CLInkedin User Guide

CLInkedin is a desktop app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, CLInkedin can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

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Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
   Mac users: Ensure you have the precise JDK version prescribed here.

2. Download the latest .jar file from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your CLInkedin.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar clinkedin.jar command to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   

5. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it. e.g. typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.
   Some example commands you can try:

   • list : Lists all contacts.

   • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 : Adds a contact named John Doe to CLInkedin.

   • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd contact shown in the current list.

   • clear : Deletes all contacts.

   • exit : Exits the app.

6. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

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Features

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Adding a contact: add

Adds a contact to CLInkedin.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [c/COMPANY] [l/LINK] [r/REMARK] [t/TAG]…​

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Pasir Ris Drive c/Google r/Follow up next week p/1234567 t/teacher

Listing all contacts : list

Shows a list of all contacts in CLInkedin.

Format: list

Editing a contact : edit

Edits an existing contact in CLInkedin.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [c/COMPANY] [l/LINK] [r/REMARK] [t/TAG]…​

• Edits the contact at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the contact will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.
• You can remove all the contact’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
• You can clear the company or remark field by typing c/ or r/ without specifying any value.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com:Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st contact to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd contact to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.
• edit 3 c/ r/ Clears both the company and remark fields of the 3rd contact.

Locating contacts by name: find

Finds contacts whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [;MORE_KEYWORDS]

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g hans will match Hans
• The order of the keywords matter. e.g. Hans Bo will not match Bo Hans
• Only the name is searched.
• Partial words will be matched e.g. Han will match Hans
• Contacts containing the entire keyword will be returned (i.e. .contains() search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Bobber, but not Hans Lim

Examples:

• find John returns john and John Doe
• find alex david returns Alex David only
• find alex; yu returns Alex Yeoh and Bernice Yu

Finding contacts by company: findcom

Finds all contacts whose company name matches any of the given keywords.

Format: findcom KEYWORD [; KEYWORD]…​

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g. google, Google, GOOGLE are treated the same.
• A contact will be shown if its company contains any of the given keywords.
• Multiple keywords can be provided by separating them with ;.

Examples:

• findcom Google Returns all contacts whose company contains “Google”.

• findcom Google; Amazon Returns all contacts whose company contains either “Google” or “Amazon”.

• findcom fintech; bank Returns all contacts whose company contains either “fintech” or “bank”.

Sorting contacts by company: sortcom

Sorts the currently displayed contact list alphabetically by company name.

Format: sortcom

• Sorting is case-insensitive. e.g. apple, Apple, APPLE are treated the same.
• Only the currently displayed list is sorted (e.g. after findcom or tag show).
• Contacts without a company are treated as having an empty value and will appear at the top of the list.
• The sorting does not permanently change the original order of contacts.

Examples:

• sortcom Sorts all currently displayed contacts by company name in alphabetical order.

• findcom Google sortcom First filters contacts by company “Google”, then sorts the filtered results alphabetically.

Deleting a contact : delete

Deletes the specified contact from CLInkedin.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the contact at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• Deleted contacts are not permanently removed immediately.
• Deleted contacts are stored and can be viewed using the deleted command.
• Contacts will be permanently removed after 7 days.

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd contact in CLInkedin.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st contact in the results of the find command.

Viewing deleted contacts : deleted

Shows a list of recently deleted contacts.

Format: deleted

• Displays all contacts that were deleted within the last 7 days.
• Each deleted contact includes the date and time it was deleted.
• Contacts that exceed 7 days from deletion will no longer be shown.

Examples:

• deleted

Restoring a contact : restore

Restores a contact from the deleted list.

Format: restore INDEX

• Restores the contact at the specified INDEX from the deleted contacts list.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the deleted list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• The restored contact will be added back to CLInkedin.
• If a tag associated with the contact has been removed or renamed before restoration, the contact will be restored without that tag.
• If restoring the contact results in duplicate phone number or existing contact conflicts, the restore will fail.
• Once restored, the contact will be removed from the deleted list.

Examples:

• deleted followed by restore 1

Creating a tag: tag create

Creates a new tag with an optional color.

Format: tag create TAG_NAME [COLOR]

• Creates a tag with the specified TAG_NAME.
• Tag names are case-sensitive (e.g. friend and Friend are treated as different tags).
• Duplicate tag names are not allowed.
• If COLOR is not provided, a default color will be assigned.

Examples:

• tag create friend
• tag create colleague blue
• tag create vip #ff6688

Assigning/Unassigning a tag: tag assign, tag unassign

Assign/remove a tag to/from 1 or multiple contacts at once.

Format: tag assign INDEX[,INDEX]... TAG_NAME, tag unassign INDEX[,INDEX]... TAG_NAME

• Assigns/remove TAG_NAME tag to/from multiple contacts.
• If the index provided is out of range or negative or zero, an error message will be shown.
• If the tag does not exist, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• tag assign 1 friend
• tag assign 1,4,6 friend
• tag unassign 1 friend
• tag unassign 1,4,6 friend

Deleting a tag: tag delete

Deletes a tag and removes it from all contacts.

Format: tag delete TAG_NAME

• Deletes the tag with the specified TAG_NAME.
• The tag will be removed from all contacts that currently have it.
• Only the specified tag is removed; other tags on the contact remain unchanged.
• If the tag does not exist, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• tag delete friend

Listing all tags: tag list

Shows a list of all tags in CLInkedin.

Format: tag list

Renaming a tag: tag rename

Renames an existing tag and updates all respective contacts with it.

Format: tag rename OLD_TAG_NAME NEW_TAG_NAME

• Renames the tag specified by OLD_TAG_NAME to the NEW_TAG_NAME.
• The tag will be updated for all contacts that currently have it assigned.
• Note: Tag names cannot contain spaces.
• The old and new tag names cannot be the same.
• If the OLD_TAG_NAME does not exist, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• tag rename friends closefriends
• tag rename colleagues coworkers

Adding color to a tag: tag color

Adds a color to a tag.

Format: tag color TAG_NAME COLOR

• Adds a valid color to the specified TAG_NAME.
• A valid color is any case-insensitive plain name, or hexadecimal value.
• If the tag does not exist, an error message will be shown.
• If the color is invalid, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• tag color friends blue
• tag color coworker #343434

Filter contacts by tag: tag show

Show contacts that have a specific tag.

Format: tag show TAG_NAME

• The list will be filtered to show contacts that have TAG_NAME.
• Filters based on a single tag only.
• If the tag does not exist, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• tag show friends
• tag show coworkers

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from CLInkedin.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

CLInkedin data are saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

CLInkedin data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

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FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous CLInkedin home folder.

Q: Why does sortcom not sort all contacts after using tag show?
A: sortcom sorts only the currently displayed contact list. After tag show, the list is filtered, so only that subset is sorted. Use list first to sort all contacts.

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Known issues

1. When using multiple screens, if you move the application to a secondary screen, and later switch to using only the primary screen, the GUI will open off-screen. The remedy is to delete the preferences.json file created by the application before running the application again.
2. If you minimize the Help Window and then run the help command (or use the Help menu, or the keyboard shortcut F1) again, the original Help Window will remain minimized, and no new Help Window will appear. The remedy is to manually restore the minimized Help Window.

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Command summary

Prefix Summary