Group Address Book entries without using Groups
Jan 12, '10 07:30:00AM
Contributed by: brightav
I want to quick-sort and find certain Address Book entries, but I don't want to have each and every one of these sorts maintained as a separate Group. Here's my workaround, and it seems to do just fine.
Create a new Address Book entry with the name fields blank, and a company name of ' CATEGORIES.' Be sure to press the Space Bar once before typing CATEGORIES in the Company field -- that way, this entry will always be at the top of your list in the Name column (when in All Contacts view).
Now create a few abbreviations in the Note portion of the CATEGORIES entry. In my scheme, I use the prefix cat (for "category"). A shout-out to TextExpander for improving my memorable abbreviation skills!
Some examples:
- catchurch = church members
- catmag = all magazine subscriptions
- catNC = a group of friends in North Carolina
- catMac = all Mac or computer-related businesses
- catrestaurant = all restaurants
- cathotel = all hotels
I then copy and paste the abbreviation correctly into the Note field of each chosen member of the 'group.' This way, they're all tied together any time I type that abbreviation in the search field. If I need to remind myself of the categories I've created, they're always at the top of the Name column, and in any sort view I invoke while in All Contacts. As long as my desired cat... search term remains in the Search window, my 'hidden group' remains in view.
This lets me use Address Book effectively without creating a ton of Groups -- and a cleaner Groups list works better for me on my Mac, and definitely better with my Address Book fully synched to my iPhone.
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