User guide

v.01/2024

Messages Calendar Contacts Documents IM SMS Fax Groups

• Personal contacts
• Group address book
• Delete contacts
• Messaging
• Search
• Print
• Tags
• Mobile synchronization
• Synchronization with Outlook
• CardDAV synchronization
• Skype links
• Import - Export
• Settings

Personal contacts

1. Add a contact
   Click on New. Enter contacts details and click on Save.
2. Edit a contact
   You have 3 ways to do this:
   • Display the contact details and click on Edit
   • Double-click on the contact
   • Display the contact Actions and select Details
3. Picture
   You can add a picture. Most formats are accepted: GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF and RAW. The picture is automatically resized.
4. Birthday
   If you enter the birthdate of a personal contact, a repeated event is automatically created in your calendar for 25 years from today.
5. Map
   Display contact details and click on Map. This feature is available provided a postal address (private or business) has been entered for this contact.
6. Add a comment
   You can add a comment to a Contact. Comments on a group contact will be displayed to all group members.

   Select Comment in the Contact Actions. Contacts with comments appear with a special icon.

7. Attach a Document
   You can attach (or link) a Document to a Contact. For instance, you can attach their resume to a person.

   Display the Contact details and click on the Attachments tab. Then, select a Document.

   Note: if the contact is shared, make sure you grant the necessary access rights.

   You can display the Document details from the Contacts. You can also break the link to the Document later.

Group address book

1. Access to group contacts
   Select the group name in the context selector, which default value is "Private".
2. Default access rights
   
   • All group members may always view group contacts. In other words, they always have the Read right.
   • A contact creator may always edit it. He can give the Edit right to some or all members.
   • Group administrator and co-administrators may always add and delete content (i.e., contacts). They can give the Add content and Add and delete content to some or all members.
3. Creators: allow edition
   The right to Edit a contact will allow selected members to keep it up-to-date. It is granted contact by contact.
4. Administrators: allow add and/or delete content
   Grant the Add content (i.e., contacts) or the Add and delete content rights. Delete content means deleting any contact in the group.
5. Grant access rights to a member
   
   1. Click on Add.
   2. Select a group this member belongs to.
   3. You can also search for this member by entering their name (or part of it) in the search field.
   4. Select the right you wish to grant in the Access rights pull-down menu.
   5. Click on Add.
   6. The member now appears in the rights summary.
   You may select several members.

   You can remove the access rights you have granted at any time.

6. Grant access rights to all group members
   
   1. Click on Add.
   2. Select a group.
   3. Select the access right you wish to grant in the Access rights pull-down menu.
   4. Click on Add.
   5. The group now appears in the rights summary.
   Note: If someone joins the group later, he will automatically be granted the same access rights. If you wish to avoid that, grant rights to the individual members that are now in the group.

   Likewise, if a current member leaves the group later, he will lose the granted access rights.

   You can remove the access rights you have granted at any time.

7. Add a group contact
   Note: You can add content only if the group administrator has allowed you to.

   Add a new contact as you usually do it in your private environment.

8. Share private data with a group
   You can share private data (i.e., a document, a contact, etc.) with a group. The item will be visible in the group while remaining also in your private environment:
   • There is only one item: all edits made in your private environment will be visible in the group and conversely. This avoids creating duplicates (which can end up with different contents).
   • To share an item with a group, you must have been granted the right to Add content in it.
   • A single item may be shared with several groups.
   Select a private item and choose Share with groups in its Actions. Click on the Share button. Then, choose a group and a destination folder within this group. If the item is a Document, create the destination folder if necessary.

   If you don't want to share this item anymore, go to the same screen and click on the - icon (Remove) next to the group name.

9. Share group data with another group
   Just like you can share a private item with a group, you can share a group item with another one. Open Share with groups and select a group where you have been granted the Add content right.

   Because sharing has to be done document by document, you should not use it too often. It's probably better to create an additional group containing common data than sharing many items between 2 groups.

Delete contacts

1. Delete a contact
   Display the contact Actions and select Delete.
2. Delete a selection of contacts
   Select the contacts to delete, display the Actions and select Delete.
3. Empty the address book
   This operation will delete all contacts from the current address book. Tick the box on top of the list, left to New and then click on Delete in the Actions.

Messaging

1. Send an email
   Click on one of the contact email addresses.
2. Send a SMS
   Click on the contact cell phone number.

   Note: We advise you to sign your SMS messages so that the recipients know who they are coming from.

3. Send a fax
   Click on the contact fax number.

   If you cannot click the number, check that it was encoded in the international format. Check also that the number was entered in a fax field. Edit the pull-down menu and set it to 'fax' if necessary.

Search

1. Search in tools and environments
   The search field is located in the upper right part of the screen. Enter a word or its first letters to launch a search.

   Search and tools:

   • If you are using a tool (Messages, for instance) and launch a search from there, it will search in this tool.
   • If no tool is selected when you launch a search (in the homepage, just after you have logged in, for instance), it will search in all tools. The results list will display the data type for each result. To get back to the homepage, click on the logo in the upper left corner.
   Search and environments:
   • If your private environment is selected when you launch a search (your private documents, for instance), it will search in this environment.
   • If a group is selected when you launch a search, it will search only in this group.
   • You can broaden or narrow the search by clicking on the triangle to display the advanced search options. In the Search in section, select Private or Private + Groups. If you select the latter, search will be done in all groups at the same time.
2. Advanced search
   Most tools have an advanced search, the search criteria being specific to each tool.
3. Search field syntax
   
   • If you enter several words, you will get data that contain all these words. If you enter "OR" between words, you will get data that contain one of the words.
   • The search does make a difference between uppercase and lowercase.
   • You can add a star (*) after at least 4 characters to search on all words starting with these characters.
   Examples:
   • holiday Hawaii (equal to holiday AND Hawaii) will return data containing holiday and Hawaii.
   • Maui OR Hawaii will return data containing Maui or Hawaii.
   • "great holiday" (with the quotation marks) will return data containing the "great holiday" expression.
   • "info*" will return data containing words starting with info (information, informative, informed, etc.)
   • virus -computer will return data containing the word "virus" but not the word "computer".
4. Results
   Results are limited to 200 items and are sorted by relevance.
5. Last search
   You can display the results of the last search by clicking on Search results in the left part of the screen.

Print

1. Print a single contact
   Display the Contacts Actions and select Print.
2. Print a Contacts selection
   Select the Contacts to print, display the Actions and select Print.

   Tick the top checkbox to print all Contacts.

Tags

1. What are tags for?
   Tags allow for organizing your data with labels such as Urgent, Important, etc. and/or by project, client, etc. The first step is to create your own tags.
2. Access to the tags
   Select any data, display its Actions and select Tags.
3. Create a tag
   Display the tags of any data and click on Add. Enter the new tag name and choose a colour (optional).
4. Edit a tag
   Tag names cannot be edited. However, you can change their colours.
5. Delete a tag
   In the left part of the screen, display the tag Actions and select Delete.
6. Tag an item
   Select Tags in the item Actions. In the tag window, tick one or more checkboxes, depending on the tags you wish to set. Later, you will be able to select other tags or unselect the current ones.

   Another method: select a Tag on the left without releasing the mouse button and move it to the item (drag & drop). You can also start from the item and drop it on the Tag.

7. Display data with a given tag
   There are two ways to do this:
   • Click on a tag in the left part of the screen. If the tag list is not displayed, open it by clicking on the triangle. To get back to the normal display, click on the current folder (My calendar, My contacts, etc.)
   • Open the advanced search and select a tag.
8. Tags and groups
   Tags belong to a person and not to a group: there are no group tags. It is not advised to use tags in a group data.

Mobile synchronization

1. Features
   Synchronize your smartphone (iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.) apps with the ContactOffice Messages, Calendars and Contacts. Access ContactOffice data directly in your phone apps (example: the iPhone Calendar app) and synchronize with them.

   You can synchronize several devices, ContactOffice being the synchronization server. Your subscription sets the number of devices you may synchronize.

   Should a problem occur during the synchronize process (lost connection, power failure, etc.), the next synchronization will assume that up-to-date data are on ContactOffice.

   This synchronization keeps the data already present in your smartphone.

2. Local data and server data
   Data already present on your mobile device always remain. Data present on ContactOffice will be added in a different "layer": if you disable the mobile sync, this layer will disappear.
   
   Your device needs to know where the data you create has to be stored: in the device or on ContactOffice. For calendar and contacts, please make sure to select your ContactOffice account in the respective apps.
3. iPhone/iPad
   
   1. Make sure you are connected to a reliable and fast network.
   2. Go to your device 'Settings'.
   3. Tap 'Passwords & Accounts'.
   4. Under 'Accounts', tap 'Add Account'.
   5. Tap 'Exchange'.
   6. Enter your ContactOffice email address and a description such as 'ContactOffice'
   7. Tap 'Next'
   8. An alert appears: "Sign in to your ContactOffice Exchange account using Microsoft?". Tap 'Configure Manually', as your ContactOffice account is not hosted on Microsoft servers.
   9. Enter your ContactOffice password.
   10. Tap 'Next'
   11. Enter the server: office.contactoffice.com. Enter the Username: USERNAME (your ContactOffice username)
   12. Tap 'Next' and your device will check the settings. By default, it will synchronize 5 data types (Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders and Notes). Turn off Reminders and Notes because ContactOffice doesn't handle them. Turn off other tools if necessary.
       Tap 'Save'.
       At this point, data starts being synchronized. The time needed for the first synchronization to complete depends on the amount of data.
   13. By default, your device synchronizes Mail for 1 month. You can set a different setting in 'Passwords & Accounts' > 'ContactOffice' > 'Mail Days to Sync'.
   Note: help for iOS 12.
4. Android (Samsung, etc.)
   As many versions of the Android platform coexist, it is impossible to give a step-by-step guide for each of them.

   As a general rule:

   1. Make sure you are connected to a reliable and fast network.
   2. Go to your device 'Settings'.
   3. Go to the 'Accounts' tab and tap on 'Accounts' under 'My accounts'.
   4. Tap on 'Add account'.
   5. Tap on 'Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync'.
   6. Enter connection settings for ContactOffice, probably in 'Manual settings':
      • email address: your ContactOffice email address
      • Login: USERNAME
      • Password: your ContactOffice password
      • Server: office.contactoffice.com
      • TLS/SSL: yes
   7. Your device now tries to communicate with the server.
      Note: It can take a few minutes for data to show up.
   8. Change the settings to your liking.
   9. Give a name to this connection and tap on 'Done'.
   10. The data sync starts.
       Otherwise, you can start it manually: go back to step 2 and 3 and then tap on 'Sync all'.
       The time needed for the first synchronization to complete is related to the amount of data.
5. Other
   All devices and software that can synchronize with an Exchange server (ActiveSync protocol) can synchronize with ContactOffice:
   • Windows Mail (Windows 8 & Windows 10)
   • eM Client
   • etc.
   Use as settings your username (USERNAME) and ContactOffice password, your email address and as server name: office.contactoffice.com. Use a secure connection if it's available.

Synchronization with Outlook

1. Features
   Outlook (>= 2013) can synchronize directly with ContactOffice.

   You can synchronize your mail, contacts and calendar between ContactOffice and Outlook. Data in ContactOffice will appear in Outlook, but in a separate account. Data already present in Outlook will not appear in ContactOffice, unless you import them in ContactOffice.

   Note: Outlook will disconnect from the server if something goes wrong with the sync. To reconnect to the server, select the "Send/Receive" tab, then click twice on the "Work Offline" button.

2. Settings
   
   1. Select the "File" tab
   2. Select "Info" in the left column (if not already selected), then click on the "Add Account" button
   3. Select "Manual setup or additional server types". Click on "Next".
   4. Select "Outlook.com or Exchange ActiveSync compatible service". Click on "Next".
   5. Fill in your name, your email address, the server (office.contactoffice.com), your username (USERNAME) and ContactOffice password. Click on "Next"
   6. Click on "Finish"
   
   
   "The server cannot be found" (Outlook 2016)
   If you have entered the correct server value above and get the error "The server cannot be found" in Outlook 2016 (version 16.0.8431.2079 or later), it is because a Microsoft upgrade set your Outlook to connect to Office 365 using Simplified account creation". You can disable this behaviour by following the steps explained here.

CardDAV synchronization

1. Better to use synchronization
   If both your subscription and your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) can handle synchronization, we advise to use the latter. Set-up is easier, there is only one set-up for all tools and synchronization is more robust. However, unlike the protocol explained in this help section, it does not handle group members and group data.
2. Features
   Contacts can be synchronized with CalDAV compliant third-party software.
3. Limitations
   Synchronizing between different software implies limitations:
   • If you use the calendar at the same time in ContactOffice and in one or more third-party software: make sure to update the calendar in the third-party software before you make any change from it, otherwise changes made in ContactOffice will be lost.
4. Compatible software
   
   • Apple Addressbook
   • iPhone/iPad
   • Others: https://devguide.calconnect.org/CardDAV/Client-Implementations/
   NB: Microsoft Outlook has no CardDAV capabilities.
5. Software settings
   Settings depend on the software used.

   Apple AddressBook

   1. In the "AddressBook" menu, select "Preferences".
   2. Select the "Accounts" tab.
   3. Click on the "+" at the bottom of the window. In the window that opens, select "CardDAV", enter your username (USERNAME), your ContactOffice password and the address of your address book: https://office.contactoffice.com.
      If it does not work, try with: https://office.contactoffice.com/dav/USERNAME/private/contacts.

   iPhone/iPad

   1. In "Settings", select "Contacts", then "Add an account"; select "Other" and eventually "Add a CardDAV account".
   2. Enter https://office.contactoffice.com in the "Server" field.
      If it doesn't work, try with https://office.contactoffice.com/dav/USERNAME/private/contacts.
   3. Enter your username (USERNAME) and ContactOffice password.
6. Group address book
   To access a group address book, use the following address: https://office.contactoffice.com/dav/groups/GROUP_NAME/_addbooks_/contacts/. Beware, the group name is case-sensitive: capital letters must be entered as capital letters.
   Use the following address on Apple iPhones and iPads (from iOS 13): https://office.contactoffice.com/dav/principals/groups/GROUP_NAME

Skype links

1. Features
   Skype is an Internet phone calls system. You can phone other Skype users for free. With SkypeOut, you can call land lines or cell phones for a small price.

   If you activate the Skype links in the ContactOffice address book, you'll be able to:

   • Call with Skype the private and groups contacts who have a Skype address
   • Call with SkypeOut every phone number in the contacts.
   To learn more about Skype and SkypeOut, visit Skype's website.
2. Activate Skype links
   Skype links are not activated by default. Go to the Contacts Settings and tick the box next to SkypeOut.

Import - Export

1. Import
   Before you import, select an environment (private or group). Click on Import in the menu bar and choose a file format: Outlook, Google, vCard LDIF or .csv.

   The import window displays how much contacts you can import.

2. Export
   Go to an address book (Private or groups), click on Export and choose a format: vCard, CSV or PDF.

   To export a single contact, display contact Actions and click on Export vCard.

Settings

1. Access to Settings
   There are several ways to access the Settings:
   • From any tool, click on the "..." button in the Actions and then choose Settings.
   • Click on your name in the right upper part of the screen to display the menu and choose Settings.
   • In the horizontal toolbar, choose the Settings icon. Note: this icon has been removed in the latest versions.
2. Display order
   Contacts are displayed in the order First name - Last name. You can reverse the order.

   This order is used in all windows displaying persons lists (Contacts tool, add participants to a meeting, access rights, etc.).