path: root/doc/kontact/index.docbook

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
 "dtd/kdex.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY PIM "<acronym>PIM</acronym>">
  <!ENTITY kappname "&kontact;">
  <!ENTITY package "tdepim">
  <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
  <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE">
  <!ENTITY akregator "<application>Akregator</application>">
  <!ENTITY kitchensync "<application>KitchenSync</application>">
]>

<book id="kontact" lang="&language;">

<bookinfo>

<title>The &kontact; Handbook</title>

<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Cornelius</firstname>
<surname>Schumacher</surname>
<affiliation><address><email>[email protected]</email></address></affiliation>
</author>

<author>
<firstname>Antonio</firstname>
<surname>Salazar</surname>
<affiliation><address><email>[email protected]</email></address></affiliation>
</author>

<author>
<firstname>Daniel</firstname>
<surname>Molkentin</surname>
<affiliation><address><email>[email protected]</email></address></affiliation>
</author>
</authorgroup>


<copyright>
<year>2003-2005</year><holder>Cornelius Schumacher</holder>
</copyright>

<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>

<date>2005-02-22</date>
<releaseinfo>1.1</releaseinfo>

<abstract><para>&kontact; is the integrated solution to your personal
information management (&PIM;) needs. It combines well-known &kde;
applications like &kmail;, &korganizer; and &kaddressbook; into a
single interface to provide easy access to mail, scheduling,
address book and other &PIM; functionality.  </para></abstract>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>tdepim</keyword>
<keyword>KMail</keyword>
<keyword>Organizer</keyword>
<keyword>KAddressBook</keyword>
<keyword>KNotes</keyword>
<keyword>Akregator</keyword>
<keyword>PIM</keyword>
<keyword>groupware</keyword>
<keyword>Outlook</keyword>
<keyword>Evolution</keyword>
</keywordset>

</bookinfo>


<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>&kontact; is the integrated solution for personal information
management.  It combines the well-known &kde; applications for email,
scheduling, address book, notes, and newsgroups (&kmail;, &korganizer;,
&kaddressbook;, &knotes;, and &knode;)
into a single interface. Being
based on a true component framework &kontact; provides exactly the
same functionality as the stand-alone applications, and adds more
features, by making use of the integrated way &kontact; runs the
applications as components. Users still retain the choice of which
applications are run within &kontact; and which are run
stand-alone.</para>

<para>In addition to the functionality of the individual applications &kontact;
provides, a summary view and advanced drag &amp; drop features between components.
</para>

</chapter>


<chapter id="components">
<title>&kontact; Components</title>

<para>
&kontact; integrates the following applications. See the individual
application manuals for details on how to use them. These apply to
running them as components inside &kontact; just as well as running
them stand-alone.
</para>

<sect1 id="mail">
<title>&kmail;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:kmail">&kmail;</ulink>, the &kde; mail client.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="organizer">
<title>&korganizer;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:korganizer">&korganizer;</ulink>, the &kde; organizer
and scheduling application.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="addressbook">
<title>&kaddressbook;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:kaddressbook">&kaddressbook;</ulink>, the &kde; contact
 manager.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="notes">
<title>&knotes;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:knotes">&knotes;</ulink>, yellow sticky notes.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="newsreader">
<title>&knode;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:knode">&knode;</ulink>, the &kde; news reader.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="pilot">
<title>&kpilot;</title>
<para>
&kpilot;, the &kde; Pilot synchronization
application.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="synchronization">
<title>&kitchensync;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:kitchensync">&kitchensync;</ulink>, the &kde; synchronization
application.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="feeds">
<title>&akregator;</title>
<para>
<ulink url="help:akregator">&akregator;</ulink>, the &kde; RSS feed reader.
</para>
</sect1>

</chapter>

<chapter id="main-window">
<title>The &kontact; Main Window</title>

<para>The main window consists of a side pane on the left showing the icons of
the available components, the main view on the right which contains the main
window of the active component and the usual menu, tool and status bars.</para>

<sect1 id="side-pane">
<title>Side Pane</title>

<para>The side pane serves multiple purposes. It allows for switching between
components, shows which component is active and serves as the target for
drag &amp; drop operations to the different applications.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s Side Pane</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="side-pane.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s Side Pane</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact;'s Side Pane
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>For switching between components simply click on the corresponding icon.
The main window of the component is shown and the menu, tool and status bars are
adapted to reflect the functionality of the active component. If you activate a
component for the first time there might be a small delay until the main view
is changed, because components are loaded on demand. This means you don't waste
memory for components you don't use.</para>

<para>The icons in the side pane can also be used as targets for drag &amp; drop
operations. For example, you can drag a mail from the mail part and
drop it on the icon of the todo list or the calendar to create a todo
or event associated with this mail.</para>

<para>Finally, you can change the size of the icons in the side pane.
Right-clicking on the side pane will give you the option to use Large,
Normal, or Small icons, as well as the option to use text only
instead of icons.</para>

<para>If you dislike the sidebar, you can simply hide it by dragging the
splitter. An alternative navigation between part is provided by the 
<guilabel>navigator</guilabel> toolbar, which will always be aligned on the opposite
side of the mainwindow from the side pane.</para>

</sect1>


<sect1 id="main-view">

<title>Main View</title>

<para>The view on the right which takes up most of the area of the &kontact;
main window shows the active component. This exactly corresponds to the main
window the component uses when run as a stand-alone application. The highlighted
icon in the side pane indicates to which application the main view belongs.
&kontact; remembers which component was active, so when starting &kontact; the
view initially shows which one was activated when exiting &kontact; the last
time.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s Main View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="main-view.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s Main View</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
	&kontact;'s Main View
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>In addition, there are two ways of overriding the component that &kontact;
starts in. The first is as an argument to the &kontact; program call
(see <xref linkend="command-line"/>). The second is a setting in the
&kontact; Settings dialog that will allow you to always start &kontact; in a 
certain mode.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Starting Component Setting</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="configuration-starting-component.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Starting Component Setting</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
	&kontact; Starting Component Setting
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="bars">
<title>Menu, Tool and Status Bars</title>

<para>The menu, tool and status bars are adapted to the active component. That
means that, in addition to some common functions like the help menu which are
shown for all components, there are actions which are switched when the active
component is switched. These actions available for each component are the same
ones which are also available when running the application stand-alone.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="menu-bar-summary.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="menu-bar-kmail.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="menu-bar-korganizer.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
	Views of &kontact;'s menu bars in the Summary View, Mail View, and Calendar View
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>A special action common to all components is the
<guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem> action. It allows creation of new objects
like emails, contacts, appointments and todos independently of which
component is active. The component responsible for processing the
selected object is started, if required, and takes over the created
object.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s New Menu</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="new-menu.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s New Menu</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact;'s New Menu
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
<para>
Another common action is the <guimenuitem>Synchronize</guimenuitem> action. It synchronizes mail and groupware folders depending on the active component. E.g., if the Calendar component is active, the button synchronizes all Calendar folders. In the Summary, the action synchronizes all folders independent of their content. 
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop">
<title>Drag and Drop Functionality</title>

<para>&kontact; provides advanced drag and drop functionality between 
the programs it contains. Following is a brief description of each of
the specific drag and drop operations that can be effected and the
result of each.</para>

<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-kmail-todo">
<title>&kmail; -> &korganizer; Todo List</title>

<para>
Dragging a message from 
<ulink url="help:kmail/using-kmail.html#the-mail-reader-window">&kmail;'s Headers pane</ulink>
to the icon for &korganizer;'s Todo list 
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="todo-list-sidebar-icon.png" format="PNG"/>
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>)
will create a new Todo with 
<guilabel>Mail: <replaceable>Subject</replaceable></guilabel> as the title and 
<guilabel>From: <replaceable>Sender</replaceable>
To: <replaceable>Receiver</replaceable>
Subject: <replaceable>Subject</replaceable></guilabel> as the contents
(where text that looks <guilabel><replaceable>like
this</replaceable></guilabel> is information
from the message itself), as well as the e-mail message itself as an
attachment.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-kmail-calendar">
<title>&kmail; -> &korganizer; Calendar</title>

<para>
Dragging a message from 
<ulink url="help:kmail/using-kmail.html#the-mail-reader-window">&kmail;'s Headers pane</ulink>
to the icon for &korganizer;'s Calendar
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="calendar-sidebar-icon.png" format="PNG"/>
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>)
will create a new Event with 
<guilabel>Mail: <replaceable>Subject</replaceable></guilabel> as the title and 
<guilabel>From: <replaceable>Sender</replaceable>
To: <replaceable>Receiver</replaceable>
Subject: <replaceable>Subject</replaceable></guilabel> as the contents
(where text that looks <guilabel><replaceable>like
this</replaceable></guilabel> is information
from the message itself), as well as the e-mail message itself as an
attachment.
</para>

<para>Note that dragging onto the Todo button creates a Todo,
whereas dragging onto the Calendar creates an Event. More on this
distinction is available in the 
<ulink url="help:korganizer">&korganizer; documentation</ulink>
</para>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-kmail-contacts">
<title>&kmail; -> &kaddressbook;</title>

<para>
Dragging a message from 
<ulink url="help:kmail/using-kmail.html#the-mail-reader-window">&kmail;'s Headers pane</ulink>
 to the icon for &kaddressbook;
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject> <imagedata
                                           fileref="kaddressbook-sidebar-icon.png" 
                                           format="PNG" />
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>) will create a contact
from the email address of the sender, unless a contact with that name
already exists. A dialog box notifies you of this action.
</para>


</sect2>


<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-kaddressbook-todo">
<title>&kaddressbook; -> &korganizer; Todo List</title>

<para>
Dragging any number of entries from <ulink
url="help:kaddressbook/using-kaddressbook.html">&kaddressbook;'s main
window</ulink> to the icon for &korganizer;'s Todo List
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject> <imagedata
                                           fileref="todo-list-sidebar-icon.png" 
                                           format="PNG"/>
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>) will create a new Todo
with &quot;Meeting&quot; as the title and the selected contacts as
attendees.
</para>

<para>Note that dragging onto the Todo button creates a Todo,
whereas dragging onto the Calendar creates an Event. More on this
distinction is available in the 
<ulink url="help:korganizer">&korganizer; documentation</ulink>
</para>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-kaddressbook-calendar">
<title>&kaddressbook; -> &korganizer; Calendar</title>

<para>
Dragging any number of entries from <ulink
url="help:kaddressbook/using-kaddressbook.html">&kaddressbook;'s main
window</ulink> to the icon for &korganizer;'s Calendar
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject> <imagedata
                                           fileref="calendar-sidebar-icon.png" 
                                           format="PNG"/>
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>) will create a new Event
with &quot;Meeting&quot; as the title and the selected contacts as
attendees.
</para>

<para>Note that dragging onto the Todo button creates a Todo,
whereas dragging onto the Calendar creates an Event. More on this
distinction is available in the 
<ulink url="help:korganizer">&korganizer; documentation</ulink>
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="side-pane-drag-and-drop-knotes-todo">
<title>&knotes; -> &korganizer;'s Todo List</title>

<para>
Dragging a note from &knotes; to the icon for &korganizer;'s Todo List
(<guiicon><inlinemediaobject><imageobject> <imagedata
                                           fileref="todo-list-sidebar-icon.png" 
                                           format="PNG"/>
</imageobject></inlinemediaobject></guiicon>) will create a new Todo
with the title set to the title of the note and the description set to the note itself.
</para>

</sect2>


</sect1>

</chapter>

<chapter id="summary-view">
<title>The Summary View</title>

<para>The default view when starting &kontact; for the first time is the summary
view. It shows an overview of the most relevant information provided by the
selected &kontact; components. These can be newsticker headlines, imminent
appointments or birthdays, due todos, weather data, etc. Which information is
shown is configurable by selecting the corresponding components in the <link
linkend="configuration">&kontact; configuration dialog</link>.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s Summary View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s Summary View</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact;'s Summary View
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<sect1 id="summary-view-component-reposition">
<title>Repositioning Summary View Components</title>

<para>The Summary View allows you to change where the
components are in the view itself. So, if you prefer to
have your Special Dates in the lower left and your to-dos in
the upper right, you can rearrange the summary view to
reflect that.</para>

<para>Repositioning components in the Summary View is as simple
as dragging them to the new location you want them to be in. Click and
hold on the grey title area of the component and drag the component
to wherever you want it to be. Note that this positioning is done
compared to other components. So you can move the Mail component to be
below the to-do component in the view, but you can't place it in a specific
position. If you have only one component in your summary view, the only option
is to move it between the two columns of the view; two components can either
be two in one column or one in each column; and so on and so forth. Whenever
you are dragging a component, you will see a small preview box following your
mouse around showing you the component.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Rearranging &kontact;'s Summary View</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-repositioning.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Rearranging &kontact;'s Summary View</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
Rearranging &kontact;'s Summary View
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect1>

</chapter>


<chapter id="configuration">
<title>Configuring &kontact;</title>

<sect1 id="main-config">
<title>&kontact; Configuration Window</title>

<para>When selecting the <guimenuitem>Configure &kontact;</guimenuitem>
action from the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> menu, the &kontact;
configuration dialog is shown. It provides a list of the
configurations for all the active components of &kontact;. You can
click the <guilabel>-</guilabel> symbol next to the component names to
collapse their options so that you can view the options for the
component you are looking for. Selecting one of the configuration
options under a heading will bring up that configuration section on
the right.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s Configuration Window</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="configuration-main.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s Configuration Window</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact;'s Configuration Window
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>In addition, by clicking on the <guibutton>Configure...</guibutton>
button, you can bring up a dialog that will allow you to select which 
components you want active from a list.
By checking the box next to the component title you select the
component to be put into the side bar and the summary view. The
component is loaded and its main view is shown in the main window when
clicking on its icon in the side pane for the first time. By
unchecking the check box the component is removed from the side pane and
summary view. Changes become effective by clicking the
<guibutton>Apply</guibutton> or <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
button.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact;'s Select Components Window</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject><imagedata format="PNG" fileref="configuration-components.png"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact;'s Select Components Window</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact;'s Select Components Window
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>You can also configure individual components by activating the
component by clicking on the corresponding icon in the side pane of
the main window and then selecting the menu item
<guimenuitem>Configure <replaceable>application
name</replaceable></guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
menu.</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Settings Menu When KMail is Selected</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="settings-menu-kmail.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Settings Menu When KMail is Selected</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Settings Menu When KMail is Selected
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="summary-view-config">
<title>Configuring &kontact;'s Summary View</title>

<para>When you select <guimenuitem>Configure Summary View...</guimenuitem>
from the &kontact; <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> menu (only available in
Summary View), a dialog pops up that allows you to select which summary
plugins &kontact; should show in its summary view.
Here is a brief list of the currently available plugins and what they do:
</para>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-calendar">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Calendar</title>

<para>
The <quote>Calendar</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds
an area in the view labeled <guilabel>Appointments</guilabel>. This
will display any appointments that currently apply.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Calendar Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-calendar.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Calendar Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Calendar Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-contacts">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Contacts</title>

<para>
The <quote>Contacts</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds
an area in the view labeled <guilabel>Birthdays and
Anniversaries</guilabel> where birthdays and anniversaries of your
contacts are displayed (for contacts who have that information set in
their contact information; see the <ulink
url="help:/kaddressbook/index.html">&kaddressbook;
documentation</ulink> for more information on setting relevant contact
information). It contains the following information:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>Number of days from now when item will occur</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Date of birth/anniversary</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Name (Click on this to send an email,
  right-click for the option to  view the contact's
  information)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Age/Anniversary Year</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Contacts Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-contacts.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Contacts Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Contacts Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-kpilot">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: KPilot</title>

<para>
The <quote>KPilot</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>KPilot Information</guilabel>.
This area contains a lot of information from KPilot, including:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
  <para>Last synchronization (with sync log)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>User who last synchronized</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Device last synchronized</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Current status</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
  <para>Available conduits</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; KPilot Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-kpilot.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; KPilot Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; KPilot Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-mail">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Mail</title>

<para>
The <quote>Mail</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>New Messages</guilabel>. This area
is updated every time you receive new messages to inform you how many
of these messages there are and which folder they are in.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Mail Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-mail.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Mail Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Mail Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-newsticker">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: NewsTicker</title>

<para>
The <quote>NewsTicker</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>News Feeds</guilabel>.
This area contains the latest news from the currently configured news
feeds. You can add and remove feeds in &kontact;'s Summary View
Configuration. Please note that as of &kde; 3.4, the more efficient
way of accessing RSS feed information is the new &akregator; application,
which provides notifications instead of requiring constant checking of
the Summary View to see if new articles have appeared.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; NewsTicker Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-newsticker.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; NewsTicker Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
	&kontact; NewsTicker Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-notes">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Notes</title>

<para>
The <quote>Notes</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>Notes</guilabel>. This area
displays all current notes' titles (titles default to the date/time
the note was created). Clicking on the title of a note will bring up
the Notes area.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Notes Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-notes.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Notes Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Notes Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-todo-list">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Todo List</title>

<para>
The <quote>Todo List</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds
an area in the view labeled <guilabel>Todos</guilabel>. This area
contains all current todos, including ones that have been completed.
It displays the title of the todo, the percentage of completion, and
the current status of the todo. Note that you can purge all completed
todos via the &kontact; Todo List. Clicking on a todo's title will
currently do nothing.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Todo List Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-todos.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Todo List Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Todo List Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-special-dates">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Special Dates</title>

<para>
The <quote>Special Dates</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>Special Dates</guilabel>.
This area contains information based on the criteria selected in the
configuration area of the plugin in &kontact;'s Summary View configuration.
The <quote>Special Dates</quote> plugin is especially useful because it can
display birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and special occasions from both
the calendar and the contact list in one place. 
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Special Dates Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-special-dates.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Special Dates Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
	&kontact; Special Dates Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="summary-view-config-weather">
<title>&kontact; Summary Plugins: Weather</title>

<para>
The <quote>Weather</quote> plugin for &kontact;'s Summary View adds an
area in the view labeled <guilabel>Weather Information</guilabel>.
This area contains the information for currently configured weather
locations. For more information about configuring KWeather, the
weather reporter used as a plugin within &kontact;, see the <ulink
url="help:/kweather/configuring-kweather.html"> KWeather
documentation</ulink>.
</para>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&kontact; Weather Summary Plugin</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata format="PNG" fileref="summary-view-weather.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>&kontact; Weather Summary Plugin</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption>
<para>
&kontact; Weather Summary Plugin
</para>
</caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</sect2>

</sect1>
<sect1 id="kontact-configure-profiles">
<title>&kontact; Profiles</title>
<para>A profile is an arbitrary set of configuration values for any of the kontact components (mail, calendar, etc.) accompanied by a configuration file for the profile itself, which specifies its name, description etc. An example profile configuration file looks like this:
</para>

<informalexample>
<para>
<literallayout>
[Kontact Profile]
Description=Default KDE Kontact settings
Identifier=KontactDefaults
Name=Kontact Style
</literallayout>
</para>
<para>
The format is the standard .ini file format used for configuration throughout KDE, including in kiosk.
</para>
</informalexample>

<para>
&kontact;'s profile support makes it possible to load and save user settings in profiles.
The settings stored in the profile include typical Look&amp;Feel related options such as app-specific color schemes, icon sets, toolbar layout and application defaults. Personal information, e.g. accounts and identities are not stored in profiles.
</para>

<para>
Two default profiles are provided by Kontact: &quot;&kontact; Style&quot;, which contains the default &kontact; settings, and &quot;Outlook Style&quot;, adapting &kontact; to Microsoft Outlook Look&amp;Feel.
The user can adapt existing profiles, create new profiles from his current settings, and import and export profiles. 
</para>

<para>
The dialog opened through Settings -> "Configure Profiles" allows profiles to be imported, exported, created, deleted and saved. They can also be loaded (applied) from there. Saving applies the currently active settings throughout Kontact to the selected profile, while import and export allow existing profiles to be written to or read from directories. To change a setting, one can edit the kontactrc file using a text editor and save it.
</para>

<para>
Apart from the configuration file, a profile directory can contain configuration skeleton files for Kontact as a whole (kontactrc) or for any of the components (korganizerrc, kmailrc, etc.). These files can in turn contain any configuration values that the profile should set (overriding the user's current configuration) when the profile is loaded.

<itemizedlist>
        <listitem><para>
          The korganizer configuration for the "Kontact Defaults" profile for example sets the calendar view to be merged, by default :
<informalexample>
<para>
                [Views]
                Agenda View Calendar Display=CalendarsMerged
</para>
</informalexample>
</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem><para>
           The Outlook-like profile, on the other hand, sets it to be side by side, like in Outlook:
<informalexample>
<para>
                [Views]
                Agenda View Calendar Display=CalendarsSideBySide
</para>
</informalexample>
</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem><para>
           If a profile wants to reset or remove a configuration key, it can specify that key like so:
<informalexample>
<para>
                [General]
                activeBackground=KONTACT_PROFILE_DELETE_KEY
</para>
</informalexample>
</para>
        </listitem>
       
        <listitem><para>
           This example resets the background color to whatever the KDE style suggests. The Outlook compatability profile sets this key to the Windows/Outlook color style:
<informalexample>
<para>
           [General]
           activeBackground=47,103,255
</para>
</informalexample>
</para>
        </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Currently Kontact ships with two (incomplete) profiles, one which (re-)configures things to look and feel the way Kontact natively does, while the other one attempts to approach the look&amp;feel of Outlook on Windows. To this end they change a variety of things, concretely the color palette used, the icon theme used, how the calendar view is layed out, whether the navigation toolbar is visible how the splitter sizes are initialized, in the main kontact interface.
</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>


<chapter id="command-line">
<title>&kontact; On the Command Line</title>

<para>&kontact; has several command line arguments
that can be used for certain actions.</para>

<para>First of all, &kontact; supports command line arguments
that all KDE/Qt applications support. You can get a full list of
these by typing:
</para>

<para>
<prompt>&percnt;</prompt> <command>kontact --help-all</command>
</para>

<para>&kontact; also supports several command line arguments
specific to it.</para>

<sect1 id="command-line-arguments">
<title>Command Line Arguments</title>

<sect2 id="command-line-module">
<title>Module-related Arguments</title>

<para>To get a list of available &kontact; modules, you can type:</para>

<para>
<prompt>&percnt;</prompt> <command>kontact --list</command>
</para>

<para>Then, to start &kontact; with a module active, type:</para>

<para>
<prompt>&percnt;</prompt> <command>kontact --module <replaceable>moduleName</replaceable></command>
</para>

<para>Where <replaceable>moduleName</replaceable> is one of the modules obtained using the
previous command.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

</chapter>


<chapter id="technology">
<title>Under The Hood</title>

<para>&kontact; makes extensive use of several &kde; key technologies, most
notably KParts and &DCOP;.</para>

<para>The &GUI; integration of the components is done by plugins
providing KParts versions of the applications. This only needs a thin
additional layer on top of the already existing code of the
stand-alone applications.</para>

<para>For communication between the components &DCOP; is used. This
has the nice characteristic that it is completely transparent to
whether the application is run stand-alone or embedded as KPart into
&kontact;. When running inside of &kontact; an efficient in-process
mode of &DCOP; is used.</para>

</chapter>


<chapter id="credits">
<title>Credits and License</title>

<para>&kontact;</para>

<para>Program copyright 2004, The &kde; Developers</para>

<para>Contributors:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Cornelius Schumacher <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Daniel Molkentin <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Don Sanders <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Tobias K&ouml;nig <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Matthis H&ouml;lzer-Kl&uuml;pfel <email>[email protected]</email>, the
original author of the &kontact; framework.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>All the valued developers of the applications &kontact; is
integrating. They did almost all the work.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>Documentation copyright 2004-2005</para>

<para>Contributors:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Cornelius Schumacher <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Antonio Salazar <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Daniel Molkentin <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>All the members of the KDE documentation list who
assisted with markup and style issues.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->

<para>&kontact; homepage is at <ulink
url="http://kontact.kde.org">http://kontact.kde.org</ulink></para>




&underFDL;
&underGPL;

</chapter>


&documentation.index;
</book>
<!--
Local Variables:
mode: sgml
sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
sgml-general-insert-case:lower
sgml-indent-step:0
sgml-indent-data:nil
End:

// vim:ts=2:sw=2:tw=78:noet
-->