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Add Category/Group pane to Contacts
Idea shared by kevind - 6/24/2015 at 3:52 PM
Completed
Here's a nice enhancement to Contact Groups. Create a new left pane for Contacts similar to the Email folder pane. Use a tree where the branches are master categories:
 
+ My Contacts
        - Family
        - Friends
        - Other
+ Global Address List
        - Employees
        - Vendors
 
This would make it intuitive and easy to use because it would work just like the Email tab.  A user could click on a category to see all the contacts.  Maybe even drag/drop contacts to different categories just like messages to folders.
 
Thanks,
Kevin

9 Replies

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3
Also, I don't think the "Overlay Contacts" menu choice actually works. Whether it's checked or not, I cannot display both My Contacts and Global Address Book simultaneously.
 
Why not make this easy for users and provide a new selector pane on the left where the user can check which contacts they want to see?  Include Categories and you can get rid of the View Filter menu.
 
+ My Contacts
     [  ] Friends
     [  ] Family
[  ]  Global Address List
[  ]  My Boss's Contacts (or any other shared resource)
 
Moving Contacts to the middle pane allows you to have a real 'select all' checkbox at the top.
 
The changes above would eliminate 3-4 complicated menu items and will make the Contacts section more intuitive because it will look and feel just like the Email section.
 
Thanks,
Kevin
6
Switched this post from a Problem to an Idea as it already has 11 votes.
 
Idea: convert Contacts section from 2 panes to 3 so it looks and works just like the 3 Email panes:
  • Pane #1 - Accounts & Categories (just like folders)
  • Pane #2 - List of contacts (just like list of messages)
  • Pane #3 - Contact details
Please consider it as an enhancement for the next minor or v15.
 
TGIF,
Kevin
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AND.... if you could add
 API's or services that allows us to ADD / EDIT / DELETE contacts for our clients, pro grammatically.
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hey Kevin,
 
SmarterMail does already have this functionality, though it's not laid out as you request here. You can have multiple contact lists in your account and select which to view by using the Contact selector at the top of the navigation pane. (The fact that you can't view your GAL and another contact list together is not actually a bug in the software. Due to the way the Global Address List is generated, it cannot be overlaid with the default Contact list or shared contacts. However, overlay should work as expected in other sections that offer similar functionality, like your calendar, tasks, notes, etc.) 
 
Aside from looking similar to the Email section, can I ask you why you prefer the folder pane to the current contact selector? I can see how the separate pane would allow you to drag and drop contacts among your lists; however, I can't think of other reasons this type of layout would be more beneficial. (I was actually surprised to find there is not a Select All checkbox on the contacts pane, though this is something that WILL be included in the next version.) Personally though, I think I would feel the folder pane would take up unnecessary space for something that can be handled by a dropdown menu like it's currently employed. 
 
As it is, the Email section is actually the odd one out in terms of layout. The other collaboration sections that allow you to have multiple lists or shared resources -- Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes -- all work similarly, where the lists you view are chosen using the selector above the nav pane.
 
Thanks, 
 
 
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
It seems like what you might actually be pushing for is the ability to break down your contact lists further into categories (family vs friends, employees vs vendors). We do also allow categories currently, though you can't filter by them in 15...
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
2
Hi Andrea, thanks for the reply!
 
When users move to SmarterMail, they are bewildered with how contact groups work:
 
With 18 votes for this post, it's clear that people are looking for some kind of improvement in this area. The 'group pane' which would be similar to a 'folder pane' could help solve this.
 
I'm guessing 90% of SmarterMail users know how to create a new folder for messages, but only 10% know how to create a master category for contacts. Make master categories (called groups in Gmail and other places) work like the folder pane and problem solved.
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Users need to be able to select multiple contacts and put all of the contacts in the category selected. It is very time consuming accessing each contact and selecting the categories.
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
The release of SmarterMail 16.x brought improvements to contacts and categories. There is no longer a Master Categories list; instead, you can create or modify categories within any collaboration section. At this time, we don't plan to modify the interface further. The SmarterMail interface affects millions of users who are already familiar with the layout, so we need to take care when making changes. It's something that could be re-evaluated in the future, but at this time, it is not on our radar. That said, we do plan to implement the ability to assign a category to multiple contacts at a time. 
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
3
Andrea, thanks for responding to this Idea from a few years ago. What was done in v16 is not what I asked for in the original request, so it shouldn't be marked as Completed.

A few things don't really make sense:

  • Saying that you don't plan to modify the interface further because millions of users are already familiar with the layout is not logical. That argument wasn't used when the UI was completely rewritten in v16. Many people like the v15 UI better than v16.
     
  • And since "It's something that could be re-evaluated in the future, but at this time, it is not on our radar." you should mark this request as Denied. Too bad because with 26 votes, this is the 2nd most-voted-for Idea of all time in the forum...

Here's the simple remedy:

  • Currently: When you click on a Contact Group, it displays a prompt to rename the group (not at all what the user expects).
  • Easy Fix: When you click on a Contact Group, show the people in that group!  More Info.
Thanks,
Kevin

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