To create or edit contacts, KAddressBook offers a dialog where you can input all the data that can be stored in a vCard.
The Contact Dialog.
KAddressBook tries to provide an easy name input by automatic name parsing; for this to work properly it is sometimes necessary to add custom name prefixes, suffixes or inclusions in the configure dialog. Nevertheless, no algorithm is perfect, so the name you enter may be parsed incorrectly; in this case, you can disable the automatic name parsing in the name edit dialog, which is available by clicking the button in the contact dialog. If you wish to disable the name parsing for all new contacts you can disable automatic name parsing globally in the configure dialog.
The formatted name of a contact is used by other programs to represent it. KAddressBook offers three predefined types of formatted names:
<given name> <family name>;
<prefix> <given name> <additional name> <family name> <suffix>;
<family name>, <given name>.
If none of the above types fit your needs you can select the Custom name type, where you can add your own formatted name — this configuration can be done in the name edit dialog. To specify a default formatted name type for new contacts, use the configure dialog.
The IM Address text box holds the preferred Instant Messaging Address for this contact. To add, view and edit additional IM Addresses, click the Edit IM Addresses... button. The Edit IM Addresses Dialog appears.
The Edit IM Addresses Dialog.
A contact can have multiple instant messaging addresses associated with it. Other applications, such as Kopete and Konversation, store their information here. It is recommended that you add, edit and delete instant messaging addresses in Kopete or Konversation rather than here, since they can assist you better in adding the address, adding the user to a group, and so on. If you are not interested in whether they are picked up in another application, and just want to store the instant messaging address with the contact, then it is fine to add and edit it here.
For more information on adding new Instant Messaging Addresses, see Kopete's handbook and Konversation's handbook.
In this tab, you can define preferences with regards to cryptography for a contact. At the time of this writing, only KMail will make use of these preferences when composing messages. This mechanism replaces the barely editable per-recipient crypto preferences of earlier KMail releases.
Here, you can restrict the cryptographic message formats that can be used for this contact. See the section on Cryptographic Message Formats in KMail's handbook for a discussion of the different available formats.
Here, you can assign a preferred OpenPGP key and/or S/MIME certificate to be used when encrypting to this contact. Otherwise, the local keyring and local certificate box are searched for matching keys and certificates.
Here, you can select from a set of directives for user interaction both when signing and when encrypting.
No preference, use whatever mode KMail defaults to.
Never sign (encrypt) messages to this contact. Don't ask for confirmation (except in the case of conflicts with preferences of other contacts).
Always sign (encrypt) messages to the contact. Don't ask for confirmation (except in the case of conflicts with preferences of other contacts).
Always sign (encrypt) messages to this contact when it would be possible to do so. Don't ask if it isn't possible. Situations in which signing might not be possible include other recipients having signing preferences of "Never". Situations in which encryption might not be possible include missing keys/certificates for this or other recievers.
Always ask whether to sign (encrypt).
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