The right Address Book settings
Mac Tip #139/03-Mar-2004

The first and most important thing with Address Book is to choose the correct Address Format. Here in New Zealand we can choose New Zealand. There is a list of some 50 or more countries though to choose from.

Choose the country in Address Book preferences.

This is quite important as addresses vary considerably from one country to the next.

While you’re visiting the Settings be sure to see what else you might choose.

I like to sort my lists by First Name but you might prefer to sort by Last Name. In older versions of Address Book those might be the extent of your choices, but in the latest version there are many other settings you can tweak as well.

Apple has improved the Address Book steadily over the last year or two. If you have an older version you may find some features I mention in these Tips don’t exist. I’m using Address Book 3.1.1 (v301) which came with Panther. Check which version you have by starting up Address Book and choosing About Address Book from the Address Book menu.