Posted on June 5, 2009.
Bob's Tip of the Week...
They say that if you lived in New York City, you could eat a a new restaurant every day, and never have to eat at the same one twice. Well, one of the most fun parts of my job is learning some new technical feature every day. And so here's one I just learned today (6-5-09):
Most people want one 'Contacts' or 'Address Book' database. And with Apple's Address Book application, they can then easily create their own 'Groups' and drag the appropriate individual entries into those groups. For example: PTA, Neighborhood Association, Family, etc...
But then along comes the client who wants to become more productive by purchasing a new iPhone and easily sync'ing their contacts, but who also has a very special request. They had always kept (2) very distinct contacts databases: the first with phone numbers only, and the second with email addresses only. And they only wanted to only sync the first set to their iPhone.
The challenge in Apple's Address Book is that there is only one database (per user account). And so both of the client's previously separate databases had to be combined into one. Yes, you can create a group called "Phone Numbers Only"; but try going through over 1,000 entries and just picking out the ones that only had phone numbers...one by one...and dragging them into that group. There is no "search" capability built into Address Book to facilitate this. Moreover, there is also no "list" view to quickly see and easily highlight only the ones with phone numbers. You must click on each entry one at a time to see it's contents!
What's more, even if you took the time to do this one-by-one, imagine having to have the diligence to remember that, every time you added a "phone only" entry to Address Book, you had to create it in - or drag it into - the "Phone Numbers Only" group.
Or....you could use this very helpful new discovery:
In Address Book, select "File/New Smart Group" from the menu. After naming it, then define it with the following drop-down definitions: "Phone" + "Is set".
This will then immediately extract only those Address Book entries that have a telephone number. And, as you add more 'numbers only' contacts into Address Book, this smart folder will keep automatically adding those to this special group.
NOTE: Even after doing this, you still have to sync ALL of your contacts in your Address Book to your iPhone. You cannot sync by "group". However, after syncing, on your iPhone you can then easily choose to view only a selected group.
Even if you don't have this particular need, I'd suggest taking a look at the various possibilities in "smart groups" under the File menu in the Address Book application. You might just discover some very useful definition for you
Most people want one 'Contacts' or 'Address Book' database. And with Apple's Address Book application, they can then easily create their own 'Groups' and drag the appropriate individual entries into those groups. For example: PTA, Neighborhood Association, Family, etc...
But then along comes the client who wants to become more productive by purchasing a new iPhone and easily sync'ing their contacts, but who also has a very special request. They had always kept (2) very distinct contacts databases: the first with phone numbers only, and the second with email addresses only. And they only wanted to only sync the first set to their iPhone.
The challenge in Apple's Address Book is that there is only one database (per user account). And so both of the client's previously separate databases had to be combined into one. Yes, you can create a group called "Phone Numbers Only"; but try going through over 1,000 entries and just picking out the ones that only had phone numbers...one by one...and dragging them into that group. There is no "search" capability built into Address Book to facilitate this. Moreover, there is also no "list" view to quickly see and easily highlight only the ones with phone numbers. You must click on each entry one at a time to see it's contents!
What's more, even if you took the time to do this one-by-one, imagine having to have the diligence to remember that, every time you added a "phone only" entry to Address Book, you had to create it in - or drag it into - the "Phone Numbers Only" group.
Or....you could use this very helpful new discovery:
In Address Book, select "File/New Smart Group" from the menu. After naming it, then define it with the following drop-down definitions: "Phone" + "Is set".
This will then immediately extract only those Address Book entries that have a telephone number. And, as you add more 'numbers only' contacts into Address Book, this smart folder will keep automatically adding those to this special group.
NOTE: Even after doing this, you still have to sync ALL of your contacts in your Address Book to your iPhone. You cannot sync by "group". However, after syncing, on your iPhone you can then easily choose to view only a selected group.
Even if you don't have this particular need, I'd suggest taking a look at the various possibilities in "smart groups" under the File menu in the Address Book application. You might just discover some very useful definition for you
