Under Tools->Options->Display->Advanced "Show only display name for people in my address book".

This setting does not assume all people in an Address Book have a 'Display Name' setting. If selected it checks and then displays information depending upon what is or is not setup in Address Books on a per contact basis.

Unchecking this global preference is also a quick way to see all email addresses in the From headers without needing to search and modify anything in any Address Book.

If this option is Not selected then regardless of whether person is or is not in address book and regardless of whether you have given them your own prefered 'Display Name' and selected "Always prefer display name over message header" checkbox the following applies:

'From' column header will display either:

• the display name the sender included
• if no display name, just the email address.

In header of opened message, it will display either:

• any display name the sender included plus email address
• if no display name, just the email address.

So any settings regarding 'display name' for contacts in Address books is ignored.

If this option Is selected then: For anyone not in the address book the same rule as above will apply. For anyone in the Address Book, it will search to see whether you have set up any preferences for 'Display Name' or not. eg: Entered a particular 'Display Name' like 'Mum' and selected "Always prefer display name" checkbox

This means the Options preference will be used if the 'Display Name' has been set and "Always prefer display name" checkbox selected.

• instead of the default Display name that may have been supplied in the email 'From' header.
• or applied where no default display name is supplied in email From header.

However, some contacts in Address Book may not have the 'Display Name' selected. So the preference set up in Options will not apply and the default as supplied in From header will be applied.

Basically it is a global setting to apply or not apply specific preferences you have applied in Address Book. It is not a global setting to assume every contact has a 'Display Name' by default.

Thanks for the response. This suggests that there is no way to do what I want - always show the display name if there is one.

Instead, TB can always show the display name if there is one, and I have checked 'always prefer display name' for each and every contact.

That's not practical for an address book with a thousand contacts. Given that there's no option to do what I want, does anyone know of a plugin to set 'always prefer display name' for all contacts?