This section describes actions related to contacts (available from the contact folder toolbar):

Figure 1.46. Contacts folders toolbar

Users can work with Contacts folders the same way they work with other folders. This means these folders can be shared and shared folders can be subscribed. Details on sharing and subscription of folders are provided in chapter 1.10  Folder Administration.

The contacts in Kerio WebMail can be displayed in two ways; either as individual cards, or as a list of contacts. Use the menu in the toolbar to set the display mode (see picture 1.48  Contacts).

Note: For classification by contacts, items are sorted by the alphabet of the language set in Settings as preferred (the General tab) in Kerio WebMail — see chapter 1.11.1  User settings. In result, if for example English is set as preferred and subject are in German, contacts will be ordered by English alphabet and some specific national characters may also cause problems in sorting.

By default, up to 20 contacts are listed on one page in contact folders. Number of messages displayed at one page can be changed, however, it is necessary to keep in mind that the same settings apply also to email and task folders. To change number of items displayed on a single page, use the Settings section in Kerio WebMail (see chapter 1.11.1  User settings).

Cards

Besides other methods, the cards can be sorted by alphabet letters, available below the toolbar as links. By clicking a specific letter, the first contact starting with this character will be highlighted.

TIP: Pressing Shift+letter when searching in the row of letters, the contacts starting with this character are marked.

Figure 1.48. Contacts

Users can also use the purple arrows to navigate between the pages with contacts.

Click on the New contact button in the toolbar or use the New contact item in the main folder panel's pop-up menu to access a dialog box with three tabs where the information about a specific person can be entered.

The first tab (see figure 1.49  New contact — General tab) includes entries for general information to be specified. (the first and last name, phone number, email address or personal web page URL can be specified).

Figure 1.49. New contact — General tab

Note: It is not recommended to use multiple email addresses in the E-mail entry to create recipient lists. For this purpose, Kerio MailServer 6.2 allows creation of distribution lists (for details, refer to chapter 1.6.8  Distribution lists).

The Address tab (see figure 1.50  New contact — Address tab) includes information referring to user addresses. In this tab, three different addresses — Business, Home and Other — can be specified. The address type can be selected in the Address menu. Check the This is the postal address option to select one of the addresses as primary.

Figure 1.50. New contact — Address tab

The Details tab (see figure 1.51  New contact — Details tab) contains additional information about the contact, such as birthday, anniversary or title.

Figure 1.51. New contact — Details tab

Private contacts can be used especially for sharing of contact folders with other users. If a user shares a private contact folder with other users, it is possible to mark certain contacts as private. These contacts will not be displayed to anyone else except the user with whom the contacts are shared and even the person who shares these contacts cannot see them in the shared folder.

To mark a contact as private, do the following:

Warning: Private contacts are treated as private only if the client where private contact folders are viewed supports this feature. In other client applications (like MS Outlook), it is possible to view and edit contacts without any restrictions by users with appropriate access rights. This implies that information included in private contacts are not well secured.

There are several ways of searching in contact folders based on the type of display. The cards display enables users to search for contacts using the letters under the toolbar. By clicking a specific letter, the contacts starting with this character are highlighted.

When contacts are displayed in the form of a list, only the standard ascending and descending order of messages is possible. Thus, searching for a specific contact is not very efficient, especially when there are too many contacts in the folder.

Searching for contacts using the Search window is completely different from the above procedure. Use the Search button (the magnifying glass icon in the toolbar) to open the window or enter a string (a word, part of a word or a character in the message to be searched for) into the Search for: field in the toolbar.

Figure 1.52. Search contact

Use the first option (the magnifying glass button) When opened, the dialog window provides a list of all contacts saved in the folder. When searching for a particular contact, the following information is used as the search criteria:

Users can also enter the search string into the appropriate field in the toolbar (see figure 1.46  Contacts folders toolbar). Click Search to open the Search window. Only the contacts containing the specified string are listed. If the searched contact is not included in the table, retry the search process upon modifying the string or switching to another folder (the search applies only to the folder currently opened).

Kerio WebMail allows moving and copying of contacts between folders. Variety of methods can be used for this purpose and it depends on the user's choice which one they feel more comfortable with. The methods are described in the following section:

Kerio WebMail allows contact forwarding in a special format so that forwarded contacts can be directly added to contact lists upon their delivery. Thanks to this feature, it is not necessary to copy contacts to email messages and to contact lists.

Kerio WebMail also supports another option. When a  message with a contact in the attachment is received, the recipient can simply click on the attachment to open the contact automatically in the standard dialog box. Click on Save and Close to confirm settings and save the contact to the default private Contacts folder.

Note: To save a contact or open it as an attachment, right-click on it and use one of the options available, Open or Save.

Distribution lists are groups of email addresses used for sending of collective email. Simply use a special dialog in Kerio WebMail to complete desired email addresses and save them under a common name. Whenever sending an email message to such a group, simply enter the distribution list name in the To entry instead of filling in individual addresses.

Distribution lists are helpful if email is often sent to a group of addressees. For example, it can be a group of people with whom you often communicate in your work or outside the office, as shown at figure 1.57  Distribution list — an item tab (it is a certain alternative to mailing lists or to group addresses).

Figure 1.57. Distribution list — an item tab

Once created, distribution lists are displayed in the contact folder. If multiple contact folders are used, the particular distribution list is saved in the folder where it is created. If the list is for example created in a task folder, the distribution list is automatically saved in the default private contact folder, in Contacts. to distinguish distribution lists from other items in the contact list, they are displayed bold.

A new distribution list

To create a new distribution list, follow the instructions provided below:

1. Click on the button which allows creating of new items (see figure 1.58  Toolbar menu).

2. In the menu, select the New distribution list option.

   

   Figure 1.58. Toolbar menu

   
   

3. A dialog is opened where a distribution list can be created (see figure 1.57  Distribution list — an item tab).

4. Now, specify name of the distribution list. For this purpose, use the Name entry.

5. Now, add email addresses to the list. The Select and Add buttons can be used for this purpose:

   • The Select button opens a dialog where addresses can be looked up and selected in contact folders.

     

     Figure 1.59. Select

     
     

     The dialog contains the following items:

     Folder

     The menu includes all contact folders in the mailbox (including public and subscribed contacts).

     Search for:

     Enter a string which will be used as search criteria, i.e. any contacts including the string will be searched. First letters of first or second name or username (the part of address preceding the at-sign) can be used as the string. The search string is not case-sensitive.

     One or multiple contacts can be chosen in contact lists (by holding the Shift or Ctrl key and selecting items by the mouse pointer) and then added to the distribution list by the  Add to list button. Double-clicking on a contact also copies the particular item to the distribution list.

   • Use the Add button to open a dialog where a new address can be added to the list. The address needs to be entered manually:

     

     Figure 1.60. Add

     
     

     Name

     Enter first and second name of the new distribution list member.

     E-mail

     Enter email address of the new distribution list member.

     Save to contacts

     Enable this option to save member information also in the Contacts folder.

   • The Remove button can be used to delete an address from the list.

6. Save changes by clicking Save and Close.

A note can be attached to any distribution list. It can be for example a description of the group or another information. The note can be defined on the Notes tab of the distribution list dialog.

Besides the method described above, there is another way to create distribution lists. Simply select one or more items in the contact list (using the Ctrl key), use the right mouse button to open the pop-up menu and select Create a distribution list (see figure 1.61  Creating distribution lists by selecting contacts from the list).

Figure 1.61. Creating distribution lists by selecting contacts from the list

This opens a distribution list with the selected contacts already included. This list can be simply saved after entering its name. Contacts can be added anytime if desired.