Feb 25, '04 09:42:00AM • Contributed by: synessence
I was pleased to discover that the search function would parse any text within a contact rather than simply the name or company name, as Entourage does. Today I received a call that listed a number that I knew was familiar, but to which I could not place a name. So I entered the last four digits of the phone number - "4407" - into the search bar, but nothing came up. I looked through the contacts manually and found the contact in question, and the phone number listed did in fact contain 4407. Puzzled, I entered in the last four digits of another number that I knew I had in Address Book - "0220" - and this time, it DID produce the correct contact. I tried to determine whether there were any significant differences between these two phone numbers, but the only thing I noticed was that the second one was a palindrome. On a lark I entered in the first number in reverse order - "7044" - and ... wait for it ... it pulled up the contact with the "4407" number.
Somehow, Address Book will only match partial phone numbers when the reverse is entered into the search box. Try it! Amuse your friends! Fun at parties!
[robg adds: I confirmed this on my machine as well, and it extends beyond partial phone numbers. I tried searching on my phone number, which is entered as "(123) 456-7890." If I search for "(123) 456-," then my record is found. If I add in the "7890," then Address Book tells me that there are no matches. Very strange bug...]
