Agencies' Unidentifiable Emails

[Lindsay Pinkham]

This must be a pet peeve for any reporter who freelances for a lot of different agencies.  Even though their email address is something like "calendar@XYZ agency," when I look at the email in my Gmail program, the "from" line just says "Calendar."  Half of them come up as "Calendar" or "Schedule" and I have to click two levels in just to see who it's from.  I don't know if this is a Gmail thing or the agencies decide to call themselves "Calendar," as if they're the only one, but it's driving me nuts when I try to scan my emails quickly.

[Debbie Taggart]

This drives me nuts, too.  Mine usually just say "Depos."

[Rebecca Callow]

Same here! 

You can edit the address book for your e-mail account to say whatever you want it to show.  I just add the agency name to the "Calendar" or "Schedule" part and then I can see who it's from instantly.

If it's Gmail, just open your contacts, select the offender, and then change what's called the Display name.

HTH

[Lindsay Pinkham]

Not sure how you did that, because although I Googled it and there is a way to change your own display name, it doesn't seem that there is a way to change the sender's display name that shows when they email me.  

I do have all the agencies in my Gmail contacts with listings such as "Jones Calendar," with an email address of "[e-mail]," and when I send them an e-mail, the display name says "Jones Calendar," but yet when they send me an email, the sender displays as "Scheduling."

I went to the Gmail help forum, and everybody there says you can't do it.

I did find this question and answer from Quora.  I'll try it if I can figure out exactly what he's suggesting!

"Can I change a sender's display name in Gmail?

It's a five-year-old question and up until to day it's still driving me mad...
I find myself in a situation exactly like the one here (and besides, some people just choose ridiculous display name for their G+ profile and every mails from them is displayed with that name, instead of the names I can manage):
I have a contact who uses a made-up name on his email account -- so let's say email from him shows up in my inbox as being from "Bill Watson" even though his actual name is "Warren Smith." This has become sort of maddening for a number of reasons (I am always momentarily confused about who this mail is from; I think using the alias is sort of crazy; I have a close friend named Bill; etc.).
When I get an email from this person, I would like it to display in my Gmail inbox as being from Warren Smith (the name associated with this email address in my Gmail contacts). Is there a way to do this?"

Richi Jennings, Researching email since 1985.

Written 21 Oct 2015

"No, there's no way to do exactly what you ask in Gmail.
"However, try this: Create a rule for email from him, such as from:"[e-mail]" and make the action set a label called (say) BILL WATSON. Now make that label display in an eye-catching color (pull down the label's menu in the lef-hand nav)."

[Rebecca Callow]

I opened my Google contacts, searched for the agency who I wanted to change.  Click to open the contact, then click the pencil to edit. 

Attached is a screenshot of the line item I edited, which I believe is called the Display Name.  This does work on my system because I did a test.   I edited my BF's contact display name and had him send me an email.  His display name was changed.  Hopefully this helps.

[Lindsay Pinkham]

That's funny - Network Depo is one of the contacts I was complaining about!  And in my contacts I do have them down as Network Calendar.  I created all my contacts using the name of the agency plus "Calendar."  But that's still not displaying when they send me emails.  

[Rebecca Callow]

Well, beats me.  Not sure why it works for one and not for another.  

Best of luck figuring it out.