Contacts

People you know or deal with, how to reach them, and a phone list to print.

Download 3 KB1 tables, 1 queries, 1 reports, empty and ready for your own records.

Overview

Contacts is an address book for anyone who keeps a list of people: a small office, a club secretary, a tradesman with regular customers, or a household. It starts empty and holds one record for each person.

Each record has the person's name, the company they work for and their job, their e-mail, phone and mobile numbers, a postal address, a birthday and room for notes. Only the last name has to be filled in, so a record can start with very little and grow.

There is a single table, so nothing points anywhere else. The company is typed on each person rather than chosen from a list, which keeps it simple; the Customers and sales template keeps companies in a table of their own when you need that.

In Rutba Data Files it is on the start screen, under ready-made databases.

It suits, with small changes

A small office keeping its business contacts
A club or society secretary
A self-employed tradesman or cleaner with regular customers
A family address book with birthdays
A school or nursery keeping parents' details
An event organiser keeping suppliers and helpers

Read on

Tutorial: the everyday tasks: 5 everyday tasks, step by step, each naming what to open.
Tables, fields and relationships: every field of 1 tables, and how they are related.
Queries, forms, reports and print templates: what each one shows, its criteria and calculated columns, and when to print it.

Things you should know

Your records live in one file on your computer. Keep copies: File, Save As makes one, and a copy on another drive or in your own cloud storage keeps it safe if this computer is lost. Close the database before copying the file by hand.
Every change to the design (a new field, a renamed table) is a numbered step that Data Files keeps, so you can see what was changed and when.
Only Last Name must be filled in. For a company with no named person, type the company's name in Last Name and leave First Name empty.
A change in a form or in the table is kept when you leave the box: there is no Save button to press for each record.
There are no pointing fields in this template, so Company is plain text. Type a company the same way each time ("Hill Street Dental", not "Hill St Dental") so a query can find all its people.
The whole address book is one file on this computer. Keep a copy elsewhere with File, Save As, on a memory stick or a cloud folder, and do it again from time to time.

Starting with your own records

There is only one table, so start straight away: open the Contacts form and add the people you call most, then fill in the rest as you come to them. If your contacts are already in a spreadsheet, you can save it as a CSV file and bring it in with Import as a table of its own.

Making it yours

Every change to the design is a numbered step in Data Files, so a change can be seen and undone.

Group your contacts: add a Group field (Family, Work, Club, Supplier) and a query that chooses one group in its criteria.
Keep companies once: add a Companies table and change Company into a field that points at it, so the form gives a list of names to choose from.
Send cards: add a Christmas Card field (Yes/No) and a query of everyone ticked, with their address, to print labels from.
Record when you last spoke: add a Last Contacted date and sort the Contact list query by it to see who you have not called for a while.
Add the social side: a Website field, or one for a messaging name, for people you reach that way.

Questions people ask

How do I sort the list by company instead of name?: In the report Phone list, choose Company in Sort by. In the query Contact list, open its design and move the sort from Last Name to Company.
Can I keep more than one e-mail address for a person?: Not as it comes. Add a second field to the Contacts table in its design, such as Work E-mail, and it appears on the form.
Why does the form refuse to add a contact?: Last Name is empty. Type something in it, even a company's name, and press Add Record again.
Can I bring in contacts I already have in a spreadsheet?: Save the spreadsheet as a CSV file and bring it in with Import. It comes in as a table of its own, which you can keep beside Contacts or use in its place.
How do I see whose birthday is coming up?: Make a new query on Contacts with First Name, Last Name and Birthday, sorted by Birthday. The template has no birthday query of its own.
Is my address book sent anywhere?: No. It is a file on this computer and stays there unless you copy or send it yourself.

Data Files is free

It comes with Rutba Office, with no account and no trial.

Download All the samples