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Vcard Help

Introduction

Having found the contact details of a staff member or a University unit, it is now possible to store these details in a standard electronic format (vCard). This service translates the contact details into a downloadable file that can then be used to add contacts into your electronic address book.

What is a vCard?

vCards are essentially electronic business cards. A vCard contains contact details for a specific person in the same way that a hardcopy business card.

Support for using vCards

Contact details are provided in the standard vCard format and support is not offered for anyone experiencing issues with the file format or contents. Although some general usage guidelines are included below, if you are experiencing difficulties in importing the file into your electronic address book then you should contact the area normally responsible for assisting you with your mail/calendaring/contacts software (Lotus Notes, OutLook, Mobile Phone/PDS software, etc).

For example, Griffith University staff may contact InfoServices for support with Lotus Notes.

How do I use vCards?

The Griffith Phone Book produces a vCard which can be saved or opened directly, depending on your computer's settings.

vCards are useful for software which stores contacts or has an "address book" style feature. If you are using software which supports vCards, you can save vCards for commonly-used contacts by clicking the "Add vCard to Contacts" button. Saving the vCards makes them available to you immediately without needing to go to the Griffith Phone Book.

The phone book also embeds the vCard into the listing pages using the hCard microformat. hCards are translated into vCards using specialised software. Most users will simply make use of the "save vCard" button as it is much simpler.

Adding a vCard to Lotus Notes Contacts

  1. Locate the relevant entry in the Griffith phone book.
  2. Click the "Add vCard..." button.
  3. Select "Save As" when prompted.
  4. Save the .vcf file to a temporary location like your desktop.
  5. Open Lotus Notes and open your Address Book
  6. Click [File → Import]
  7. Select "vCard" in the "Files of Type" dropdown.
  8. Locate the file on your desktop and double-click it.
  9. The Address Details dialog will open with your new contact.
  10. Click "Save" to add it to your Lotus Address Book.
  11. You can then delete the .vcf file from your desktop.

Please note that InfoServices cannot provided any help with vCards.

Adding a vCard to Microsoft Outlook

  1. Locate the relevant entry in the Griffith phone book.
  2. Click the "Add vCard..." button.
  3. Select "Save As" when prompted.
  4. Save the .vcf file to your desktop.
  5. Open Microsoft Outlook
  6. Click [File → Import → Import a VCARD file (.vcf)]
  7. Locate the .vcf file on your desktop and double-click it.
  8. The new entry will open.
  9. Click "Save and Close".
  10. You can then delete the .vcf file from your desktop.

Please note that InfoServices cannot provided any help with vCards.

Adding a vCard to iPod Contacts

  1. Connect your iPod so that it appears as an external drive in your file system.
  2. Locate the relevant entry in the Griffith phone book.
  3. Click the "Add vCard..." button.
  4. Select "Save As" when prompted.
  5. Save the vCard into the Contacts folder on your iPod. You will need to save each .vcf file with a unique filename, eg. lastname_firstname.vcf

Please note that InfoServices cannot provided any help with vCards.

Saving vCards on your mobile phone

Many mobile phones can import vCards. You can add them directly via the Griffith Mobile Phone Book:

  1. Open www3.griffith.edu.au on your WAP-compatible mobile phone
  2. Search or Browse the Phone Book to find the relevant entry
  3. Click/select the "Save to Addressbook" option
  4. Some mobile phones may show additional confirmation prompts to save the vCard
  5. The contact should now appear in your mobile phone's contact list

Please note that InfoServices cannot provided any help with vCards.

Some mobile phones can synchronise contact lists with software such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook. This is different for each mobile phone, so please refer to your phone's manual for details.

More information about the vCard and hCard formats

The Griffith Phone Book provides vCards and also embeds contact information using the hCard microformat (a method of embedding vCard data in HTML pages).

What, exactly, is a vCard?

vCards are essentially small text files (file extension .vcf) with simple delimiters and "type" information. For example, Griffith Security's vCard looks like this:

BEGIN:VCARD
PRODID:-//www.griffith.edu.au//EN
SOURCE:http://www.griffith.edu.au/cgi-bin/phone_search.pl?name=&surname=&position=&room=&phone=&email=&format=search
NAME:hCard for All Campuses Security
VERSION:3.0
N;LANGUAGE=en:Security;All Campuses;;;
FN;LANGUAGE=en: All Campuses Security
EMAIL:
TITLE;LANGUAGE=en:
ORG:Griffith University;Hotlines;University Administration
ADR;LANGUAGE=en;TYPE=work:;;University Administration, Nathan campus, Griffith University;Nathan;Queensland;4111;Australia
ADR;LANGUAGE=en;TYPE=parcel:;;Nathan;;Queensland;4111;
TEL;TYPE=work:1800 800 707, (07) 3735 7777
TEL;TYPE=cell:
TEL;TYPE=fax:1800 800 707, (07) 3735
ROLE:
URL:http://www.griffith.edu.au/
END:VCARD

vCards can be edited using a text editor or a vCard handler like the Address Book in Microsoft Windows XP.

If you are interested in vCards or the hCard microformat; see the following sites for more information:

About the project

The vCard and hCard options for the Griffith Phonebook were developed and released following an application to the Information Services' Innovation Grant Scheme for 2005/6. The grant application and subsequent design and development work were completed by Ben Buchanan and Colin Morris from Portals and Electronic Access. During the grant shortlisting process, the ICTS Management Team decided to fund the project independently of the grant review process. The design and development work was undertaken between December 2005 and January 2006 and the changes were released early in January 2006.

Contacts

Campus Information

Mobile Phonebook

A mobile phonebook for WAP compatible phones is available at www3.griffith.edu.au

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