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New features before version 3.5

 

Version 3.3

  • In either of the Edit Contact windows, if there are sections hidden below, shortcuts of sections will appear. When you click on a shortcut, the relevant section could be scrolled up to be visible. This is handy when you have many many sections for some contacts. This feature is optional.
  • Map Services.
  • The tab position of the contact edit windows could be altered.
  • Advanced Quick View. With advanced xsl applied, you could click on http, email, phone, skype links in the Quick View window to launch appropriate actions. This is optional.
  • Show count in the contact list windows.
  • In Quick View with advanced options, links to companies and associated contacts are supported.
  • When the Search window is activated, the search results could be used for creating email with multiple recipients, and for exporting data.
  • Search Birthday.
  • The date format will be ISO format (yyyy-MM-dd) by default, though you could choose using Windows short date format.
  • Status bar that shows hints.
  • When importing CSV files with only full name and without surname and given name, OC will try to analyze surname, middle name and give name.

Version 3.2

  • The import functions for Ms Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Mozilla/Thunderbird, vCard and XML are unified now. When importing, you will be able to decide to update or rename contacts with duplicated names existing in your OC address book.
  • With importing XML files, synchronizing your own personal contact info among your close contacts is easy.
  • Provide Quick View window, which allows you to quickly view contact details in customizable format. Press F10 to launch the window, when you single-click on a contact in a contact list, you can view the details. In addition, if the lock checkbox is checked, the content will be locked, regardless whether you clicking on the other contacts. This is handy when you try to copy/paste a little details from one contact to the other.
  • Add Email Launcher, which provide shortcuts to different Email client programs. And the Launcher support Mozilla Thunderbird and Portable Thunderbird.
  • The template for importing Mozilla address book is improved.
  • The XML scheme of storing contacts is upgraded to version 1.1. V3.2 is still be able to read XML file created by lower versions of OC.

Version 3.1

  • Provide COM interfaces for 3rd party software developers to develop extensions of Open Contacts.
  • Support tray icon. Go to the Options window to enable this feature.
  • When you input a person name without surname, for example, "Jack", both surname and given name will become "Jack". When you view contacts in the Name format, you will see "Jack"; and when you view in the "Surname, Given Name" format, you will see "Jack, Jack". This will make sure the Initial J could appear in the initial grid.
  • Provide more comprehensive support for importing Mozilla address books. If a contact has no name, then the Email address will become the name, and the surname.
  • When importing from Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Mozilla/Netscape and vCard, the names of failed items will be copied to the clipboard, so you can paste them to any text editor to review.
  • When printing reports, if people are sorted by surname, the the printouts will also be sorted this way.

Version 3.0

  • Hints for linked organizations and associated contacts. For example, if a person is linked with 2 organizations, the organizations tab will have text "organizations (2)".
  • In the Categories Management window, you can change the location of any category, by moving a category before the other category, or making a category become a subcategory of the other category.
  • You can drag and drop files into a File field or a Image field. The contents of the file paths will be copied to the highlighted edit box. Any field which action type is "file" or "image" could support this feature.
  • In the Contact Edit window, when a contact has at least image field, a button "P" will appear in the command bar, which will launch a built-in image viewer to view images one by one.
  • To modify a Notes field in a larger window, simply focus on the Notes, then press "Alt + M". A large window will pop up for you to edit contents.
  • The database structure is upgraded to support more functions and increase speeds.
  • Colors of windows parts are customizable.

Version 2.9

  • By right-clicking on a category, you may view contacts of the category and all its subcategories recursively.
  • Interact with Skype. You may add predefined field "Skype". When you select a Skype field, the Action button will allow you start a Call or start a Chat. You need to run Skype and logon first.
  • In the Edit Company window, you may associate the company with selected people in the People list.
  • Import contacts from Eudora. During importing, you may create category for each book of Eudora's address book, or you may let Open Contacts create a category for each book automatically with the book name.
  • Provide Quick View mode. In the Options window, you will see a checkbox "Show Contact details when single-clicking on the contact list". If checked, in either the People list or the organizations list, when you click on a contact or press cursor key, contact details will be shown right away. However, either the Edit Person window or the Edit Company window will not have focus. This feature is handy for you to have a quick view on a list of contacts. If un-checked, you need to double click on a contact to view details, and the Edit Person window or the Edit Company window will have focus. Apparently, when you try to link a department to a company, you should make sure that this checkbox is un-checked.
  • Provide Wizard to import contacts from Netscape/Mozilla/Thunderbird.
  • Convert selected people to organizations. This feature is handy for importing contacts that were categorized as organizations in legacy address books. And you may convert selected organizations to people if mistakes were made.
  • When importing from MS Outlook, you have an option of letting Open Contacts import categories of each contact. The categories will be created at the first level of the category tree.
  • Provide predefined fields "File" and "Image".

Version 2.8

  • Copy field contents of current section to clipboard. The field contents are separated by line breaks.
  • Refresh contact lists after importing contacts.
  • In the People List, names could be sorted by surname. And, the initials Panel could be refreshed with initials of surnames.
  • Add shortcuts for creating any predefined section in the Edit window.
  • In the Edit window, when you try to add a predefined section that already exists, you will have an option to add fields of this predefined section anyway.
  • Print selected contacts. The layouts of printout include Basic, Basic with Notes and Custom. With custom layout, you may define which sections/fields will be printed.
  • In the Edit Window of people, you have an option of showing or hiding fields Surname, Given Name and Middle Name.
  • In the Search window, you may search people only or organizations only. And you can define categories of selected contacts of the search results.

Version 2.6

  • After adding a contact, the contact list of people or company will refresh to reflect the change.
  • You can move a field up or down, and move a section up or down.
  • Export contacts into Excel (Xls) files, with predefined mapping template. This feature is handy when you want to export info to other information systems or print cards using applications like Avery DesignPro.

Version 2.5

  • When defining categories of selected contacts, you will have an option of keeping existing categories of each of the contacts.
  • Export contacts into CSV files, with predefined mapping template. This feature is handy when you want to export info to other information systems or print cards using applications like Avery DesignPro.
  • Before importing contacts from MS Outlook, you may customize the section names through the Options window.
  • Import from Outlook Express or WAB file.
  • For any of the import methods, you will have an option to drop them into categories during importing.
  • Provide better support of Email addresses of Exchange type while importing contacts from MS Outlook connecting to MS Exchange.

Version 2.3

  • In all previous versions, when you add a contact, Open Contacts will add two predefined sections automatically. With version 2.3, you may defined which predefined sections will be added when adding a contact. To define such settings, please go to the Options window, and select either the "New Person" tab or the "New Company" tab.
  • The method of importing CSV files is much improved. Now you have an intuitive way of defining the mapping between the columns of CSV files and the data fields of Open Contacts.

Version 2.2

  • Export an entry into indent text.
  • Export an entry into an XML file, and import an XML file with the same schema.
  • In the Options window, you may change the location of default address book file.
  • Immediate supports for multiple users in Local Area Network.
  • Add predefined field "File", which could store file link, like "c:\mydoc\ok.doc", "\\remotecomputer\thisfolder\ok.doc" or "file:///c:/thisfolder/ok.doc" .

Version 2.1

  • Keyboard shortcuts are supported for most frequently used functions.

Version 2

  • With supports to Unicode, you will be able to input contact info in multiple languages even with English Windows.

Version 1.5

  • Each section may has a Notes field.
  • In the Search window, you may search by the Notes field of any section.
  • Copy Email addresses to clipboard.

Version 1.3.2

  • Support inserting sections to any location.
  • When searching contacts, you can define field 1 and field 2.

Version 1.3

  • Support the concept of primary Email address. When a contact has a few Email addresses, the primary one will be used by default, unless you specifically click on an Email address.
  • You may create Email to all listed contacts, or selected contacts in the list. If you are using MS Outlook, the Email addresses of selected contacts or all listed contacts could pass to the address fields of MS Outlook.
  • After adding a new field, the drop-down list of predefined fields will popup so you may select a field name or key in a new field name right away.

Version 1.2

  • In the Edit window of a contact, when you click on an edit box defined as type date, a date picker will popup for inputting a date.
  • In the Search window, if you select a date field to search, you will be able to define a period between two dates. For searching birthdays of people, you may even ignore year.
  • In the Tools menu, the backup function and the restore function are added.
  • You may defined your own predefined fields with validation rules and actions.
  • In the Edit window of a contact, keyboard shortcuts are added for mouse-free operation.

Version 1.1

  • Import contacts from CSV and vCard.
  • Provide integration with MS Outlook. Email address could pass to the To field, the CC field and the BCC field of current Email item of Outlook.