Few days ago I got a new cell phone, and am engaged in the lengthy process of building the Contact List.
This phone will create Contacts from .vcf vCard files. I create a Contact in Windows Address Book, individually export each Contact from WAB to a .vcf file, send a batch of .vcf files to the phone by USB cable, then individually touch each file in the phone's File Manager to build a Contact from it.
This is a slow process, but much better than typing on the itty-bitty phone touch keypad.
Until getting this phone, I knew nothing of vCards. But .vcf seems to hold promise of solving a problem with which I have wrestled for decades.
..Email clients have their address books - each brand (Windows, Thunderbird, Evolution and the rest) having its particular format. The minimum necessary information is first-name, last-name, email-address.
..Cell phones have their address books - each having its particular format. Minimum necessary information is first-name, last-name, phone-number.
..Software for managing business or personal contacts likewise, with a larger number of data fields for each record. I have tried several, but usually ended up building my own in dBase, or OpenOffice, or whatever.
OK. I make no apology here, but I am a guy who likes to keep his data on a short leash. I want it to be where I can find it - not in the cloud or in some 'hidden' or 'system' file. I want it to be in plain text which I can manage, if need be, with some simple text editor. I am willing to sacrifice a bit of speed and storage efficiency to meet these desires.
vCards meet these critera. Available fields are there for email address books, phone contact lists, mailing lists, and probably 95+% of personal contact needs.
So - WHY HAS NO ONE WRITTEN A CONTACT MANAGER PROGRAM BASED ON VCARDS? In such a program 'groups' could be used to mark records for export to email clients or cell phones. Are vCards already obsolete? Does no one see the need that I do for a text-based cross-client address book? What am I missing here?
-shu
This phone will create Contacts from .vcf vCard files. I create a Contact in Windows Address Book, individually export each Contact from WAB to a .vcf file, send a batch of .vcf files to the phone by USB cable, then individually touch each file in the phone's File Manager to build a Contact from it.
This is a slow process, but much better than typing on the itty-bitty phone touch keypad.
Until getting this phone, I knew nothing of vCards. But .vcf seems to hold promise of solving a problem with which I have wrestled for decades.
..Email clients have their address books - each brand (Windows, Thunderbird, Evolution and the rest) having its particular format. The minimum necessary information is first-name, last-name, email-address.
..Cell phones have their address books - each having its particular format. Minimum necessary information is first-name, last-name, phone-number.
..Software for managing business or personal contacts likewise, with a larger number of data fields for each record. I have tried several, but usually ended up building my own in dBase, or OpenOffice, or whatever.
OK. I make no apology here, but I am a guy who likes to keep his data on a short leash. I want it to be where I can find it - not in the cloud or in some 'hidden' or 'system' file. I want it to be in plain text which I can manage, if need be, with some simple text editor. I am willing to sacrifice a bit of speed and storage efficiency to meet these desires.
vCards meet these critera. Available fields are there for email address books, phone contact lists, mailing lists, and probably 95+% of personal contact needs.
So - WHY HAS NO ONE WRITTEN A CONTACT MANAGER PROGRAM BASED ON VCARDS? In such a program 'groups' could be used to mark records for export to email clients or cell phones. Are vCards already obsolete? Does no one see the need that I do for a text-based cross-client address book? What am I missing here?
-shu
