path: root/help/C/usage-contact.xml

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<chapter id="usage-contact">
  <title>Working with Your Contacts</title>
      <para>
        This chapter will show you how to use the
        Evolution contacts tool to organize
        any amount of contact information, share addresses over a
        network, and several ways to save time with everyday tasks. To
        learn about configuring the contacts tool, see <xref
        linkend="config-prefs-contact"/>. You can import contacts from
        other contact management tools with the Import tool by
        selecting
        <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Import</guimenuitem></menuchoice>,
        or by mailing them to yourself as vCard attachments.
      </para>

    <para>
       The toolbar for the contacts tool has the following items:
       <itemizedlist>
    <listitem><para>
      Click <guilabel>New Contact</guilabel> to create a new card, or double-click 
      in a blank space in the contact list. 
    </para></listitem>

    <listitem><para>
           Click <guilabel>New List</guilabel> to create a new
        contacts list, which is a convenient handle for a group of
        other contact cards.
    </para></listitem>

    <listitem><para> The <guiicon>printer</guiicon> icon sends one
        or more of your cards to the printer.  </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para> The <guiicon>stop sign</guiicon> icon stops loading
           contact data from the network.  This button is only
           relevant if you are looking at contact information on a
           network.  </para></listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>
       Your contact information fills the rest of the display.  Move
       through the cards alphabetically with the buttons and the
       scrollbar to the right of the window. Of course, if you have
       more than a few people listed, you'll want some way of finding
       them more quickly, which is why there's a search feature.
    </para>

    <para>
      When you click on a card, the bottom portion of the page will
      show more detailed information about the contact. There is also
      a <guilabel>Map</guilabel> button, which you can click to bring
      up a web page with a map of the contact's main postal address.
    </para>


  <sect1 id="usage-contact-cards">
    <title>The Contact Editor</title>
    <para>
      To delete a contact:
      <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Click once on the contact.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Press the <guilabel>Delete</guilabel> button.
      </para>
    </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
       If you want to add or change cards, you'll use the contact
       editor.  To change a card that already exists, double click on
       it to open the contact editor window.  If you want to create a new
       card, clicking the <guilabel>New</guilabel> button in the
       toolbar will open the same window, with blank entry boxes for
       you to fill in.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      The contact editor window has three tabs,
      <guilabel>General</guilabel>, for basic contact information,
      <guilabel>Details</guilabel>, for a more specific description of
      the person, and <guilabel>Collaboration</guilabel> for
      information about scheduling and working closely with them.  In
      addition, it contains a <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu and an
      <guimenu>Actions</guimenu> menu. Under
      <guimenu>Actions</guimenu> you will find <guimenuitem>Forward
      Contact</guimenuitem>, which opens a new message with the card
      already attached, and <guimenuitem>Send Message to
      Contact</guimenuitem>, which will open a new message to the
      contact.
      </para>
      <para>
      The toolbar is relatively simple: <guilabel>Save and
      Close</guilabel>, <guilabel>Print</guilabel>,
      <guilabel>Close</guilabel>, and <guilabel>Delete</guilabel>.
      </para>
   
    
    <figure id="usage-contact-editor-fig">
      <title>Evolution Contact Editor</title>
      <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Evolution Contact Editor</screeninfo>
    <mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata
    fileref="figures/contact-editor" format="PNG" srccredit="Aaron
    Weber"/>
    </imageobject></mediaobject>
      </screenshot>
    </figure>
    
    <para> The <guilabel>General</guilabel> tab has seven sections,
      each with an icon: a face, for name and company; a telephone
      for phone numbers; an envelope for email address; a globe for
      web page address; a house for postal address; a file folder
      for contacts, and a briefcase for categories. 
    </para>
    <para>
     <variablelist>
    
    <varlistentry>
      <term>Full Name</term>
      <listitem>
        <para>
              The <guilabel>Full Name</guilabel> field has two
              major features:
              <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
                    You can enter a name into the <guilabel>Full
                    Name</guilabel> field, but you can also click the
                    <guilabel>Full Name</guilabel> button to bring
                    up a small dialog box with a few text boxes
                    <variablelist>
              <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Title: </guilabel></term>
            <listitem> <para>
                      Enter an honorific or select one from the menu.
                    </para></listitem>
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>First: </guilabel></term>
            <listitem> <para>
                    Enter the first, or given, name.
             </para></listitem> 
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Middle: </guilabel></term>
            <listitem> <para>
              Enter the middle name or initial, if any.
            </para></listitem>
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Last: </guilabel></term>
            <listitem> <para>
               Enter the last name (surname).
             </para></listitem>
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
            <term><guilabel>Suffix: </guilabel></term>
            <listitem> <para>
               Enter suffixes such as "Jr." or "III."
            </para></listitem>
              </varlistentry>
            </variablelist>
                   </para>
        </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
          </para>
        <para>
          The <guilabel>Full Name</guilabel> field also
          interacts with the <guilabel>File As</guilabel>
          box to help you organize your contacts.
        </para>
        <para>
          To see how it works, type a name in the
          <guilabel>Full Name</guilabel> field. As an example,
          we'll use the Ximian mascot, <userinput>Rupert
          T. Monkey</userinput>.  You'll notice that the
          <guilabel>File As</guilabel> field also fills in,
          but in reverse: <computeroutput>Monkey,
          Rupert</computeroutput>.  You can pick
          <computeroutput>Rupert Monkey </computeroutput> from
          the drop-down, or type in your own, such as
          <userinput> T. Rupert Monkey </userinput>.
        </para>
        <tip>
          <title>Filing Suggestion</title>
          <para>
         Don't enter something entirely different from the
         actual name, since you might forget that you've filed
         Rupert's information under "F" for "Fictitious Ximian
         Employee."
              </para>
        </tip>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
      <term>Multiple Values for Fields:</term>
            <listitem>
          <para>
                If you click on the downward pointing triangle buttons
                next to the <guilabel>Primary Email</guilabel> field,
                you can also choose <guilabel>Email 2</guilabel> and
                <guilabel>Email 3</guilabel>.  Although the contact
                editor will only display one of those at any given
                time, Evolution will store
                them all.  Entries that have information in them have
                a check mark next to them.  The buttons next to the
                telephone and postal address fields work in the same
                way.
              </para>
          </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
     </para>
     <para>
      The last item in the <guilabel>General</guilabel> tab is the
       <guilabel>Categories</guilabel> organization tool; for
       information on that, read <xref
       linkend="usage-contact-organize"/>.
     </para>
     <para>
       The <guilabel>Details</guilabel> tab is much simpler:
      <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        The briefcase - Describes the person's professional life
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        The face - Describes the person's personal life
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        The globe - Miscellaneous notes
      </para>
    </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <tip>
    <title>Contact Shortcuts</title>
    <para>
      You can add cards from within an email message or calendar
      appointment.  While looking at an email, right-click on
      any email address or message, and choose
      <guimenuitem>Create Card for this Address</guimenuitem> or
      <guimenuitem>Create Card for this Sender</guimenuitem>
      from the menu.
    </para>
      </tip>
    </para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="contact-search">
    <title>Searching for Contacts</title>
    <para>
      Evolution allows searching through contacts
      quickly and easily.
    </para>
    <para>
      To search through contacts:
      <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Select your search focus in the search bar.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Enter your query.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Press return to search.
      </para>
    </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
      To perform a complex search through your contacts:
      <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Open
        <menuchoice>
          <guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
          <guimenuitem>Search for contacts</guimenuitem>
        </menuchoice>
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Name the rule in the <guilabel>Rule Name</guilabel> field.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Setup your criteria information in the <guilabel>If</guilabel> section.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        If you want to add more criteria, click the <guilabel>Add
        Criterion</guilabel> button.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Click <guilabel>Search</guilabel>.
      </para>
    </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
      To show all your contacts, select <guilabel>Show All</guilabel> in the
      <guilabel>Search Bar</guilabel> or search with an empty query.
    </para>

  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="usage-contact-organize">
    <title>Organizing your Contacts</title>
    <para>
      Just as you can search mail, you can search contacts, although the
      contacts tool does not use folders or virtual folders. You can,
      however, create several contact groups, which are basically
      the same thing as folders or or individual address books.
      Contact groups may be on your own computer or on the
      network. Within a given contact group, you can have several
      categories of contacts. To learn about categories, read <xref
      linkend="usage-contact-organize-group-category" />.
    </para>

<!-- UNIMPLEMENTED FEATURE
    <para>
      Another useful Evolution feature is
      its ability to recognize when people live or work together.  If
      several people in your address book share an address, and you
      change the address for one of them,
      Evolution will ask you if you wish to
      change the address for all of them, or just for one.
    </para>
-->

    <sect2 id="usage-contact-organize-group">
    <title>Contact Groups</title>
    <para>
           The simplest way to organize contacts is to create
          additional groups of contacts.  If you've read <xref
       linkend="usage-mainwindow"/> then you already know that you
       can create a new folder by right-clicking in the shortcut
        bar and choosing <guilabel>New Contact Group</guilabel>. For
        contact groups on your computer, you only need a name. For
        contacts on the network, you will need to provide more
        information about the contacts server you are trying to access.
     </para>
    <para>
          To move a card from one group to another, just drag it there
          from the main display of contacts. Note that you will not be
          able to change the contents of most network contact groups.
         </para>
      </sect2>
      
      <sect2 id="usage-contact-organize-group-category">
    <title>Grouping with Categories</title>
    <para>
           The other way to group cards is to mark them as belonging
           to different categories.  
           That means that you
           can mark a card as being in several categories or no
           category at all.  For example, I put my friend Matthew's
           card in the "Business" category, because he works with me,
           the "Friends" category, because he's also my friend, and
           the "Frequent" category, because I call him all the time
           and can never remember his phone number.  
        </para>
    <para>
           To mark a card as belonging to a category, click the
           <guilabel>Categories</guilabel> button at the lower
           right.  From the dialog box that appears, you can check as
           many or as few categories as you like.
        </para>

       <!-- Feature Not Implemented
    <para>

           If the master list of categories doesn't suit you, you can
           add your own.  Just enter the new category's name in the
           text box, then click <guilabel>Categories</guilabel> and
           choose <guilabel>Add to Master List</guilabel> in the
           window that appears. 
         </para>
       -->

      </sect2>

      <sect2 id="usage-contact-organize-group-list">
    <title>Creating a List of Contacts</title>
    <para>
          A contact list is a set of contacts with a single nickname
          that you create. When you send email to the nickname, it is sent to
          every member of the list. This differs from a network
          mailing list in that it exists only on your computer as a
          convenience to you, rather than as an actual email address
          managed by a mailing list application on a server. To
          create a list of contacts:

         <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
        <listitem>
          <para>
                Open the list creation dialog box by clicking the
                <guilabel>New List</guilabel> button or selecting
                 <menuchoice>
          <guimenu>
                     File
                  </guimenu>
          <guisubmenu>
                      New
                   </guisubmenu>
          <guimenuitem>
                     Contact List
                   </guimenuitem>
        </menuchoice>.
               </para>
        </listitem>
        
        <listitem>
          <para>
                Enter a name for the list.
              </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
                Enter names or email addresses of contacts, or just
            drag contacts from the main window into the list.
              </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
                 Choose whether you would like to hide the email
                 addresses when you send a message to the list.
                 Unless it is a very small list, it is recommended
                 that you leave the addresses hidden.  This is the
                 same thing as using the "Bcc:" feature discussed in
                 <xref linkend="usage-mail-getnsend-send-to-types"/>.
              </para>
        </listitem>
        
      </orderedlist>
        </para>
    <para>
           When you are done, click <guilabel>OK</guilabel>. The
           list will appear as a contact card, which you can use as
           you would any other. That includes emailing the list to
           another person, and, of course, sending email to the list.
        </para>
    <para>
           To mail the list, open a new email and type the name you
           chose for the list. Ximian Evolution will address the
           message to the entire list when you send it. You can also
           right-click on the list's address card in the contacts tool
           and select <guimenuitem>Send Message to List</guimenuitem>.
        </para>
        <para>
           Ximian Evolution cannot store contact lists on Exchange
           servers.
        </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
  
  <sect1 id="usage-contact-sharing">
    <title>LDAP: Shared Contact Groups on a Network</title>

    <para>
      The <glossterm linkend="ldap">LDAP</glossterm> protocol was
      created to let users share contact information over a network by
      sharing access to a central directory.  LDAP allows a company
    to maintain a shared set of contact information.  Many companies
    keep a common LDAP address book for all their employees or for
    client contacts.
    </para>

    <para>
       To learn how to add a remote directory to your available
       contact folders, see <xref linkend="config-prefs-contact"/>.
       Once you have a LDAP connection, the network contacts folder or
       folders will appear inside the <guilabel>External
       Directories</guilabel> folder in the folder bar.  It will work
       exactly like a local folder of cards, with the following
       exceptions:
       <itemizedlist>
      
          <listitem>
        <para>
              Network folders are only available when you are
              connected to the network.  If you use a laptop or have a
              modem connection, you may wish to copy or cache the
              network directory.  You do this by dragging and dropping
              your desired contacts into the local contacts list.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      
          <listitem>
        <para>
              To prevent excess network traffic,
              Evolution will not normally
              load data from the LDAP server immediately upon
              opening.  You must click <guilabel>Display
              All</guilabel> before contacts will be loaded
              from the network. You can change this behavior in the
              <interface>Contact Preferences</interface> window.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Depending on your server settings, you may not be able to edit
          all the fields in a contact stored on an LDAP server. Some
          servers prohibit some or all changes, and others use a smaller
        set of fields than Evolution allows. Check with your system
        administrator if you need different settings.
            </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    </para>
    <sect2 id="usage-contact-sharing-setup">
      <title>Configuring Evolution to use LDAP</title>
      <para>
    For information about setting up
    Evolution to use LDAP, please refer
    to <xref linkend="config-prefs-contact" />
      </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="contact-automation-basic">
    <title>Send me a Card: Adding New Cards Quickly</title>
    <para>
      As noted before, when you get information about a person in
      the mail or in a calendar entry, you can add it to an address
      card.  To do so, right click on any email address or email
      message, and select <guimenuitem>Add Sender to Contacts</guimenuitem> from the menu that appears.
       Evolution can also add cards from a
      hand-held device during HotSync operation.  For more
      information about that, see <xref linkend="usage-sync"/>.
    </para>
  </sect1>
  
<!-- Unimplemented features:
      <para>
         You can also use the contacts tool to print postal addresses
     on mailing labels.  Future versions of
     Evolution will allow you to you
     export a group of cards to a spreadsheet, database, or word
     processor so you can print address labels or prepare large
     mailings.
      </para> -->

</chapter>