Community Knowledge Base

Creating New Contacts/Contact Groups

There are several ways to add new contacts, or contact groups, to SmarterMail, depending on whether you want to add a contact from an email message, import contacts from another provider or add a contact by manually typing the name and other information directly in SmarterMail.

Interacting With a Sender's Address

SmarterMail includes "touch and go" functionality that highlights all email addresses in the header of the message. Clicking on an address in the message header opens a small context modal with a few ways to interact with that address:

  • Send Email - Opens a pop out window so you can send a new message to the address.
  • Add Contact - Opens a pop out that allows you to create a new contact based of this email address.
  • Invite to Appointment - Opens a pop out that allows you to create a new appointment, with this person automatically added as an attendee.
  • Trust Sender - Adds the address to your Trusted Senders list, meaning any future emails from this address will bypass most antispam options enabled for the server. (NOTE: SPF and DKIM still run against any address in the Trusted Senders list to prevent phishing.)
  • Block Sender - Prevents the sender of the selected message(s) from sending any more messages to the account. When you block a sender, a new Internal Blocked Senders Content Filter is created. Any user you block is added to that list, and their email is, by default, deleted.
  • Create Content Filter - This options opens the Content Filtering area. Here, you can use information contained within the email message, such as the From Address, Subject, etc. and create a new Content Filter based off that information.
  • Add Sender to Content Filter - This option opens a modal window that lists all of your existing Content Filters. You simply select the filter you want this sender added to, and they're immediately added.

For information on adding new contacts by importing contacts from another email service, see Importing and Exporting Contacts.

Contact Details

Regardless of how you add a contact to SmarterMail, you can input as many or as few details about the person as you like. In general, contact details are separated using various cards. These include:

  • Personal Info - These are the "personal" details of your contact, including their display name, title (Mr., Mrs., etc.), first name, middle name, last name, their personal website (or "home page"), and birthday. You can also add a photo, avatar or icon for your contact by simply clicking on the grey circle next to the contact's Display Name. (Images have a max file size of 5MB.) This picture is available within the webmail interface and for anyone using CardDAV or the EAS add-on to sync their contacts with email clients and/or mobile devices. Unfortunately, pictures will not sync for customers using Add to Outlook for synchronization. Note: The Display Name is the only required field to save a contact.
  • Phone Numbers - You can add one or more phone numbers associated with your contact, like their home phone, mobile number, etc.
  • Email Addresses - Just as with phone numbers, you can add one or more email addresses for your contact. If a contact has more than one email address, you can select which address to send to when typing the contact's name in the TO: field for a new message.
  • Home Address - The contact's home address.
  • Work Info - The contact's place of work, including their work Title (CEO, Marketing Director, etc.), should they have one, their company's website address, etc.
  • Work Address - The street address, city, state and zip for the contact's place of business.
  • Categories - Categories are a great way to organize your contacts. Using categories, you can organize business, personal or any other type of contact into tidy circles, keeping people separated based on whatever criteria you want. Contacts can be in multiple categories or none: It's up to you. Note: Categories are only a way to organize contacts. They are NOT ways to send emails to a group of individuals. For more information, see Categories.
  • Other - Additional pieces of information about the contact such as their nickname, their spouse's name, their assistant's name, etc.

Contact Groups

Users also have the ability to create Contact Groups from within webmail. Contact Groups are a convenient way to organize multiple contacts so that you can simply send a message to the group rather than having to send the message to each person in the group individually. Most email clients support Contact Groups, but there are some notable exceptions: Microsoft Outlook for Mac. Due to a limitation of Outlook for Mac, you can create "Contact Lists" that are stored locally, and not synced to the server. This is not a SmarterMail issue, but the way Microsoft has decided Outlook for Mac should work.

When creating a Contact Group you're presented with the following options:

  • Display Name - The friendly name of the group you're creating.
  • Source - The group can be created using contacts from any folders you have in the Contacts area of SmarterMail. Simply select the folder to use from the dropdown. Contacts can be added from multiple folders as needed. (NOTE: GAL contacts cannot be added to a Contact Group.)
  • Notes - If you want to add any notes for the group, such as describing the group or adding in a note on how the contacts where chosen for the group, add them here.
  • Members - Clicking the New Member button opens a modal. Here, you can begin typing the name of the contact you want to add, and options will be displayed. Simply select the member you want to add, or continue typing a full email address to add the contact. (It IS possible to add members who are not already contacts.)
  • Categories - If you want to add a category, or multiple categories, to the Group, simply use the Mark button and select the category(-ies) from the list provided.

In addition, when syncing with email clients such as Microsoft Outlook using protocols like EWS and/or MAPI, contact groups (a.k.a. "Distribution Lists" in products such as eM Client) created within that/those client(s) will sync back to webmail, and any contact groups created within webmail will sync back to your clients. That way, any group can be used from whatever you're using for sending/receiving email, on your desktop or mobile device.

Attachments

Occasionally, when viewing a contact's details, a file of some sort is attached. Generally, attachments are added to contacts when the contact is initially created in an email client such as Microsoft Outlook. However, attachments can be added via the SmarterMail webmail interface as well using the paperclip button. Attachments can be downloaded to a local machine, or device, as needed. Attachments for contacts are handled just as attachments are handled in other areas of SmarterMail: the file's name and file extension are displayed and, if possible, a thumbnail of the attachment is displayed. (This most commonly occurs with image files.)

New Contact Folders

Similar to how you can create folders for storing/organizing emails, it's possible to store Contacts in folders as well. By default, SmarterMail creates a folder called "Contacts" to house any contact you create in webmail. However, if a user wanted more granularity in their contacts, they can create individual folders for specific types. For example, "Business Contacts", "Personal Contacts" or even folders of contacts based on specific companies or businesses. There is no limit to how folders can be used.

Using Folders is a great way to share groups of contacts with others within your organization. Rather than sharing individual contacts, one or two at a time, they can be organized in a folder, than that folder can be shared.

Creating a New Folder

To create a new folder, click on the folder icon and do the following:

  1. Select New Folder.
  2. A modal window appears.
  3. Add a Name for the folder.
  4. Be sure to save your changes.

Editing a Folder

If you want to change the settings of a folder, it's very simple: simply click on its name, then click the Folder icon and select Edit Folder. Alternatively, you can right-click the folder name and select Edit Folder from the context menu.