Adding or Editing Contact Data

The Basics
When you first click on the Add Contact   button on 's Toolbar, this screen will appear. (If you click on Edit Contact  , a similar screen appears, the only difference being that the drop-down box labeled Add to: will not appear as part of the Edit dialog. That is why both functions are covered in this chapter: they're practically identical.)
A screenshot of 's New Contact dialog.
A screenshot of 's New Contact dialog.
's Add Contact dialog after clicking the Add Contact   button on the Toolbar.
 

The Contact Tab
We have already seen (in How to Add a New Contact ) how basic data like Name and Email are entered when a new contact record is created. Here's a description of the many ways to use the rest of the data fields accessible from the Contact tab in the Add Contact   dialog.
Phone	You may associate one or more telephone numbers with this person. Use the  +  and  −  buttons to add or delete phone number fields. The  Home Drop Down Box allows you to identify fifteen categories of phone numbers (Home, Work, Mobile, Car, ISDN, PCS, )
Messaging	You may associate one or more Instant Messaging service identities with this person. Use the  +  and  −  buttons to add or delete messaging service fields. The  Select ... Drop Down Box permits you to identify thirteen categories of IM services: AIM, Facebook, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, GroupWise, ICQ, , Jabber, Meanwhile, SMS, Skype, Twitter, and Yahoo. (MSN Messenger is still on the list of IM services in version 5.10.3; it has been defunct since 2014.)
Web	You may associate one or more web site s with this person. Use the  +  and  −  buttons to add or delete Web address fields. The  Select ... Drop Down Box allows you to identify three different kinds of Web addresses: Home, Work, and Other.
Tags	You may associate one or more Tags of your own devising with this person. Use the  ...  button to enter the Tag creation and configuration dialog illustrated below.
's Tags dialog.
's Tags dialog.
's Manage Tags dialog after clicking the  ...  button next to Tags.
 
Tags (continued)	Use the  Create new tag  button and the data entry field to the left to build your customized list of tags. Select the tags associated with this person from the list appearing in the configuration window. Press the  ✔ OK  button to add the selected tags to this contact.
Blog Feed	Use this field to record the associated with this contact's web log, or blog.
Show messages ...	Use this Drop Down Box to override the corresponding message display option in 's  Privacy & Security  configuration menu. Choose Default to leave it up to . Choose Plain Text or HTML if you want to override 's default behavior when you receive a message from this person.
Allow remote content ...	Select this option if you want to override the corresponding message display option in 's  Privacy & Security  configuration menu when you receive a message from this person.
 ✔ OK 	Select this option to save the changes you have made. This button performs the same function in all seven tabs appearing in the Add Contact   dialog.
 ⦸ Cancel 	Select this option to leave the Add Contact   dialog without saving your changes. This button performs the same function in all seven tabs appearing in the Add Contact dialog.
 

The Location Tab
Use the data input fields in the Location tab shown below to associate one or more snail-mail addresses with this person.
's Location tab.
's Location tab.
's Location tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
(unlabeled) Drop Down Box	Use this list of categories to describe each mailing address for this contact. Available options include  Home, Work, Postal,
Street / Post Office Box / Postal Code / Locality / Region	Use these free-form data fields to enter mailing address data: Street Address, PO Box, ZIP Code, City, and State, respectively, for addresses in the U.S.A.
Country	Use this Drop Down Box to select a country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
This is the preferred address	Check this box to designate the preferred, or default, mailing address.
 Add Address 	When you have finished entering address data, left click this button to add a new address to the set of saved addresses appearing in the large display window to the right.
Icon in the large display window 	Left click this icon to edit the associated address data.
Icon in the large display window 	Left click this icon to delete the associated address data.
 

The Business, Personal, and Notes Tabs
The next three tabs in the Add Contact dialog are even simpler than the Location tab. They allow you to save some information about this person's business and professional affiliations, a few personal details, and miscellaneous free-form notes, respectively.
's Business tab.
's Business tab.
's Business tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
The Business tab, shown above, lets you save some additional details about this person's professional and business associations. All the input fields are free-form; you may enter any kind of text data in each field. The small button will open a file search dialog, making it easy to associate a filename with this person's Free/Busy schedule, if you wish.
Notice that you should enter your business associate's phone as a telephone number under the Contact tab. Similarly, his office address is entered via the Location tab, as described in the preceding section.
 
's Personal tab.
's Personal tab.
's Personal tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
Use this tab to store a few personal details: this person's birthday, his wedding anniversary, and the name of his partner, or significant other. Click one of the buttons (⪚,  ) to enter his date of birth, or his wedding anniversary.
 
's Notes tab.
's Notes tab.
's Notes tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
The Notes tab provides a totally free-form input area in which you may enter any data you want to associate with this person.

The Tricky Stuff
provides a couple of more complex data storage features, in addition to the simple functions described in the preceding section.

The Custom Fields Tab
Not happy with the wide array of data items that has already pre-programmed for you? Well, you're in luck. Someday -- maybe soon --you may utilize the Custom Fields dialog shown below to define and populate as many additional data fields as you can possibly use.
's Custom Fields tab.
's Custom Fields tab.
's Custom Fields tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
This is an experimental feature which doesn't yet do anything worth talking about. So I'm not going to say anything else about it.
 

The Crypto Settings Tab
Need to send a confidential email message that ought not be read by prying eyes? provides a simple way for you to associate cryptographic keys with each person on your mailing list.
's Crypto Settings tab.
's Crypto Settings tab.
's Crypto Settings tab, part of the Add Contact dialog.
 
Allowed Protocols	Choose which mode of encryption you wish to use when sending a message to this person: Inline OpenPGP, OpenPGP/, S/MIME , or S/MIME Opaque.
Preferred OpenPGP Encryption Key:	Use the  Change...  button to select from a list of available OpenPGP keys, if you have chosen OpenPGP encryption. Use the button to clear a previously selected key.
Preferred S/MIME Encryption Certificate: 	Use the  Change...  button to select from a list of available certificates, if you are using a verified key. Use the button to clear a previously selected key.
Message Preference / Sign:	Use this drop-down box to specify when messages addressed to this person should bear your cryptographic signature: Never / Always / If Possible / Ask.
Message Preference / Encrypt:	Use this drop-down box to specify when messages addressed to this person should be encrypted by using the selected protocol and key: Never / Always / If Possible / Ask.