Managing Contacts and Groups in Webmail

TrekMail webmail includes a built-in address book where you can store names, email addresses, and other details for people you write to regularly. Contacts make composing faster and keep the address book for the current mailbox organized.

Opening the Contacts tab

Click Contacts in the top navigation bar. This opens the full contacts view with your contact list on the left and the detail panel on the right.

Adding a contact

1. Click New contact in the contacts panel
2. Fill in the details:
   • Name
   • Email address
   • Phone (optional)
   • Company (optional)
   • Notes (any additional information you want to keep)
3. Click Save

The contact is saved immediately and will appear in compose autocomplete next time you start typing their name or email.

One email address per contact

The webmail contact form stores one email address per contact. If you regularly write to the same person at a work and personal address, create one contact for each address and give them clear names, such as Alex Chen (work) and Alex Chen (personal).

This keeps autocomplete unambiguous and lets you include only the address you intend to use. If you import a vCard containing several addresses, check the imported contact afterward and add separate contacts where needed.

Editing a contact

1. Click a contact in the list to open their details
2. Click Edit (pencil icon) in the top right of the detail panel
3. Make your changes
4. Click Save

Deleting a contact

1. Open the contact
2. Click More options (⋮) → Delete
3. Confirm the deletion

Deleting a contact removes them from your address book but does not affect any emails you have already sent or received.

Contact groups

Groups let you organize contacts into named collections, such as "Team," "Clients," or "Newsletter." You can then address an email to an entire group by typing the group name in the To field.

Creating a group:

1. Click New group in the left panel
2. Give the group a name
3. Click Save

Adding contacts to a group:

1. Open the group
2. Click Add members
3. Search for and select contacts from your address book
4. Click Done

Sending email to a group: In the compose window, type the group name in the To field. The group appears in the autocomplete dropdown. Select it and the To field expands with every member's address.

Tip: You can also add or remove individual contacts from a group later. Open the group, hover over a member, and click the remove icon (×) next to their name.

Importing contacts

If you already have contacts in another email client or app, you can bring them into TrekMail in bulk by importing a file.

Supported formats:

• VCF (vCard) is the standard contact format used by Gmail, Outlook, Apple Contacts, and most phone address books.
• CSV or TXT is a spreadsheet-style file with one contact per row. CSV is the clearest choice when you have cleaned data in Excel or Sheets first.

CSV column expectations

TrekMail's CSV import recognises the following column headers (case-insensitive):

Other columns are ignored. The CSV needs a header row. Empty cells do not make a row fail.

If your CSV exports use different headers (e.g., Gmail exports have many specific columns), TrekMail recognises the most common synonyms automatically. If a column you care about isn't mapped, rename it in Excel before importing.

Importing flow

1. Click Import in the contacts toolbar.
2. Select a VCF, CSV, or TXT file from your computer.
3. Start the import and wait for the result message. It reports how many contacts were imported and how many rows were skipped because they had no usable email address.

The import runs as one operation. If the file has a malformed structure, no partial address book is saved. Files can be up to 10 MB, and an address book can hold up to 10,000 imported contacts.

Tip: To export from Gmail, go to contacts.google.com → Export → Google CSV or vCard. For Outlook, go to People → Manage → Export contacts → Comma Separated Values. For Apple Contacts: File → Export → vCard.

Before you import

• Export your current contacts first if you need a rollback copy.
• Make sure every row you want to import has a valid email address.
• Use a header row in CSV or TXT files and save the file in UTF-8 when your spreadsheet offers that choice.
• Import a small sample first if the source file contains custom columns or a large number of contacts.

Handling duplicates

If an imported email address already exists in the current mailbox's contacts, TrekMail updates that contact with the non-empty fields from the import instead of creating a duplicate. Rows without a valid email are skipped. Before importing, export a backup if you do not want an existing name, phone number, or company value refreshed by the file.

Per-mailbox isolation

Contacts belong to the mailbox selected when you create or import them. Your personal contacts are not automatically shared with other mailboxes in the account. A shared mailbox has its own address book, subject to the permissions for that mailbox. If your team needs the same list in several personal mailboxes, import the same file into each one or keep the master list in an external contact service.

Exporting contacts

To back up your contacts or move them to another app:

1. Click Export in the contacts toolbar
2. Choose VCF (recommended for address books) or CSV (recommended for spreadsheets)
3. Your browser downloads the file

You can import this file into Gmail, Outlook, Apple Contacts, or any other standard address book application.

Autocomplete in compose

When you type a name or email address in the To, CC, or BCC fields of a compose window, TrekMail shows matching saved contacts. The dropdown shows the contact's name and email address.

Use the arrow keys to move through suggestions and press Enter to select one. Press Tab to accept the highlighted suggestion and move to the next field.

Contact groups can also appear when their name matches your search. Selecting a group expands it into its members' addresses. Review the recipient chips before sending, especially when a group has many members.

Common questions

Is there a limit on how many contacts I can store? The address book supports up to 10,000 imported contacts per mailbox. Most people need far fewer. If you maintain tens of thousands of prospects, a CRM is usually a better fit than a personal address book.

Why doesn't a contact show up in autocomplete when I know they're saved? Check that you are composing from the same mailbox that owns the contact, then search by its name or email address. Notes, birthdays, and postal addresses are not recipient-search fields. If the email is wrong, open the contact, correct it, and save.

Can I share a contact list across mailboxes in my account? Personal address books are separate. For the same list in several mailboxes, import the same VCF or CSV into each one, or maintain a shared source in a contact tool your team already uses.

Can other mailbox users see my contacts? Personal contacts are private to their mailbox. A shared mailbox has its own address book, which members can use according to their access to that shared mailbox. The account owner cannot browse a personal mailbox's contact list just because they administer the account.

What happens to contacts when I delete my mailbox? They're deleted with the mailbox. Export to VCF or CSV before deletion if you want a backup. See Deleting a Mailbox.

Can I attach a photo to a contact? Not in the current UI. CardDAV-imported contacts that have photo data (vCard PHOTO field) sync the photo data through to clients that support it (Apple Contacts, etc.), but TrekMail webmail doesn't render the photo in its own contact view today.

Sync with phone, desktop, and other apps

Your TrekMail address book is exposed over CardDAV, the same open standard your phone uses for iCloud or Google Contacts. Connect once and your TrekMail contacts appear in the native Contacts app on macOS, iOS, Android, and Thunderbird, with two-way sync.

Use the exact server address, username, and security settings shown in Settings → Apps & devices for the mailbox you are connecting. Do not guess the server name: a branded White Label host can use a different address. The setup guides above walk through the client-specific steps.