5. Address book management
Screenshot: main menu with Addresses shortcut highlighted
Address books can save a lot of time if used effectively and efficiently. You can use them to store the addresses of people you write to most often.
There are two types of address book available:
- Directory (read-only)
The Directory address book contains contact information for everyone at the University and is referred to as an LDAP address book. - Personal (modifiable)
The Personal address books are your own address books created and updated by you and are referred to as your IMSP address books.
Please note: when using the address book management pages (the 'Addresses' menu icon) you may experience a noticeable delay while SquirrelMail builds a list of your address book entries. The length of the wait will be proportional to the total number of address book entries in all your Personal address books. Therefore, it may be more efficient and time-saving to manage your address books using a desktop client rather than webmail.
- 5.1 Nickname
- 5.2 Name
- 5.3 Email Address
- 5.4 Additional Info
- 5.5 Edit or Delete
- 5.6 Add to Personal address book
- 5.7 Sorting the entry listing
- 5.8 LDAP Address books
5.1 - Nickname
Screenshot: enter an unique nickname here
In the Nickname field, enter a name or identifier that will give you an accurate idea to whom this email address belongs. It has to be a unique name otherwise SquirrelMail will not know which person you are referring to.
Please note: entries without nick names will not be included in address book search results, so entering a nickname is a necessity if you want to be able to use SquirrelMail address book search facilities (and to be confident of your search results).
5.2 - Name
Screenshot: enter first and last names in these two fields
This can be someone's real name or a mailing list name.
The entries in the First name and Last name fields combine in the address book listing under a general ‘Name’ heading.
5.3 - Email Address
Screenshot: enter the full email address here
This must be the person's full email address.
Do not forget to enter all the elements of the email address here, such as anne.other@bristol.ac.uk (it is surprising how many people forget to add the final '.ac.uk' or '.co.uk', for example).
If you fail to enter this correctly you are likely to get your mail back in the form of rejected message.
5.4 – Additional Info
Screenshot: enter any additional information here
This field is optional and is intended for you to add extra details to help you identify your contact more easily. For instance, if you meet a business contact, you could put "The person I met at the Personal Networking Symposium".
5.5 - Edit or Delete
Screenshot: use these buttons to edit or delete address book entries
These two buttons allow you to modify or delete an existing address book entry. Use the check boxes on the right-hand side to select which entries you want to edit/delete.
When editing an entry you can only select one at a time. When deleting you can select multiple entries.
Please note: you cannot edit entries unless they have nicknames. Those entries without nicknames will need to be edited using a desktop client.
5.6 - Add to Personal address book
Screenshot: click this button to add the new address
Fill in the fields as they are listed. The first three (Nickname, Email address, and First name) must be filled in. Both Last name and Additional info are optional, but it is recommended that you do complete the Last name field.
The Add to dropdown list lets you specify which address book to add the entry to.
Please note: if you add an address to the Personal Address book, you will only be able to access it via webmail. If you use other mail clients, such as the University desktop mail client, you will need to enter addresses into your IMSP Address book.
5.7 - Sorting the entry listing
Screenshot: use this option to sort address book listings
You can change the sort order of the address book listings by clicking the small arrow icon to the right-hand side of the column heading.
5.8 - LDAP Address books
You cannot edit any LDAP address books from the 'Addresses' management page as the University offers a read-only LDAP service, which contains staff and postgraduate addresses.
However, when composing an email you have the option to search and select from these addresses.