Contacts application displays contacts using the 'file as' field.

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Contacts application displays contacts using the 'file as' field.

Hi,

Since iOS 15 we have the issue that the iOS contacts application shows contacts synced from our business exchange account to the company iPhones using the 'file as' name. The contacts are synced properly, if you edit the contact, the first name, last name fields are shown properly. However they are not visible in the contacts card nor in the contact list.

In the 'file as' field we use a company identifier which is basically an abbreviation of the users full name.

We assume this is a bug in iOS 15 due to the fact that now the 'display as' sort order is ignored, also the 'display name' would be an ok field to show but not 'file as'.

I hope you can confirm if this is a bug, otherwise we will have to do some quick mitigation/workaround on our contact-sync infrastructure.

Mvg

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 7:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Miche11e_P

Community Specialist

Oct 2, 2021 8:21 AM in response to Xerxes249

Hi Xerxes249,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!

We understand that when you're using the iOS Contacts app, it shows the contacts synced from your business exchange account to the company iPhones using the 'file as' name. In this case, we'd recommend that you contact our Business and Education Support directly to investigate this further with you. You can find their contacts information here: Business and Education - Contact

Take care!

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Answer 2

Xerxes249 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 14, 2021 2:24 PM in response to RampantBadger34

I have been contacting Apple and the conclusion was 'go contact Microsoft', I think that is bs but we had a workaround deployed already so I did not spend any more time on it. Still think it is a bug/unwanted behavior though.

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Answer 3

Dec 4, 2021 5:58 AM in response to Xerxes249

Will you please provide the solution that you deployed for this issue. Our data list is extensive and this problem has created a massive issue with our staff and regretfully, Apple/MicroSoft have been of no help up to this point.

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Answer 4

Xerxes249 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 20, 2022 4:29 AM in response to vigneshr_88

The workaround is to not override the ‘file as’ field and match users on other identifying information (e.g. organisation email). The default firstname-lastname is used for the ‘file as’. It still has an issue in the iOS email app somehow but I have not investigated this yet.

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Answer 5

Nov 10, 2021 8:01 AM in response to Xerxes249

Exactly the same issue here. We use the File As as an identifier for the contact. Why would IOS not use the Full Name field instead?

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Answer 6

Jan 4, 2022 9:55 PM in response to Xerxes249

Hi Please let us know the workaround you did for this problem

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Contacts application displays contacts using the 'file as' field.

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