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The search box in your Contacts list, in the Microsoft Lync main window, is your main entry point for both finding and communicating with people. The search box is also available in the Phone icon, just above the dial pad.

What do you want to do?

Find a contact

You can find contacts who are already in your Contacts list, in addition to people who work in your organization that you’ve not added to the Contacts list.

Search by name or number

  1. Open Lync, and, in your Contacts list, type a contact’s name, email alias, email address, phone number, or even an extension. As you type, the search results adjust to display the most likely contacts.

  2. If you don’t find the name or number that you’re looking for in the search results, you may be able to refine the results by searching for keywords such as skill or area of expertise. If your organization has enabled this feature, Microsoft Lync 2010 communications software searches for these words or phrases in the Microsoft SharePoint profiles of the users.

Search by keyword

  • Below the search box, click the Skill button. You can use the current search or type something else.

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Add a new contact

You can use the search box to add a new contact even if the person does not work at your organization or is in an organization that is recognized or joined (federated) to your organization’s network.

  1. Open Lync, and, in the search field, type a name, email address, or phone number. As you type, the search results adjust to display the most likely contacts.

  2. In the search results, point to the contact that you want to add, and then click the Add to Contacts button (+) to add the person to your Contacts list.

The modes of communication you can use to contact the person depend on whether they are in an organization that is federated to your organization.

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Dial a number

You can place a call by typing the number in the search box, and then clicking the Call button in the search results. Consider the following items:

  • No hyphens, parentheses, or spaces are required. If Lync won’t accept a phone number, contact your support team.

  • For calls within your organization, dial the phone number. If you are asked for an extension, you can use the dial pad in the conversation window.

  • For local calls, dial the phone number. You may have to first dial a number, such as 9, to go outside your organization.

  • For long-distance calls, use the E.164 standard (country code, such as 1 for the United States, plus area code and subscriber number).

  • You can also enter 1-800 numbers and numbers with alphabetical characters in the search box. The alphabetical characters are converted to numbers to place the call.

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Search for additional participants

When you are in a conversation or meeting, you can add contacts to it in several ways. One way to do this is to click the People Options icon in the conversation window, and then click Invite by Name or Phone number. This opens the Invite by Name or Phone Number dialog box, which contains a search box and Contacts list where you can type contact names and numbers.

Another way to add contacts to a conversation or meeting is to drag them from your Contacts list, and drop them to the conversation window.

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