Addressing Address Books For Linux

By: Rob Reilly
Thursday, April 1, 2004 10:48:06 AM EST
URL: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/5323/1/

1, 2, 3, 4... Contact

An address book is an application that helps you manage your names, phone numbers, email addresses and so on. They are usually relatively simple and often integrated into larger office productivity products. You might relate an address book in Linux to a Rolodex. Also, address books tend to reside on an individual machine or workstation.

It's also possible to have an address book function in a larger CRM (Contact Resource Manager) system. These systems allow multiple users read and write access to names, phone numbers, email address and so on, with the data usually living on some type of database/server backend. People from all over your company would have access to the data contained in a CRM.

For the purposes of this article, we'll stick with the normal address book programs that would be available on a person's Linux desktop.

Mozilla

The address book in Mozilla is my current favorite. It has a good mix of commonly used fields and is conveniently integrated into the Mozilla browser itself. As you may know, Mozilla also has a mail client bundled in and the address book seamlessly talks to that, as well.

The Mozilla address book can be started in a number of ways:

• From a menu item on your KDE or Gnome, etc. startup menu
• From an icon on your desktop
• From the command line: mozilla -addressbook

Once the program is running, you'll notice a fairly common user interface with a menu bar along the top, available address books along the left side, a spreadsheet view of contacts and a current card view area. Under the menu bar is a handy name/email search text box. Put a search text string in the box and it will find the string in the name or email address fields. An advanced search button let's you choose your fields and use boolean functions.

Entering new contacts is easy. Click on the "New Card" button at the top. A new card pane will pop up and let you add your contact's name, address, phone numbers and so on. The "Other" tab has several custom fields that you can use, along with a "notes" area.

The Mozilla address book can also import/export various types of common file formats, including LDIF, tab, cvs, txt. The import and export functions are accessed through the "Tool" button on the tool bar.

Since the address book is integrated with the Mozilla browser and email client, another cool feature is the ability to create distribution lists. Click on the "New List" button and type a couple of letters of the first email for your list. Enter the first character of the first email address in your list. A drop down box will appear with addresses that match your typing as you go. When you see the one you want double click to select and it will be added to your list. Later, when you want to edit your list, you'll have to remember what you named it so you can find it in the contact list. Double clicking on your list name brings up the edit window.

The Mozilla address book is easy to use and has many nice features. Best of all for me, is that it is integrated right in with the Mozilla browser, which is the one I use all the time.

KaddressBook

The KDE desktop manager has an address book, KaddressBook, that is similar to Mozilla. It too, has a spreadsheet style user interface with pop-up menus for support functions, like the distribution list. The menu bar has the soft, artsy KDE style colored buttons at the top. Finding a contact is very convenient with a drop down button that gives you the ability to select your search field from a list.

KaddressBook can be started in a number of ways:

• From a menu item on your KDE or Gnome, etc. startup menu
• From an icon on your desktop
• From the command line: kaddressbook

With KaddressBook running, you'll notice that the interface is very similar to Mozilla's layout. Under the menu bar is a a search box and buttons for distribution lists and filters. The filters apply to the category that your contact would fall under, such as customer, business, personal, etc. The filters can be modified or created to suit your needs. You can also display a form for entering contact data, as an option. Distribution list functionality is the same as Mozilla.

Entering new contacts is simple. Click on the "New Card" button at the top. A new card pane will pop up and let you add your contact's name, address, phone numbers and so on. The "Details" tab has fields for Managers's Name, Spouse's Name, Birthday and Anniversary, along with a "notes" area. When you click on the Birthday or Anniversary, a little calendar conveniently pops up. I thought it was kind of a neat feature.

The Mozilla address book can also import KDE2, vcard and .CVS files. Export is similar with .CVS and vcard 3.0 files. The import and export functions are accessed through the "File" button on the tool bar.

The address book can also create distribution lists, which of course will use the KDE mail, Kmail mail client. Creating the list is very similar to the techniques in Mozilla, although you can just choose the "Distribution Lists" button on a drop-down on the tool bar.

KaddressBook is a great tool that is bundled into the KDE environment. It starts up pretty quickly and has the most flexibility when it comes to customization of the contact fields.

Evolution Address Book

The Ximian Evolution personal information manager has a built-in address book. It has a spreadsheet style user interface and drop-down menus for support functions, like the distribution (known as a contact list in Ximian). There is a selection bar on the left that lets the user jump to other personal information manager functions. Along the right side are the alphabet buttons, that sort contacts by the chosen first letter.

The Evolution address book can be started in a number of ways:

• From a menu item on your KDE or Gnome, etc. startup menu
• From an icon on your desktop
• From the command line: evolution

With Evolution running, you'll see the normal task bar buttons at the top. Along the left side is the personal information management task bar. The task bar has buttons for a daily summary page, viewing your in-box, a calendar, to-do tasks and contacts. In the middle of the screen is the list of contacts, as is the search text box. Just to the left of the search box is a drop down button with common user search criteria. This button also brings up the advanced search form.

Entering new contacts can be accomplished by clicking the "New" button at the top. A new card pane will pop up and let you add your contact's name, address, phone numbers and so on. The "Details" tab has fields for Managers's Name, Spouse's Name, Birthday and Anniversary, along with a "notes" area. When you click on the Birthday or Anniversary, the little calendar conveniently pops up. The detail form is a virtual mirror image of KaddressBooks form. Go figure.

The Evolution address book can import LDAP, Outlook Express, vcard and .CVS files. Export is similar with .CVS and vcard 3.0 files. You can save files in the vcard format.

Distribution lists, known as contact lists in Evolution, are created using the "New" button and then choosing "Contact List". A little contact list editor window will appear so you can add names and email addresses.

Lot's of people really like Evolution, because of it's summary page and good integration with email. It's a developing product that shows great promise.

JPilot

The JPilot program has been around for quite a while and has a very fast, but basic address book. JPilot's main claim to fame is that it will sync with Palm Pilots, thus the name. Readers may recall my past LinuxToday article entitled "No Excuses - Sync Your Visor/Palm to Linux" from 09/19/2002. JPilot has a list style user interface with names and addresses in the left center view. The extreme left side of the user interface has sync and quit buttons, along with a tool bar for other personal information manager functions. The right side is reserved for the contact data field text boxes. Searching is JPilot is very basic with a search text box at the bottom of the name/address list.

JPilot can be started in a number of ways:

• From a menu item on your KDE or Gnome, etc. startup menu
• From an icon on your desktop
• From the command line: jpilot

Running Jpilot, you'll see the file, view and plug-in buttons at the top. Along the left side is the personal information management task bar. The task bar has buttons for a date book, the address book, a to-do list and a note pad.

Entering new contacts can be accomplished by clicking the "New Record" button at the top right. You will immediately be put into the first field (Last Name) below the "Add Record" button. Just start typing in your data and use the tab key to move to the next field. When you are done entering your contact data, make sure you push the "Add Record" button, otherwise your data will go poof and you'll have to re-enter.

JPilot doesn't support importing or exporting data, so it may be of limited use in highly integrated desktop applications.

For lightweight Linux systems (read: antique hardware), that require a fast, less demanding address book application, JPilot is a reasonable choice. The fact that it will interface with Palm Pilots put it in this review.

Wrapping Up

Linux has a pretty good selection of integrated and standalone address books. Of course, there are other choices and new ones being developed all the time. The programs reviewed here should get you started on finding the right one for your needs. Most are bundled in to the major distributions and many times are installed by default.

And, if none of these suit you, you can always go back to the Rolodex, but then you'd have to give up Linux.

Rob Reilly is a freelance Technology Writer and Speaker. He's particularly interested in stories about Linux on the desktop/laptop, recycling with Linux and portable computing. He's currently developing seminars on Linux presentation technology, "road warrior" techniques and business web basics. Send him a note or visit his web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~robreilly.