XCLN: How the Check Names Command Works

This article describes how the Check Names command performs Address Name Resolution (ANR) searches against Microsoft Exchange Address books.

The order in which the Check Names command searches address lists (*.GAL, *.PAB, or other containers) is determined by the Exchange client. If a search against one address list yields any matches, then no further containers are searched. To configure the order: select Options from the Tools menu, select the Addressing property page, and then set the desired search order.

Once an Address container is selected, "Check Names" performs two basic types of ANR against the input string: mailbox attribute comparisons and a name fragment comparison.

Mailbox attribute comparisons are performed against the Last Name (Surname), Display Name (Display-Name), Alias Name(Mail-nickname), Office (Physical-Delivery-Office-Name), and E-mail Addresses (Proxy-Addresses).

A name fragment comparison is performed if the input string contains an embedded space or another separator character. The input string is split and matched pair-wise against the Last Name and First Name (Given-Name) fields. For example, a string "ABC XYZ" will match entries where Surname matches ABC and Given-Name matches XYZ as well as entries where Surname matches XYZ and Given-Name matches ABC.

Normally the Check Names command will return a list of all matches even if the match was part of a name. For example, suppose the following users are defined on an Exchange Server:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
First Name       Last Name         Display Name         Alias
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe              Black             Joe Black            Jo
Dan              Johnson           Dan Johnson          DJ
John             Smith             John Smith           JohnS
Test             User              Testing UserID       TestU
----------------------------------------------------------------------
				

If the Check Names command is run with "Jo" (without the quotation marks) as the input string, it will return Joe Black, Dan Johnson, and John Smith as the matches found.

If instead, you want Check Names to perform a full string match and not return partial matches, then precede the input string with an equal (=) sign. In the above example, if the input string was "=Jo", Check Names will return only Joe Black. This full-string matching affects both the mailbox attribute comparisons and the name fragment comparison.

NOTE: Check Names performs case insensitive matches.

A Special Case

Check Names does not check the input string against all the individual words in the Display Name. It only matches the input string against the first word. If this match fails, Check Names matches the input string against the entire Display Name. Using the above mailboxes for example, if the input string is "Testing", a match will be found, but if the string is "UserID", no matches will be found. If input string is "Testing UserID", a match will also be found.

The above behavior occurs while Check Names is checking items in the Global Address Book. However, while checking items in the Personal Address Book, Check Names will parse the individual words in the Display Name and compare these to the input string. In the example above, if "Testing UserID" is in the Personal Address Book instead of the Global Address List, the input string "UserID" will return a match.