Standard Lookup field doesn't show all Contacts

Question

I have an ordinary master-detail relationship, where Contact is the master and Example__c is the detail.

I have a number of Contacts in the system, and have full CRUD permissions on all of them. The org-wide default for Contact is Public Read/Write.

When I create a new Example, and try to associate it to a Contact, the Lookup does not give me all results, just my Recently Viewed Contacts. This is normal I think.

And yet, obviously I want to be able to select any Contact in the System. So I do as the text says, and put an (*) and click Go.

None of the other Contact records have appeared. I try A* out of curiosity, and a new Contact Adam Smith pops up, but not Albus Dumbledore! I try "Albus"and get:

No records found due to one of the following:

    There are no records of this type
    You don't have permission to see any of the records

Am I missing something simple?

EDIT: Just found Lookup search not returning results, though couldn't find a definitive answer there.

Answer 1

Contacts that do not have an Account associated with them are Private (to the person who created it) so you won't be able to 'see' them in the Lookup.

Some more info here:

https://na13.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/contacts_sharing.htm

http://success.salesforce.com/questionDetail?qId=a1X30000000JDN7EAO

Answer 2

Contacts that are not linked to an account are always private, regardless of your organization’s sharing model. Only the owner of the contact and administrators can view it. Sharing rules and workflow rules do not apply to private contacts.