Kontact - What it is all about

Kontact is an application that unites KMail, KAddressBook, KOrganizer and KNotes. There is also a Summary View, where the weather (only after compiling kweather), birthdays and anniversaries are shown for example. Kontact has a lot of features, that help you to organize your day!

Kontact is only available via CVS ( Concurrent Version System). It isn't released yet, but will be part of KDE 3.2. That is the reason why you may have some trouble compiling or using Kontact; it isn't stable yet. Just give it a try and hopefully you get Kontact in a very usable state.

Kontact uses KParts to unite the several applications. When we talk about a Part in Kontact we mostly mean the stand alone applications that are integrated in Kontact, for example the KMail Part.

After the start of Kontact, KNotes unfortunately still starts seperately; you can close it immediately though. You can change into the KMail Part to get your mail client running. First of all a dialog will appear that shows tips. If you don't want the dialog to appear on every start up of Kontact's mail part, you should click on the box 'Show tips on startup' to deactivate this function and then close the dialog.

To configure KMail you can click the 'Configure KMail' Button or use the 'Settings' menu to click on the 'Configure KMail' menu entry. There you can configure your identity and set up your mail accounts. You can use pop3, smtp, imap, etc. It is possible to change the appearance of the mail part and configure your encryption tools there too. After finishing the configurations of your mail accounts you can start using the mail part of Kontact without problems. You can create folders and filters to these folders -- for example a filter for a mailinglist like kde-women@mail.kde.org. You'll find the 'Create Filter' entry in the 'Tools' menu. In the dialog that appears you can change the folder for the mails or delete or create new filters. You have the possibility to thread your messages and change your encoding (if desired). Your mail part should work properly now.

In 'Contacts' you'll find KAddressBook integrated where you can organize all your contacts. You can create new ones by pressing the 'New Contact' button or clicking on the corresponding option in the 'File' menu. Your current set of contacts can be seen on the left and you can be edited using the 'Edit' dialog which appears after a double click on the contact's name. This dialog will be also open, when you want to create a new contact. There you can add all information like addresses, phone numbers or birthdays. After you have finished adding everything you like to, you can apply your changes and close the dialog by clicking on the 'Ok' button.
To save your new contacts or changed contacts you have to press the 'Save' button. The address book also has a search function so you can find your contacts very quickly. Just type the first letters of the name into the search field and you will find your contact. You can also import vCards you receive via email into the adress book. This option can be found in the 'File' menu. Your own vCard can be exported too.
The KAddressBook part in Kontact is at the moment the only one that offers you the 'What's This' function. You can find this function in the 'Help' menu or you can use the shortcut Shift + F1. Then just click on the button or field you want an explanation for and an explanation will be shown.

In the 'Calendar' part you have the possibility to switch between several views. You can choose between a day, work week, week, next three days or month view. These several views are found in the 'View' menu or as buttons in the 'Views' toolbar. You can create new events by double clicking on the calendar. The 'Edit Event' dialog appears where it is possible to modify your information. You can start the 'remember' function too, so that the alarm daemon will remind you a specified time before the event takes place so that you don't forget important events. Another option of the organizer is a 'todo' list. You can write your todo's into the field above the existing todo items.
You can synchronize your calendar with others by importing dates from ICal. With the export function you can send your dates to others, so that they can synchronize their calendars to yours.

The KNotes part isn't finished yet. You can create a new note while clicking the 'New Note' button. You can write the note into the large field on the right side. When you create a new note the KNote application unfortunately also starts in stand alone mode.

The Summary View is a part where several functions are united in one widget. You can see there how many mails you got, upcoming birthdays and anniversaries, notes you have create in the KNotes part, the weather and your appointments. For the weather function you have to compile the KWeather application, that can be found in the kdetoys package.
You can enable and disable the parts of Kontact in the 'Configure Kontact' dialog. You'll find this option in the 'Settings' menu.

All considered, Kontact is going to be a really good application especially for people who like to get an integrated suite.

Author: Frauke Oster
August 2003
I want to thank especially Scott Wheeler for his review of the article!

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