Creating and editing contacts

New contacts are created directly in the contact card; existing contacts can also be changed and deleted there. This article explains every field of the form, saving and deleting. The list, search and card are described in Contacts – overview and search.

Requirement: write permission for the address book. Entries from the Verzeichnis (Directory) can never be edited. In a shared address book, editing depends on the permissions granted by the person who shared it.

1. In the navigation, choose Neuer Kontakt (New contact). When the list is empty, Kontakt anlegen (Create contact) also leads to the form.
2. The card shows the Neuer Kontakt (New contact) form; the cursor is in Vorname (First name).
3. Fill in the fields you want (fields see below). At least a name, a company or an email address is required.
4. Choose Fertig (Done) or press Ctrl + Enter (Mac: ⌘ + Enter).

After saving, the app rereads the list and shows the new contact selected. It forms the display name from "first name last name", otherwise from the company, otherwise from the first email address.

1. In the email list, right-click a message (or open the ⋮ menu in the reading pane).
2. Choose Absender zu Kontakten (Add sender to contacts).
3. The app switches to the contacts:
   • If the sender address already exists, it shows the existing contact with the notice Kontakt ist bereits vorhanden (Contact already exists).
   • Otherwise it opens Neuer Kontakt (New contact), prefilled with the address and the first and last name from the sender name (the last word becomes the last name; additions from „|“ or „(“ onward are dropped).
4. Check and complete the details and choose Fertig (Done).

1. Select the contact in the list.
2. In the card header, choose Bearbeiten (Edit). Alternatively: right-click the contact and choose Bearbeiten, or press Enter.
3. The card shows the Kontakt bearbeiten (Edit contact) form with all existing details.
4. Change the fields.
5. Choose Fertig (Done) or press Ctrl + Enter.

If nothing was changed, Fertig (Done) closes the form without saving. If the contact cannot be loaded for editing, Kontakt ließ sich nicht laden (Contact could not be loaded) appears with the reason.

Details that the form does not show (for example photo, categories, middle name, nickname) stay unchanged when saving.

At the top left, the form shows the contact's picture. For contacts without a photo, the initials follow the first and last name or the company as you type. A photo cannot be uploaded, changed or removed in the app.

Name and company

• Vorname (First name): text, at most 120 characters.
• Nachname (Last name): text, at most 120 characters. Determines the sort order in the list.
• Firma (Company): text, at most 200 characters.
• Abteilung (Department): text, at most 200 characters.
• Position (Job title): text, at most 200 characters.

Phone

• In each row, the type of number on the left, the Telefonnummer (Phone number) field on the right (at most 60 characters).
• Number type: Mobil (Mobile), Arbeit (Work), Privat (Home), Zentrale (Company main), Fax Arbeit (Work fax), Fax privat (Home fax), Pager, Andere (Other). If an existing number has another type (for example Assistenz, Assistant), it remains available in the selection as well.
• For a new contact, the first row is set to Mobil (Mobile).
• Telefon hinzufügen (Add phone): adds a row and suggests the first type still free from Mobile, Work, Home. At most 10 numbers; after that the button disappears.
• Telefon entfernen (Remove phone, minus icon on the left): removes the row.
• The app does not save empty rows.

The order of the numbers matters: Anrufen (Call) in the card and in the menu dials the first number.

Email

• One field per row for an address (placeholder „name@beispiel.de“). There is no type such as personal or business.
• The first address is the preferred one; E-Mail (Email) in the card and E-Mail schreiben (Write email) in the menu use it, and in the vCard export it is marked as preferred.
• E-Mail hinzufügen (Add email) / E-Mail entfernen (Remove email): at most 10 addresses.
• When you leave the field, the app checks the address; on an error, Keine gültige E-Mail-Adresse (Not a valid email address) appears below it.

When creating a contact, the app warns if an address is already saved: Diese Adresse ist bereits gespeichert bei [Name]. (This address is already saved for [Name].) The Eintrag anzeigen (Show entry) button opens the existing contact. Saving is still possible.

Address

1. Choose Adresse hinzufügen (Add address). Arbeit (Work) is suggested first, then Privat (Home), then Andere (Other).
2. Choose the type on the left: Privat (Home), Arbeit (Work) or Andere (Other). Each type is possible only once; the selection only offers free types.
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Straße und Hausnummer (Street and house number): at most 300 characters.
   • PLZ (Postal code): at most 20 characters.
   • Ort (City): at most 120 characters.
   • Bundesland (State): at most 120 characters.
   • Land (Country): at most 120 characters.
4. Adresse entfernen (Remove address, minus icon) deletes the address from the form.

At most 3 addresses. The app does not save completely empty addresses.

More details

• Geburtstag (Birthday): date via the browser's date picker. A birthday without a year cannot be entered in the app; if it comes from the mailbox that way, the card shows it without a year. Birthdays also appear in the Geburtstage (Birthdays) calendar.
• Jahrestag (Anniversary): date.
• Website: address of the website, at most 500 characters.
• Notiz (Note): formatted text, at most 10,000 characters including formatting. The bar below the field offers Fett (Bold), Kursiv (Italic), Unterstrichen (Underline), Durchgestrichen (Strikethrough), Aufzählung (Bulleted list), Nummerierung (Numbered list), Zitat (Quote) and Link. If a note contains images, Diese Notiz enthält Bilder und lässt sich hier nur lesen. (This note contains images and is read-only here.) appears, and the note is only displayed.

Not in the form

• Categories and groups cannot be assigned to contacts.
• Distribution lists appear in the list with a group icon. They cannot be edited in the app.

• Angaben fehlen (Details missing) – „Bitte einen Namen, eine Firma oder eine E-Mail-Adresse angeben.“ (Please enter a name, a company or an email address.) Add a first name, last name, company or email address.
• Bitte die E-Mail-Adresse prüfen (Please check the email address) – „Keine gültige E-Mail-Adresse: [Adresse]“ (Not a valid email address: [address]). The cursor jumps to the affected field.
• Adressen prüfen (Check addresses) – „Jede Art von Adresse lässt sich nur einmal angeben.“ (Each type of address can only be entered once.)
• Speichern fehlgeschlagen (Saving failed) – with the reason, for example „Ungültige E-Mail-Adresse: …“ (Invalid email address) or „Dieses Postfach ist für dieses Konto nicht freigegeben.“ (This mailbox is not shared with this account.)

1. Choose Abbrechen (Cancel) or press Esc.
2. If there are unsaved changes, the app asks Änderungen verwerfen? (Discard changes?) – „Die Änderungen an diesem Kontakt sind nicht gespeichert.“ (The changes to this contact have not been saved.)
   • Abbrechen (Cancel): back to the form, nothing is lost.
   • Verwerfen (Discard): the form closes without saving.

The same prompt appears if, with unsaved changes, you choose Zurück (Back), another contact or Alle Kontakte (All contacts). Without changes, the form closes immediately.

1. Select the contact.
2. In the card header, choose the trash can (Löschen, Delete). Alternatively: right-click the contact and choose Löschen, or press Delete or Backspace.
3. The prompt Kontakt löschen? (Delete contact?) shows the name and the notice Der Kontakt wird aus dem Adressbuch entfernt. (The contact will be removed from the address book.)
4. Choose Löschen (Delete). Abbrechen (Cancel) or Esc cancels.

Afterward, Kontakt gelöscht (Contact deleted) appears with the name, and the app selects the next contact. If deleting fails, Löschen fehlgeschlagen (Deleting failed) appears with the reason.

Directory entries cannot be deleted; the app does not offer deleting there.

• Ctrl + Enter (Mac: ⌘ + Enter): Fertig (Done), saves.
• Esc: Abbrechen (Cancel), with a prompt if there are changes.

• Contacts – overview and search
• Writing an email
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Error messages and limits