Like other features of Dialectic, you have some options as to how to add or import your Quick Dial entries:
- Import from vCard files. Drag and drop one or more vCard files from the Finder or some other application that creates vCard files using drag and drop (e.g., Address Book or Microsoft Entourage) and the name(s) & phone number(s) found in the card(s) will be added as individual Quick Dial entries. Phone number labels will attempt to be parsed and, if the contact is a company or organization, the name of this entity will be used for the name field even if there is an individual associated with the entry.
- Import from Address Book... Similar to dragging directly from Address Book as described above, this action from the action menu will summon the Address Book window and allow you to select (by browsing or searching) one or more contacts and drag them directly into the Quick Dial Numbers editor window to add those contacts as Quick Dial entries.
- Import from File... Use this action from the Quick Dial action menu to select an external file and import its contents as Quick Dial entries. This feature allows you to choose either a plain text, tab delimited file or an XML file in the plist format as your source file. These formats are the same as the plain text & XML formats available for export using the “Save” button in the Quick Dial Numbers editor window (see below).
The plain text formatted file can also be created in any application capable of saving plain text files (e.g., TextEdit, Microsoft Word, etc.). Within this file each entry should be on a separate line starting with the name followed by a tab then the number and then a hard return. For example (use an actual tab character, not “<tab>”):
John Smith<tab>(212) 555-1212
Jane Smith<tab>(212) 555-1213
The XML file is more complicated but it is the same as the internal file format Dialectic uses to store your Quick Dial entries so you can see your Quick Dial data file to see the proper format. Also, to generate files in either of these formats, use the “Save” button to create files from your existing entries (see below for more information). - Add from Lookup Results. When the results window is displayed after using the Lookup feature, you can use the Quick Dial button at the bottom of the window (specified with the lightning bolt icon) to add any found contact to the Quick Dial entries.
- Add with the dialectic URI Scheme. In addition to dialing, the dialectic URI scheme can be used to add a Quick Dial entry from a hyperlink. See “dialectic” & other URI Schemes for more information.
- Add from AppleScript. Using AppleScript you can programmatically add or remove Quick Dial entries.
For exporting Quick Dial, use the “Save” button. From the resulting save dialog you can specify the name & location for the exported file and one of the following export formats:
- Plain Text. A tab-delimited text file with each entry on a separate line and each name & number pair separated by a tab. This file is suitable for import into a database.
- XML. A structured XML file in the plist format. This is the same format that Dialectic uses for storing Quick Dial entries and can be used to archive the your entries for future reference or to share entries between different computers running Dialectic.
- HTML. A complete HTML file suitable for display in a web browser. When viewing in a browser, each name and number is a link that you can click to tell Dialectic to dial the number (this magic depends upon the dialectic URI scheme). This is highly useful for creating a company-wide address book on an intranet that allows users to click & dial directly from a web browser. Note: Dialectic cannot import this format so it is not appropriate for archival purposes.
You can also use AppleScript to access your Quick Dial entries and process them as appropriate for your needs (batch add area codes, create a customized sort order, add from a contact manager, import into a database, etc.).
Using the “Create Speakable Items...” action from the Quick Dial action menu you can also export your entries as commands to the Speakable Items feature of OS X to allow for voice dialing of your entries (e.g., “Dial John Smith”). See theSpeakable Items section for more information.
