-mail works.

From Wikipedia:

To indicate the message recipient, an email address also may have an associated 
display name for the recipient, which is followed by the address specification 
surrounded by angled brackets, for example: John Smith <[email protected]>

I have Outlook 2013 as well. The FROM in Outlook will depend on what the sender used in the FROM. If there is a Display Name used "John Smith" then that is what will appear. If there is only the e-mail address used, then only the e-mail address will appear in the FROM.

How the FROM e-mail appears on your Outlook does not depend on your contacts list at all.

The only time your Contacts is used when you send an outgoing e-mail. If your Contacts name is "Good Friend", the display name on the recipient's e-mail will show "Good Friend" in their TO.

I hope that makes sense.

p.s. It may be possible to do what you want with Outlook VBA, but that is a Stackoverflow question not SuperUser question.

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  • That's just it, if I have a contact, "Good Friend <email_address>, and I send a message with that contact in the TO field, when that person replies, the FROM field now displays something different, e.g. "First Last <email_address>", and does not recognize the sender as being a "local" contact, i.e. "Good Friend <email_address>. Does this make sense?
    – user118190
    Dec 9, 2014 at 20:28
  • The FROM you see in an incoming will based on the FROM used by the other e-mail client. If it preserves your Google Friend display during the reply, you will see Good Friend, but if the display name is changed during the reply to John Smith, then you will receive the reply with John Smith as the display name. It really depends on the e-mail client that replies to your initial e-mail.
    – Sun
    Dec 9, 2014 at 22:17

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