It's possible, but not with Outlook objects before OL2007. You'd need CDO 1.21, the weird little address book control that comes with Office, or, to avoid security prompts , Outlook Redemption (http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/)

For a CDO code sample, see http://www.outlookcode.com/d/code/selectnames.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Ed" wrote in message ...
Well, instead can someone point me to code for accessing the defaults
address book and returning the chosen name? I'm searching the NG and
Outlook sites, but that's a lot of stuff to wade through just to get a
name!! <g I've managed to set an object to OL and create a new mail
message, but really for now all I need is to pop up the address list and let
the user choose a name to be set into a cell. Is this possible?

ED

"Smallweed" wrote in message
...
You can certainly look at Outlook data programmatically and I don't see
why
you couldn't then use it to populate a combo box or use it for validation.
You'll need either an Outlook object or a MAPI object - there should be
some
pages of help on it if you search Microsoft.com or Google (sorry I've got
nothing to hand at present but I've certainly done similar things in the
past).

"Ed" wrote:

Is there any way I can link the data validation in a column of cells in
an
Excel worksheet to my default Outlook contacts list? I'm trying to set
up a
workbook for another user, and I'd like to make it easier for him to
insert
the email address of the person listed. I thought a data validation
linked
to the contacts list would give him a drop down menu, rather than hope he
types it in correctly.

If that doesn't work, is there a way I can check a name from the
worksheet
against the contacts list to return the email address?

Thanks.
Ed