How to change default address book

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mitch77
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Joined: November 19th, 2002, 1:50 am

How to change default address book

Post by mitch77 »

In my moz address book my wife deleted the primary book.
Leaving me with the obligatory 'collected addresses'.
and a backup called 'Mitchs'.
Now the address book insistes on opening the 'collected'.
agravating and almost useless.

How can I get the email to auto open a different address book.
I tried making a new book but it put it at the bottom of the list.

Thanks for your help,

mitch
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Gunnar
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Post by Gunnar »

What exactly do mean by "auto open" ? Are you refering to the address-autocomplete function when writing an email ?

Gunnar
http://mozilla.gunnars.net - The Mozilla Help Site
mitch77
Posts: 57
Joined: November 19th, 2002, 1:50 am

Auto open...

Post by mitch77 »

Sorry poor wording;
What I mean is that when you access the email.
And write a new one (or reply).
Then you click on the address button.
the "Select Address" box pops open.
When it does it by default opened my main address bok.
Now that it has been deleted, the default address book that opens is
the "Collected Addresses".
I would like to stop this by any means but it
will not allow me to delete that one.
So how do I make it default to my new main address book?

Thanks
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Gunnar
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Post by Gunnar »

That's actually a very good question. I have tried finding an option / menu to change the default address book but to no avail. My guess is that you'll have to manually edit a file in notepad. I'll try to see what I can find.

There is one workaround: Instead of "select address", try typing the recipient's name - autocomplete will look in all address books. Of course, if you have several recipients or you wish to select an address list, this is no solution.

In any case, which address book is used first has to be specified somewhere. I'll let you know when/if I have found something.

Gunnar
http://mozilla.gunnars.net - The Mozilla Help Site
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Gunnar
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Post by Gunnar »

I think I found what you are looking for:

In the 'prefs.js' file (open with Notepad or any other text editor), you can find the following entries:

user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.filename", "history.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.position", 4);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.filename", "abook.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.position", 3);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
--------------------------------

Where 'history.mab' stands for "Collected Addresses" and 'abook.mab' stands for your Personal Address book.
The position given in the entries above corresponds to each address book's position in the "select address" window (I have more than 2 address books, I have to add).

So, what you need to do is change the position numbers and you should be fine. As a precaution, I would recommend creating a new profile with "dummy" address books to try it out first.

Did this work ?

Gunnar
http://mozilla.gunnars.net - The Mozilla Help Site
mitch77
Posts: 57
Joined: November 19th, 2002, 1:50 am

Too dissimilar to see

Post by mitch77 »

My "prefs' file was a bit too dissimilar for me to recognize the correct changes.
I have pasted the text of the mentioned area below.
perhaps you could use it to show me exactly what to do?
I pasted a large amount to avoid missing something needed.
Thanks very much Gunnar,
mitch

user_pref("intl.charsetmenu.mailview.cache", "ISO-2022-JP, ISO-8859-1, KOI8-R, windows-1255, windows-1252");
user_pref("ldap_2.prefs_migrated", true);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.description", "Mitchs");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.dirType", 2);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.filename", "impab.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.isOffline", false);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.position", 4);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.filename", "history.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.infospace.csid", "UTF-8");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.infospace.filename", "infospace.na2");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.infospace.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.netcenter.csid", "UTF-8");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.netcenter.filename", "netcenter.na2");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.netcenter.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.csid", "iso-8859-1");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.filename", "abook.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.locale", "English_United States");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.description", "Personal Address Book 4.x");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.dirType", 2);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.filename", "pab.na2");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.isOffline", false);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.locale", "English_United States");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.position", 3);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab4x.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.csid", "UTF-8");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.filename", "verisign.na2");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("mail.account.account1.identities", "id2");
user_pref("mail.account.account1.server", "server1");
user_pref("mail.account.account10.identities", "id1");
user_pref("mail.account.account10.server", "server10");
user_pref("mail.account.account2.server", "server2");
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Gunnar
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Post by Gunnar »

Mitch,

I created a new profile and played around with it a little bit. I think I have found out what you need to change. I'll replicate the steps I took (sorry, if this is a bit long-winded, but this way you'll know what you are doing ;-) :

First, I created a new profile. It contained two address books: Collected Addresses (history.mab - this is the address book's file name) and Personal Address Book (abook.mab). In the prefs file, they are identified by the entries 'ldap_2.servers.history' (collected addresses) and 'ldap_2.servers.pab' (Personal Address Book). I then created a third address book called "Mitchs" (abook-1.mab) . It is identified by the entry 'ldap_2.servers.mitchs'.
Next, lets take a look a the part of this profile's prefs.js file that concerns the address book.
----------------------------------------
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.filename", "history.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.position", 2);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mitchs.description", "mitchs");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mitchs.dirType", 2);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mitchs.filename", "abook-1.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.mitchs.isOffline", false);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.filename", "abook.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.position", 3);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);
-------------------------------------------
I have manually edited the prefs.js file to make the address books appear in the following order:
1. "Mitchs" (notice that there is no entry for '.position')
2. "Collected Addresses" -> user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.position", 2);
3. "Personal Address Book" ->user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.position", 3);

I verified that the address books show up in this order.

So here is what you need to change. Before you do that, however, make a backup copy of your prefs,js file in case things don't work as expected - Murphy's law ! ;-)

1.) Remove the following line:
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Mitchs.position", 4);

2.) Add the following line (in bold, other lines are only there to show the position / where it goes):
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.filename", "history.mab");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.position", 4);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.history.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);

If "Mitchs" still does not show first, also add the following line (again, only the one in bold):
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.filename", "verisign.na2");
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.position", 2);
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.verisign.replication.lastChangeNumber", 0);

I am not quite sure what "verisign" does, so only add this line if neccessary - do you use any kind of encryption?

Well, I hope this does the job. Please let me know if it does (so I can add it to my FAQs).

Regards,


Gunnar
http://mozilla.gunnars.net - The Mozilla Help Site
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Gunnar
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Post by Gunnar »

Mitch,

did it work ?

Gunnar
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mitch77
Posts: 57
Joined: November 19th, 2002, 1:50 am

IT WORKED!!!

Post by mitch77 »

Sorry to take so long to try your input.
I did not have to do the verisign part.
Thanks very much Gunnar!
I have a couple more softball questions for ya
but I don't have time now to dig them up.

Thanks again,

Mitch
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Gunnar
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Re: IT WORKED!!!

Post by Gunnar »

I'm glad it worked :-)

mitch77 wrote:I have a couple more softball questions for ya
but I don't have time now to dig them up.

No problem. With every question I answer, I know more abut Mozilla, plus it gives me material for my FAQs. Most importantly - if you are happy with Mozilla, you might get others to switch ;-)
http://mozilla.gunnars.net - The Mozilla Help Site
mitch77
Posts: 57
Joined: November 19th, 2002, 1:50 am

Mozilla evangelist

Post by mitch77 »

I used to run a USA wide ISP and made it my goal to switch everyone to Netscape.
As soon as Mozilla was out I switched and have promoted it non-stop,
I build custom comps and put it on every one.
I write for the St Louis Mo comp club and promote moz in every newsletter.
One problem is that most of the moz sites are too geeky.
Not easy enough to navigate.
O hope Moz can wipe IE off the map or cause a great reform in it's design.
thanks again
mitch
Parsa
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Joined: April 21st, 2003, 9:48 am

Re: IT WORKED!!!

Post by Parsa »

Gunnar wrote:I'm glad it worked :-)

mitch77 wrote:I have a couple more softball questions for ya
but I don't have time now to dig them up.

No problem. With every question I answer, I know more abut Mozilla, plus it gives me material for my FAQs. Most importantly - if you are happy with Mozilla, you might get others to switch ;-)


Well I have a question for you Gunnar...

I've asked this in secnews.netscape.net and googlegroups and have yet to find an answer.

I want to change the path to my address book. The abook.mab file is currently under my profile folder. I use Mozilla 1.3 and Win2K. I'ld like to store the abook.mab on the file server in my user folder and make a pointer to the file on my prefs.js or user .js.

I've done something like that for my bookmarks. Is it possible with address book?

I believe this line in my prefs.js is the right one:
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.filename", "abook.mab");

But if I replace that with:
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.pab.filename", "J:\\Netscape\abook.mab");
then when I restart the Address book my Personal Address book is missing.

Am I typing the line wrong? Do I have the wrong line to begin with? Can you help?

Jody
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