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Contacts in Opera

The Contact list is Opera 4.0's built-in, fully featured and highly accessible address book facility. It is a flexible tool in which to manage your contacts, by any measure you want to organize them, such as for example colleagues in one folder, friends in another, contact address in a thrid; the possibilities are endless. The Contact list is tied closely together with the internal e-mail client in Opera, and it will pay off to use them both together.

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Introduction to the Contact list

The contact list can be accessed statically from the "To:", "Cc:" and "Bcc:" buttons when composing e-mails, or dynamically toggled on and off by using one of the following:

  • F4
  • CTRL + F2
  • SHIFT + F7
  • By right-clicking on the "Active Bookmarks" icon on the button bar
  • By holding CTRL and left-clicking on the "Active Bookmarks" icon on the button bar

These are the buttons that offer functionality in the "Contacts" pane:

Buttons on the Contacts Pane
Create new contact Create new folder Open context sensitive menu

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Setting up the contact list

Setting up the contact list is very easy. Please follow the below instructions in order to ensure that you get the most out of your contact list:

  1. Open the left-hand side of the contact list by using the "View/Hotlists" entry on the menu bar, or by using the hotkey F4. Click on the "Contacts" part to go into the contact list.
  2. Right-click or use the hotkey CTRL + M to open the content sensitive menu and select "New/Folder" or "New/Contact" to open up the folder properties and contact properties window boxes respectively.
  3. Enter the name of the contact or folder in the "Name" field and do one of the following:
    1. If you're making a folder, you may add a description of the usage of that folder in the "Description" field, and save the folder by pressing the "OK" button, or simply exit without a description by pressing the "OK" button.
    2. If you're adding a contact, on the other hand, you definitely should enter at least the e-mail address under the "E-mail address(es)" field, under the "Net" tab. After that, you're basically done, unless you wish to add additional information for the contact, as described in the Contact Properties part of this document.
  4. Repeat steps 2 to 3A or 3B if you wish to add more folders or contacts to your contact list.

Now your contact list is set up and ready to be used. Enjoy!

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Context sensitive Contact menu

The context sensitive Contacts menu is accessed either through right-clicking on the Contacts part of the Hotlists pane in the left hand side of the Opera workspace, or by using the hotkey CTRL + M. The menu contains these items:

  • Compose e-mail
    Creates a new e-mail compose window in the main Opera workspace.
  • To:
    Inserts the selected contact or group of contacts in the "To:" field of a new e-mail, or if an e-mail is being composed, its "To:" field.
  • Cc:
    Inserts the selected contact or group of contacts in the "Cc:" field of a new e-mail, or if an e-mail is being composed, its "Cc:" field.
  • Bcc:
    Inserts the selected contact or group of contacts in the "Bcc:" field of a new e-mail, or if an e-mail is being composed, its "Bcc:" field.
  • Cut
    Removes the selected item or folder from the list. This item can then be pasted to a different folder.
  • Copy
    Copies the selected item or folder and it's properties.
  • Paste
    Pastes the selected item or folder and it's properties.
  • Delete
    Deletes the selected item.
  • Select all
    Selects all the folder items and folders.
  • New
  • File
    • New...
      Creates a new contact file and brings up the operating system's standard "Browse..." dialog for placement of the file.
    • Open...
      Opens another contact file on your local drive.
    • Save
      Saves the current contact file.
    • Save as...
      Brings up the operating system's standard "Save as..." dialog which allows you to select the placement of the contacts file and its name.
    • Save selected items as...
      Brings up the operating system's standard "Save as..." dialog which allows you to save the selected contacts and folders as a new contact file and write a name.
    • Insert File...
      This menu is used to import address book files from other contact managers.
  • Properties...
    Brings up the "Properties" box of the selected contact or folder.

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Contact list properties

Selecting the top folder in the Contacts part of the Hotlists pane and viewing its properties either by right-clicking and choosing "Properties..." from the menu, or by using the hotkey Alt + Enter, you'll be presented with the "Contact list properties" dialog. This is what the menu contains:

Name
The name of the top folder of the bookmark file. This name can not be changed by the user.

Filename
The name of the file, along with the path to it, is detailed in this field.

Created
This field contains the date that the file was created and cannot be changed.

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Contact folder properties

Selecting the top folder in the Contacts part of the Hotlists pane and viewing its properties either by right-clicking and choosing "Properties..." from the menu, or by using the hotkey Alt + Enter, you'll be presented with the "Contact file properties" dialog. This is what the menu contains:

Name
The name of the folder whose properties you are viewing. To change the name, type another one into the field and press the OK button.

Description
If you wish, you can enter a description of the folder or its contents in this field.

Parent folder
Contains the name of the parent folder. This field cannot be changed by the user.

Created
This field contains the date that the folder was created and cannot be changed.

Last visited
This field contains the date that the folder was last visited and cannot be changed.

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Contact Properties

Selecting any contact in the Contacts part of the Hotlists pane and viewing its properties either by right-clicking and choosing "Properties..." from the menu, or by using the hotkey Alt + Enter, you'll be presented with the "Contact Properties" dialog, with details of the contact:

Name
The name of the contact as you have entered it. Here, you can elect to change the name by editing the text string in this field.

In this menu are also several tabs:

Net
Here are located details about the person on the Internet.

E-mail address(es):
In this field, you can enter the e-mail address of the contact. The text field can hold several e-mail addresses, to which e-mails will be sent.

Homepage:
This text field should contain the URL to the home page of the contact.

Home
Personal information about the contact can be stored here. You'll see the following fields:

Postal address:
Enter the postal address of the contact in this field.

Phone:
The phone number of the contact.

Fax:
The fax number of the contact.

Notes
The "Notes" tab contains this field:

Notes:
Here, additional notes about the person can be entered for future reference.

Security
This tab contains a field that is used to enter your Conax security card number, used to transfer e-mail securely over the Internet, if applicable.

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How to add a contact to the Contact list

Adding a contact to the Opera Contact list is easy! Simply follow the below instructions and your contact will appear in your chosen contact folder.

  1. Open the Hotlist window in the left hand side of the Opera workspace either by going to "View/Hotlists", or by using the hotkey F4, and click on the "Contacts" tab to access the Contact list.
  2. Now right-click on the top-level folder and select either "New/Folder", to create a new folder for organizing, or "New/Contact" to create a new contact. You will then be presented with the Contact Properties dialog:
    • Fill in the name of the contact in the "Name:" field. Note that you can go back to is dialog at any time to change this name.
    • Next, enter the e-mail address(es) of the contact in the "E-mail address(es):" field. If you enter several e-mail addresses, e-mails sent to the contact will be sent to all e-mail addresses.
    • You can also choose whether or not you want to add a "Homepage:" on this tab, and personal information such as the "Postal address", "Telephone" and "Fax" numbers on the next tab. The "Notes" tab contains a field for storing additional notes on the contact.
  3. When you have entered the name and the e-mail address of the contact, you're basically done. Click the "OK" button to save the settings and presto, there's your contact!

Tip! You can drag and drop contacts from one list to another, for easy organizing of the contacts. It is also possible to drag and drop folders from one parent folder to another in this way, for even easier access.

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How to remove a contact from the Contact list

In order to remove a contact from the Contact list, please open the Hotlist window in the left hand side of the Opera workspace and activate the "Contacts" tab as described above, go through your contacts and highlight the one you wish to remove from the Contact list, right-click and select "Delete" from the right-click menu, or simply press the "Delete" button on your keyboard.

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How to edit contacts in the Contact list

Contacts can also be edited by using the standard Windows editing shortcuts CTRL + C, CTRL + X, CTRL + V and Delete.

When you open the Contact Properties dialog box, you'll be able to enter or change the name of the contact or folder, the e-mail address, homepage, postal address, telephone number(s), and also edit any additional notes you may have on the person.

Opera's contact list file is placed in the Opera directory and is called "Contacts.adr" by default, though you might have another name for it on your system if it has been renamed. Please look for ".adr" files as this extension identifies bookmark and contact files.

Disclaimer: We cannot guarantee that the instructions in these documents will work on every computer and every platform. Please inform us if you have problems with Opera, but please, first check our online support section, as this section is updated on a regular basis with information about the Opera Browser.

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