# The &kaddressbook; Handbook

Tobias
Koenig

    tokoe@kde.org

Steffen
Hansen

    hansen@kde.org

Don
Sanders

    dsanders@kde.org

2003-03-03
0.03.00
&FDLNotice;

&kaddressbook; is the &kde; address book.

KDE
kaddressbook

## Introduction

&kaddressbook; is the main address book application for &kde;; it enables you to manage your contacts efficiently and comfortably. Since it is based on the kabc library it supports resources, which can be used to load and save your contacts to many different locations — not just the local file system, but also to LDAP servers and SQL databases.

The user interface is similar to MS Outlook and it supports different views for to represent the contact data differently; it also provides an incremental search over all fields and a jump button bar to quickly access single entries. Since the underlying kabc library uses the vCard format (specified in RFC 2426) as its default storage medium, &kaddressbook; mainly reflects the supported entry fields in its graphical user interface.

## Using &kaddressbook;

### Getting Started

After you have started &kaddressbook; (either using the panel menu or by typing `kaddressbook` at the command prompt) the &kaddressbook; main window will be displayed:

Starting &kaddressbook;
The &kaddressbook; main window.

The &kaddressbook; main window.

### Configure Resources

&kaddressbook; can use multiple resources for loading and storing its contacts. After starting &kaddressbook; for the first time you will have a default resource installed that saves all contacts in a vCard file under $HOME/.kde/share/apps/kabc/std.vcf; you can add more resources by using the Resource Configuration dialog, which is available in kcontrol under KDE Components->Address Book:

The Resource Configuration Dialog
The Resource Configuration Dialog.

The Resource Configuration Dialog.

When you click the Add... a dialog will appear where you can select the resource type; at the moment there are four types available:

file

  all contacts will be stored in one file;

dir

  each contact will be stored in its own file;

ldap

  all contacts will be stored on a LDAP server;

net

  all contacts will be stored in one file, which can be located on a remote server (for example, through HTTP, WebDAV, FTP or Fish).

After selecting the type of resource another dialog appears where you can configure the resource-specific settings.

The file and dir resource supports different formats for storing the contacts:

vCard

  the contacts will be stored in the vCard format, as specified in RFC 2426;

binary

  the contacts will be stored in a binary format — this increases performance during loading and saving, but it is not portable like the vCard format.

&kaddressbook; needs a standard resource, where all contacts should be saved if no other resource is specified; for this reason, after starting &kaddressbook; the first time, there is already a resource available. If you want to use another resource as the standard resource, use the Use as Standard button to select it. You must have both read and write access to the new standard resource, otherwise you won't be able to select it.

### Managing Contacts

To create or edit contacts, &kaddressbook; offers a dialog where you can input all the data that can be stored in a vCard.

The Contact Dialog
The Contact Dialog.

The Contact Dialog.

#### Automatic Name Parsing

&kaddressbook; tries to provide an easy name input by automatic name parsing; for this to work properly it is sometimes necessary to add custom name prefixes, suffixes or inclusions in the configure dialog. Nevertheless, no algorithm is perfect, so the name you enter may be parsed incorrectly; in this case, you can disable the automatic name parsing in the name edit dialog, which is available by clicking the Name... button in the contact dialog. If you wish to disable the name parsing for all new contacts you can disable automatic name parsing globally in the configure dialog.

#### Formatted Name

The formatted name of a contact is used by other programs to represent it. &kaddressbook; offers three predefined types of formatted names:

SimpleName

  <given name> <family name>;

FullName

  <prefix> <given name> <additional name> <family name> <suffix>;

ReverseName

  <family name>, <given name>.

If none of the above types fit your needs you can select the Custom name type, where you can add your own formatted name — this configuration can be done in the name edit dialog. To specify a default formatted name type for new contacts, use the configure dialog.

### Using Views

In this version, &kaddressbook; offers different views, which can represent the contacts in different ways:

Table View

  All contacts are listed in a table; they can be sorted by clicking at the column header of the table. The columns of the table depend on the fields which were selected in the view configuration dialog.

Icon View

  The contacts are listed as icons in a view. If the contact contains a photo or logo, then it is used in the view; otherwise, an default icon is used.

Card View

  All contacts are presented in form of cards. The titles of these cards are the formatted names; the body of each card depends on what fields were selected in the view configuration dialog.

The View Configuration Dialog
The View Configuration Dialog.

The View Configuration Dialog.

The Selected Fields page offers you the possibility of selecting which of the stored details of a contact should be shown in the view. In the Default Filter page you can setup what filter should be used by the view.

### Using Filters

You can setup filters in &kaddressbook; which depend on the categories a contact belongs to. For example, you can create a filter that matches all contacts which belong to the categories 'Family' and 'Friends'; you can also create a filter that matches all contacts which do not these categories. To manage filters, use the filter configuration dialog:

The Filter Configuration Dialog
The Filter Configuration Dialog.

The Filter Configuration Dialog.

Filters can be used in views to reduce the number of contacts shown. In the view configuration dialog you can specify what filter should be used by a view by default.

### Using Extensions

Extensions are implemented as plugins in &kaddressbook;, so 3rd-party developers can provide more of them. At the moment we already have three extensions:

Contact Editor

  Similar to the the contact editing dialog, but designed to allow contacts to be edited quickly.

Location of Contact

  This extension takes the postal address of a contact and loads a map service from the internet (like www.map24.de) with these data; the result is shown in a HTML view.

Distribution List Manager

  This extension provides easy management of the distribution lists: just create a new list and select a contact in the view; then, after clicking Add contact, the selected contact is part of the distribution list. A simpler way is to drag a contact from the view and drop it over the distribution list manager.

The main window with distribution list extension.
The main window with distribution list extension.

The main window with distribution list extension.

### Import and Export

With the new import/export framework &kaddressbook; offers a dialog where you can select which contacts are to be exported.

The export selection dialog.
The export selection dialog.

The export selection dialog.

The following import and export plugins are available at the moment:

vCard

  the vCard format is standardized format (RFC 2426) that is supported by most addressbook applications — &kaddressbook; can import and export versions 2.1 and 3.0;

Mobile Phone

  this plugin can import contacts from Nokia mobile phones via the gnokii library;

Eudora Addressbook

  with this plugin you can import your contacts from the Eudora mail client;

CSV

  CSV (comma separated value) is a format that is used by many (addressbook) applications — you can import and export your contacts with this format;

KDE2

  to import your old addressbook data from KDE 2.X you can use this item;

LDIF

  LDIF is a plain-text representation of LDAP data, used by Netscape and Mozilla to store their addressbook data — &kaddressbook; supports import and export of this format;

PAB

  PAB is the MS Exchange Personal Address Book format, used by MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express to store their contact data — &kaddressbook; supports the import of this format;

Opera

  use this plugin to import the contact database of the Opera web browser;

Bookmarks

  this is a pseudo export plugin that makes the web URLs of your contacts available in the bookmark menu of konqueror.

### LDAP queries

Address information from LDAP servers can be imported into &kaddressbook;'s local addressbook by using the LDAP search dialog.

To configure (a number of) LDAP servers, use the configuration dialog.

On the main toolbar in &kaddressbook; a button with a picture of a magnifying glass over a book is available: use this button to open the LDAP search dialog. The dialog itself is pretty straight forward; just type in parts of a name, email address or phone number and press the Search button.

When the results display in the listbox it is possible to select one or more address(es); you can then use the Add Selected to import the selected address(es) to the local addressbook, or click the Send email to Contact to invoke a mail program to write an email to the selected recipients.

The Recursive search checkbox is enabled by default; this will make the LDAP query consider all objects below the base DN of each server. If you only want to consider objects one level below the base uncheck this checkbox; if in doubt, leave it checked.

### Preferences

You can modify many aspects of &kaddressbook;'s behavior in the preferences dialog; the dialog can be opened via Settings Configure KAddressBook or using the toolbar icon.

Configuring &kaddressbook;
The preferences dialog.

The preferences dialog.

#### The Address Book Page

##### The General Tab

Honor KDE single click

  If checked, &kaddressbook; pays attention to the KDE single-click option.

Automatic Name Parsing for new addresses

  If checked, the automatic name parsing feature is used for new addresses.

Script-Hooks

  Here you can specify the commands which are to be executed whenever you click at a phone number or fax number link in the details page.

Extensions

  In this list view you can enable and disable extensions individually and configure their settings.

##### The Contact Tab

&kaddressbook; can automatically parse a name into its parts; to make sure this works in many cases you can add, here, additional name parts, like prefixes, suffixes and inclusions.

Prefixes

  Here you can manage name prefixes, like 'Prof.' or 'Dr.'.

Inclusions

  Here you can manage name inclusions, like 'van' or 'von', which are often part of Dutch or German names.

Suffixes

  Here you can manage name suffixes like 'Sr.' or 'Jr.'.

Default Formatted Name

  Here you can select the default type of formatted names to be used for new contacts.

#### The LDAP Lookup Page

On this page you can configure the LDAP servers that should be used for ldap queries in &kaddressbook;.

Use Add Host... to add and setting up a new server. You can include and exclude servers by selecting or deselecting their check boxes in the server list. Press OK to close the dialog.

## Command References

### The File Menu

&Ctrl;N File New Contact

  Opens the contact editor for adding a new contact.

File Edit Contact

  Opens the contact editor for editing the currently-selected contact.

&Ctrl;S File Save

  Saves the changed contacts.

File Import

  Lists all available import modules.

File Export

  Lists all available export modules.

&Ctrl;P File Print

  Prints the currently-selected contacts.

File Send email to Contact

  Opens the preferred mail program with the currently-selected contacts as recipients.

File Send Contact

  Opens the preferred mail program with the currently-selected contact details attached as vCard.

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

  Quits &kaddressbook;.

### The Edit Menu

&Ctrl;Z Edit Undo

  Undos the last change.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z Edit Redo

  Redos the last change.

&Ctrl;X Edit Cut

  Cuts the currently-selected contacts.

&Ctrl;C Edit Copy

  Copies the currently-selected contacts to the clipboard.

&Ctrl;V Edit Paste

  Paste the clipboard contents into the address book (if it is in a valid format).

Delete Edit Delete Contact

  Deletes the currently-selected contacts.

&Ctrl;A Edit Select All

  Selects all contacts.

Edit Set Categories

  Opens a dialog where you can set the categories for the currently-selected contacts; when the selected categories differ from the categories of the contacts the dialog will ask you if you want to merge these differences or if the categories should be overwritten .

Edit Set Who Am I

  Marks the currently selected contact as the 'Who Am I' contact, which represents the user's data. You should have such a contact, because other applications, like &kmail; and &kword;, can make use of these data: this way you don't have to input it separately in every application .

### The View Menu

View Select View

  Lists all available views.

View Add View

  Opens a dialog for creating a new view.

View Modify View...

  Opens a dialog where you can modify the settings of the current view.

View Delete View

  Deletes the current view.

View Refresh View

  Refreshes the current view.

### The Tools Menu

This menu provides tools for acting on the contact database.

Tools Lookup Addresses in Directory

  Opens the search dialog for addresses located on LDAP servers. You can configure the server settings in the configure dialog.

### The Settings Menu

This menu provides options for configuring &kaddressbook;, changing its appearance, shortcuts and standard behavior.

Settings Toolbars

  Toggles the toolbars on/off.

Settings Show Extension Bar

  Selects what extension should be shown in the extension bar at the bottom of the main window.

Settings Show Jump Bar

  Toggles the Jump Bar on/off.

Settings Show Details

  Toggles the Details Page on/off.

Settings Edit Filter

  Opens a dialog where you can edit the filters.

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

  Opens a dialog for changing the key bindings. Using this option you can change the standard keyboard shortcuts for &kaddressbook;'s commands or create new ones.

Settings Configure Toolbars...

  Opens a dialog for configuring the toolbar. You can add and remove toolbuttons for &kaddressbook;'s commands with this option.

Settings Configure KAddressBook...

  Opens the preferences dialog.

### The Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Command Line Options

&kaddressbook; supports some command-line arguments, which can be used to influence its starting behavior:

`kaddressbook` `-a, --addr <email>`

  Shows the contact editor with the given email address.

`kaddressbook` `--uid <uid>`

  Shows the contact editor with the given uid.

`kaddressbook` `--editor-only`

  Launches in editor only mode.

`kaddressbook` `--new-contact`

  Launches an editor for a new contact.

&kaddressbook; also supports all other command-line options common to &kde; and &Qt; programs; you can get a list of these options with ``--help``, ``--help-kde``, and ``--help-qt``.

## Credits and License

&kaddressbook; - The &kde; Address Book

Copyright (c) 1997-2003, The KDE-PIM Team

&kaddressbook; was originally written in 1997 by Don Sanders dsanders@kde.org. Currently it is maintained by Tobias Koenig tokoe@kde.org.

&underFDL;