Using the Address Book in Contact by Zaweba
The Address Book in Contact by Zaweba lists everyone on your records and others you have emailed, with filters, duplicate merging and CSV or vCard export.
People are what Contact by Zaweba is really about, and the Address Book is where you see all of them in one place. Records group people by enquiry or customer; the Address Book turns that round and lists the people themselves. Press Ctrl+Shift+B to open it.
Who is in it
The Address Book lists everyone on your enquiries and customers, plus other people you have emailed who aren't on a record. That second group is useful. It holds suppliers, accountants, couriers and anyone else you write to from Contact who isn't a customer, so their addresses are to hand without cluttering your customer lists.
Finding people quickly
Search narrows the list as you type, and sorting puts it in the order you want. Filters cut it down by kind: Customers, Enquiries, Not on a record, Duplicates, a tag, or a mailbox.
Each filter answers a practical question. Customers gives you everyone you have sold to. Enquiries gives you the people still deciding. Not on a record shows people you've emailed who aren't attached to any enquiry or customer, which is a good place to spot someone who should be. The tag filter lists the people on records with a given tag, such as everyone involved in a Return. The mailbox filter separates people by business or brand when you run more than one.
Cleaning up duplicates
The Duplicates filter finds people who appear more than once, perhaps with the same name under two addresses, or the same address typed twice. Merge combines them into one entry. Over time this keeps the Address Book trustworthy, so when you pick a name you get the person you meant.
It is worth running the Duplicates filter after importing a list, and every few months anyway.
Export and import
The Address Book exports to CSV or vCard and imports from them too. CSV is the spreadsheet-friendly format; open it in a spreadsheet program to sort, print or mail-merge. vCard is the format address books and phones understand, so exporting to vCard is the way to move people into another program or onto a phone.
Importing brings in people you kept elsewhere: an old spreadsheet of customers, or contacts exported from another email program. After an import, a look at Duplicates catches anyone who was already there.
If you also use Labels by Zaweba, the free address book and label printer, a CSV export gives you a file it can import, ready for printing address labels or envelopes for a group.
Picking recipients while you write
In compose, the Address Book doubles as a picker for To, Cc or Bcc. Rather than typing an address and hoping you got it right, open the picker, search, and choose. It is the same list with the same search, so finding a supplier you last wrote to months ago takes a moment.
Use Bcc with care. For a message to many customers at once, bulk email is the better tool, because it sends a separate individual email to each, so nobody sees anyone else's address.
How it fits with records and matching
The Address Book is a view of people; records are where the conversations live. Adding a contact to a record is what makes their mail file into that record automatically, so the Not on a record filter is worth a look now and then. If a regular correspondent there really belongs to a customer, adding them as a contact on that record means their future mail goes straight to the right conversation instead of the Inbox.
Because everything is stored on your own PC, the Address Book is yours. Export it whenever you like and nothing is locked away.
