Apple Address Book Functionality Expansion

[cmcbridejr]

Does anyone know if Apple is working on improving Address Book?

It seems that not much has changed in a long time with the Address Book. It is a nice app for keeping up with personal contacts. However, do you think that Apple will develop it further to be more like Outlook, in terms of features that can be applied for business use?

Please let me know if this is being worked on or if there are rumors.

Outlook 2003 is turning to dust in the wind, and I am not that satisfied with Office 2007. I am hoping to move away from those products, but Apple's offerings pale in comparison to Microsoft's.

Thank you in advance for the replies.

 

[BaldiMac]

What features are you looking for? As someone who uses Outlook at work for contact management and Address Book at home, I find Address Book to be the more powerful solution for the way I use it.

 

[cmcbridejr]

I use Outlook for work and Address Book for home, also.

However, my company is forcing us to ditch Outlook and I am trying to figure out where to go now. I was thinking that I would go the Apple route, since I can sync with all my devices using MobileMe. However, I am worried about polluting my personal and work contacts together. How can I separate them?

I know you can setup Smart Groups, but Address Book does not seem that complex. I use the "Categories" feature in Outlook heavily, since I am in sales and categorize by vertical markets or purchasing cycle (Hot List, Target List, etc.). How do you tag contacts with "Categories" in Address Book so that Smart Groups can be setup?

 

[Cromulent]

How do you tag contacts with "Categories" in Address Book so that Smart Groups can be setup?

Just create a category and then drag and drop the appropriate contact into it.

 

[cmcbridejr]

Just create a category and then drag and drop the appropriate contact into it.

Yeah, I could do that, but I have over 2,000 contacts to go through. It would be nice to be able to create a custom field so that a "Smarter" Group could be created.

If anyone hears any rumors about upgrades to Address Book, let me know!

Also, how do I print out phone lists for when I want to do telemarketing?

 

[Cromulent]

Yeah, I could do that, but I have over 2,000 contacts to go through. It would be nice to be able to create a custom field so that a "Smarter" Group could be created.

If anyone hears any rumors about upgrades to Address Book, let me know!

Also, how do I print out phone lists for when I want to do telemarketing?

In answer to your first point, yes it would be handy but I find the drag and drop approach fine. After all you only need to do it once and even if you have 2,000 contacts it shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes.

As to your question I have no idea how you print out phone lists with Address Book. You might be able to do something if you have Numbers '09 which I think integrates a bit better with Address Book than Numbers '08. Unfortunately I don't have that version so I am unable to check it out.

 

[cmcbridejr]

As to your question I have no idea how you print out phone lists with Address Book. You might be able to do something if you have Numbers '09 which I think integrates a bit better with Address Book than Numbers '08. Unfortunately I don't have that version so I am unable to check it out.

I have Numbers '09 and I don't see an option to import the Address Book, or any type of data for that matter. Also, I don't see an option to export the Address Book to a .csv file or something similar.

The more I look into it, the more I feel that Outlook '07 is the way to go. Apple's offerings seem more geared to keeping up with limited/minimal info on personal contacts, rather than for any serious business use.

 

[rdowns]

I'd recommend not trying to make an Address Book or simple Contact Manager a sales tool. Especially since you say the note you enter are important. Look into something like Act or one of the many online sales tools. Your commission checks will thank you.

 

[BaldiMac]

Yeah, I could do that, but I have over 2,000 contacts to go through. It would be nice to be able to create a custom field so that a "Smarter" Group could be created.

You can put any keywords that you would like to filter by in the notes field and create smart groups based on the keyword.

Also, how do I print out phone lists for when I want to do telemarketing?

You can print a phone list using the Print command in the file menu.

I have Numbers '09 and I don't see an option to import the Address Book, or any type of data for that matter. Also, I don't see an option to export the Address Book to a .csv file or something similar.

You can simply drag and drop address book cards into a Numbers table. Note that some columns are hidden by default, but they can be unhidden in Numbers.

Once they are in Numbers, you can export them to many different formats.