Support
If you experience problems using Open Contacts or if you have a question
regarding its use, you may send Email to Fonlow IT at the following E-mail
address:
Please write your
questions, comments, requests, and suggestions in details. For example, you
may make
the subject look like "Open Contacts v3.2.0.183 Questions" and describe
in details. Please use any of the following subject lines:
-
Open Contacts v3.xxx Bugs (Replace
xxx with exact version found in the About box)
-
Open Contacts v3.xxx Questions
-
Open Contacts v3.xxx Requesting Features
-
Open Contacts v3.xxx Suggestions
-
Open Contacts v3.xxx Misc
Any other subject will be regarded as Misc.
Email without dedicated subject will be filtered out as spam.
Q&A
Open Contacts was specifically designed for
people who need managing contact info of both individuals and organizations.
Q: How can I backup the address book file
A: The address book file is "default.gdb" in the
"Data" folder of the program folder by default. Run the Backup
command from the Tools menu, you will be prompted with a Save dialog to define
a backup file to save. Generally, you should keep the backup of your address
book on a external storage such as CD-R, potable harddrive or another
computer.
To restore, run the Restore command. You will use the
saved backup file to replace current address book file.
Alternatively, you may simply make a copy of "default.gdb"
after closing Open Contacts.
Q: I would normally store all my data files in "My
Documents", so I can easily backup the whole folder. I see Open Contacts always
load the address book file "default.gdb" in the Data folder under the program
folder. For some reason, I don't want to install Open Contacts under "My
Documents", can you provide a solution?
A: When you look at the program folder, you will find
a file named "main.ini". Open it with Notepad, you will see an item "Database=default.gdb".
After you change it into "Database=c:\My
Documents\Somewhere\default.gdb" and re-launch
the program, the program will locate the file under "c:\My
Documents\Somewhere\".
Alternatively, you may go to the
Options window to change the location of the database file.
Q: I'm German and as you know, we use "umlaute" in our
language (ⁿ,Σ,÷). Entering the data everything seems to be ok, but if I'd like
to use the quickview, then I just see strange characters instead of the umlaute.
A: This is something related to the encoding of Internet Explorer. Right
click on the data area of the Quick View window, select encoding Unicode
(UTF-8), you will see things all right. Generally you just need to do this
once.
Q: May I store both the Open Contracts program and the
address book file in a USB memory drive and run the program on the USB memory
drive directly?
A: Yes, you can, if you feel comfortable with the
speed and reliability of your USB memory drive. And do remember to make
backup of your address book file regularly. Please refer to
a simple guide of using Open Contacts on external
storages.
Q: May I share the database file
with staffs in the same office?
A: Yes, you can. However, you need
to install the database file on a machine where
an instance of Firebird database server is running. For more details, please
read the data sharing guide. In addition, you
may try Open Contacts Pro which is by default for LAN/office environment.
Q: We would like to install Open Contacts application
in order to use it in the office. Could you, please, let me know how many
contacts (records) we can add to be sure the application is still working
properly?
A: We had built a
database with 30,000 contacts, each of which has
many data fields, and the size of the database was
around 260 MB. The whole program still performed
well. As the program will use a real database server in LAN, so you won't
need to worry about heavy speed lost as you could suffer with a file base
database.
Q: I see you provide support for
Skype, can you provide support for MSN as well? So I will be able to select a
Email address and launch a message window.
A: With Windows Messenger 4.7 and
lower, Microsoft provided API for other Windows programs to interact.
However, with higher versions of Windows Messenger and all version of MSN
Messenger, Microsoft did not provide such API. Eventually, the way of
interacting with MSN Messenger was blocked.
Q: I want to attach photo to some of
my friends, can you support this feature?
A: This feature is there. Just
simply add an Image field, and paste the file path of the photo. When you
highlight the field and click the button, the default image viewer will be
launch to view the photo.
|