Address Book | Contacts management
With the Banana Accounting Plus Address Book application, you can easily create your address book and in a few seconds you have the contacts you need, you can print labels, export or print your contacts.
If contacts are registered on your Android phone, import them directly into your Address Book, and with the blink of an eye you have a complete and updated address book.
You can sort the addresses and extract only the ones you want to print. Different formats are available, and always customizable.
For more details refer to the following web pages:
Characteristics of the Address Book
The Address Book and Addresses application are included in Banana Accounting Plus. It is ideal for quickly and easily setting up the addresses of your customers, suppliers, partners, family members and instantly access the contacts you need or to print the address lists for labels.
Multiple functions to speed up and make management easy:
- Predefined columns for each type of content.
- Addition of additional user defined columns by the .
- Customizable column positioning.
- Customizable label format setting.
- Ability to print only the selected rows.
- Free setting of the label format.
- Copy / paste addresses from other programs (Excel and Word).
- Ability to color the row to instantly identify the most important contacts.
Based on spreadsheets like Excel
Address management is based on pre-defined columns that can be customized as positioning and as header. The columns are grouped into three main tables:
- Groups Table
In this table the address groups are set. Each group is identified by an Id which is used to categorize the addresses. Groups can be created for suppliers, customers, partners, family members, friends. This makes searching easier and allows you to set labels even with group selection. - Contacts Table
The contacts are entered in this table, with all the relevant information.As in any other table, additional columns for notes or other can be added.Contacts can be updated and synchronized with Google contacts. - Diary Table
This table is intended to enter day by day all the annotations relating to the people contacted.
Accounting setup
Address Book headers and basic data set up in a single, easy-to-view dialog.
- Company headings and address with free texts.
- Language settings.
- Link to extensions for customizations.
- Password to secure your Depreciation Register file.
- You can have multiple files in different languages.
File and data saving
- All your data is saved in a single file, where you can easily find everything without wasting time.
- Give the file the name you want.
- You can manage an unlimited number of files.
- Save data on any media, computer, network, cloud or send it by email. You can access it from wherever you are.
- Simultaneous access by multiple users, where, however, only one person can open the file to be edited.
- Make your accounting more secure by inserting password protection.
- In the Links column you can add a digital link for the registered item (receipt, purchase invoice, warranty).
- In all tables you have predefined columns that you can make visible by choice.
- The Search command allows you to quickly search for an item.
- You can sort the rows according to different sorting keys.
- Export to pdf for data storage and export to other formats for data re-processing.
- Importing data from other programs in Text, Ascii and CSV format, with the following options:
- Import data from the clipboard.
- Auto completion of values.
- Column header.
- Unicode (Utf-8).
- Columns for the archive of products no longer available.
Error reporting and control
- Command to check accounting.
- Reporting of any wrong settings, differences or errors.
- Each report is linked to a help page that explains the causes and the solution.
- Possibility to correct.
Reports and printouts
- Table content completely printable or can be printed by selection only.
- Customizable column arrangement.
- Print labels (from the Extensions menu).
Data export and archiving
- Copy and paste directly to and from Excel.
- Export tables to pdf and various other formats.
- Archiving of printouts and data to pdf or other formats.
- Saving of the accounting file on any medium.
Other features
Added functionalities
Extensions
- Predefined extensions for various printing and other features.
- Quick search and installation.
- Customizable extensions.
- Automatic update.
- Ability to create and install your own local extensions.
Comprehensive documentation
Groups table
In the Groups table, one can define an identification code for a Group and enter the corresponding description in the Description column (es. CLI - Clients, SUP - Suppliers, COL - Colleagues, etc.) for each row, in the Id column.
Contacts table
The Contacts table presents the columns where the addresses can be entered.
The columns
There are different columns. The biggest part of the columns is invisible. The Colums setup command has to be used in order to:
- Display the columns
- Change the order of the displayed columns
- Add other columns
- Id is the contact number.
This is needed when you want to connect a contact to the diary, to the loans or to another table.
While being on that column and pressing F6, there is an automatic progressive numbering. - Prefix: you can enter "Mr", "Mrs", etc.
- Family or Company name (if it concerns a company).
If the contact is a contact person for a company, you can enter the company or entity to which the contact belongs in the Organisation column.
When pressing F6 on the Name or Family Name column, the program separates or inverts the name and last name.
If there are more than two names, this feature is not able to distinguish which one are the names or family (last) names. - LetterStart: is the greeting that is being used at the beginning of a letter. This is being used for a mail merge.
For example: Dear John or Dear Mr Smith.
The program suggests possible texts according to the contents that have already been entered into the columns.
Import new Contacts
It is possible to import new contacts also from external sources and it can be done in several ways:
- Importing from Excel or other text programs
- Via the Import rows command.
- Synchronize with Google contacts
The views
There are different views available and each view distinguishes itself from another one through the presence of specific columns; in this example (Address Book file), we have the Base, Name, Address2, Archive and Complete views. In the Complete view, all the columns are visible.
Diary table
In the Diary table, you can record all kind of notes, day after day and referring to the entered contacts.
(Deprecated) Manage, edit, back up Google contacts
Deprecated commands and functionalities
Attention: Google has deprecated the Contacts API used by Banana to access and modify contact data.
The new People API replacement has different purposes and functionalities.
The reading and modification of Google contacts will therefore be available ONLY UNTIL Google keeps the Contacts API in service. After that the synchronization commands will give an error. The data saved in the AC2 file will still be accessible. It is not known how long the Contacts API will still be available. Please do not use these features anymore.
Documentation
Download, view and edit your Google / Android address book contacts in a tabular format. You can update and clean contacts much faster and also print, copy and paste them into Excel. You can also save the contacts file to your computer as a backup copy.
Manage Google contacts
- File->New command creates a New Empty Address Book.
- Menu->Actions->Google Contacts->Download Changes.
- You will be asked to authorize access to the contacts.
- The Contacts table will be filled with your contacts.
- Edit and update the contacts as you like.
- Menu->Data->Column Setup let you also make visible all predefined columns, like Organization Name, Organization Title.
- Menu->Actions->Google Contacts->Send Changes.
The local changes will be saved in Google.
For more information see the explanations below.
Authorize access to your contacts
Synchronizes the contents of your Banana file of the Address Book and Addresses type with the contacts of your Google account.
The first time you issue the command Download and replace existing contacts from the Actions-> Google Contacts menu, to connect to your Google contacts:
- A window appears that displays a page of the Chrome browser integrated in Banana and asks you for your Google login.
- You have to enter the email address and password of your Google account.
Banana only saves the email of your Google account: the session data and the password are not saved in Banana, but are managed by the mechanism of your browser.
Immediately afterwards you must confirm that the Banana software can access and modify your contacts.
Synchronization commands
Download changes
This function imports data from Google and updates the values in Banana.
- If there is already data existing in the table, the program will merge the various data in the tables
- Groups.
- Contacts.
Send changes
Send modified data in Banana to Google, updating your Google contacts.
- To be able to send data to Google, you must have previously downloaded it at least once.
If you have made changes on your mobile, you have will have to first download the data and then activate the command Send Changes.
A window with the elements modified, added or deleted will display.
It is not recommended to use the "GoogleNoSynchronize" column because it will no longer be used in subsequent versions. If Yes, the contact will not be synchronized with Google.
Download and Replace existing contacts
Banana will not always be able to synchronize all changes.
This command will delete the contacts in the Contacts table and replace them with the existing Google contacts.
This command will also delete items marked as "GoogleNoSynchronize"
Conversion of values in the table
Google contacts manages addresses, phone numbers and e-mail in a structured form. In the Contact stable, the data are instead managed via the column.
Telephone numbers and e-mails
Google allows you to define different e-mails and phone numbers. For each one a label and an indication by default is designed.
In Banana you must follow these directions:
- If there are different types of telephone or e-mail, you will indicate them in the appropriate column (work, home, other).
- If for each type there are several telephone numbers or e-mails, indicate them in the column, separated by a semicolon ";".
Telephone work "+1234567890;+21234567890". E-mail work "example@gmail.com;example@yahoo.com" - If the phone number or e-mail has a particular label, it will be indicated in the Other column, with the label followed by a colon ":".
If there are several numbers, separate them with a semicolon ";"
"Holidays:+1234567890*;Cousin:+1234566777". "Temporary:example@gmail.com;Mama:example@yahoo.com" - To indicate that the phone is a number by default, mark it with an asterisk "*" after the number.Between the different numbers there can be only one default number.
Addresses
Google allows you to have multiple addresses for the same contact.
Banana Accounting instead allows to synchronize only one address, the "Home" being main one.
Groups
Groups defined in Google are imported into the Groups table and new ones can be added as well.
In the Group Id column of the Contacts table you can insert multiple membership groups by separating them with a semicolon ";".
Create a backup of your Google contacts
- Create a New empty Address Book file.
- Utilities1 Menu -> Google contacts -> Download changes.
- Save the file on your computer with the day's date in the name.
Manage your Google address contacts
If you have multiple addresses in your address book, it will be easier to use the Banana address book to sort out your addresses. You can quickly correct errors, add information and remove duplicates and much more.
- Download data from Google contacts
- Effectuate your changes
Remember that the F6 key (Mac Cmd-6) has several features (see the Info window below).
In the Name and Surname column, invert the values. - Hit the Send changes command button to send the changes to Google.
Archive and remove contacts that are no longer used
You can save phone contacts that you no longer use on your computer and delete them from your phonebook.
First time:
- Create a new Address Book file.
- Utilities1 Menu-> Google Contacts-> Download Changes.
- Save the file in your documents, "Folder_Philip_donotcancel_ever", so you remember that it is an important file.
- Display the Archive view in the Contacts table
- In the Archive date column, insert the current date (type the dot ".") for all contacts you no longer require
- Utilities1 Menu -> Archive data -> Archive Table data -> Contacts.
- Utilities1 Menu-> Google Contacts -> Send Changes.
Your data will be deleted from the address book. - Utilities1-> Archive data -> View Archived data-> Contacts will allow you to access your archived contacts.
If you want to add them back to your directory, you must copy the line in the Contacts table and delete it from the Archives.
Safe-keep your file. Proceed as follows if you wish to archive unused contacts:
- Open your Address book file.
- Utilities1 Menu -> Google contacts -> Download changes or if there are problems Download and replace existing contacts
- Proceed as indicated above in the Archiving and Sending Changes procedure.
- Save the changes.
Resume data in Excel
- Download data from Google contacts.
- Select all (upper left corner button)
- Copy
- Paste into Excel.
Synchronization problems and suggestions
The Google address book offers many possibilities and can be used in very different ways. We have tried to make it work better for you , but there may be situations where the program might experience problems with the changes that have been made.
If this is the case, it will be necessary to use the command function. Download and delete existing contacts, to completely realign the two archives.
We are obviously interested in continuously improving the functioning of our software, so send us an e-mail describing the problem and show us how to replicate the problem on our computers. This will allow us to fix the problem.
Any suggestions on how to improve the product are always welcome.
For technical details related to the connection, check the Google API documentation.
- https://developers.google.com/google-apps/contacts/v3/
- https://developers.google.com/gdata/docs/2.0/elements#gdReference
Print label
The Address Book application allows you to create and print addresses on labels. Printing can be customized and adapted for various needs.
Printing labels is very simple: Menu Extensions → Print Labels. At the following links you can find detailed information about the various dialogs for printing and the format of the labels: