Summary


Address Book keeps all your VIPs right at your fingertips.
Products Affected
Mac OS X 10.6Create a new contact
If you want to add someone to Address Book, here's how to create a new card.
Enter as much or as little contact information as you wish; if you leave a field blank, it won't appear in the final card.
- Open Address Book from the Dock. The interface displays a Group column on the left (for grouping contacts), a Name column in the middle (that displays all contact names in your selected group), and a card pane on the right (for viewing a selected contact's information).
- Click the plus sign (+) button below the Name column to create a new contact card.
- Enter the person's name and contact information in the designated fields, just click a field and type away. Note that each type of contact (Phone, Email, Names, addresses, and so on) is grouped in sections on the card.
- Some of the fields display a pop-up menu to their left, allowing you to choose a label for that field. For example, if you want to enter someone's cell phone number, click the pop-up menu next to any Phone field and choose mobile.
- If you have more contact information than the allotted fields, click the green plus sign (+) that appears in that category section to add another field.
- To add additional fields, from the Card menu, choose Add Field, then choose a category from the submenu (such as URL, Birthday, or Job Title).
- If you want to add any extra information, type it in the Note section.
- You can have Address Book display a picture of the person or any image that you want. To add a picture, just drag any image file onto the square next to the person's name at the top of the card.
- When finished, choose Save from the File menu (or press Command-S).
Using Address Book
Here are some of the things you can do in Address Book.- To send an email to one of your contacts, select the person's name in the Name column, click the label to the left of the email address to open the pop-up menu, and choose Send Email.
- If you prefer to see only contact cards instead of the three-pane display, click the "View card only" button in the toolbar in the upper-left corner. To pull up someone's contact information, either type his or her name in the search field or use the arrow buttons on the bottom-right corner to scroll through your contacts.
- If you want to be able to address a group of people in an email instead of entering all their email addresses, create a group. Click the plus sign (+) button below the Group column, type a name for your group, select All in the Group column, and then drag names from the Name column onto your new group in the Group column to add them.
- You can also create a Smart Group, a group that automatically updates itself if any contact fits the same search criteria you set for a Smart Group. To create a Smart Group, choose New Smart Group from the File menu, type a name in the Smart Group Name field, set your search criteria using the pop-up menus and fields, for example, choose Company from the first pop-up menu and type a company name in the field to create a Smart Group of people at that company, and click OK. Any contacts that match your search criteria will become part of this Smart Group.
If you frequently send email to a group of people, like all your coworkers,
create a Smart Group, which automatically updates on its own. - If you miss having a tangible address book, print out a pocket-sized version of Address Book. Select the names that you want to include from the Names column, or select a group, and choose Print from the File menu. In the resulting dialog, choose Pocket Address Book from the Style pop-up menu, select any other options you want, and click Print.
- It’s also a good idea to back up your Address Book.
Tip: Want to learn more about Address Book? Check out the built-in Address Book Help guide on your Mac (in Address Book, choose Address Book Help from the Help menu).