Few months ago I've spent few long evenings organizing my addressbook. Most important part of this process was adding categories (or tags) to every single contact.

Suddenly KDE 4.4 came and ruined everything. At first Akonadi didn't work at all. I managed to downgrade MySQl to version 5.1.42. Now Akonadi works. Every morning when I start Kontact it shows some errors. But it works, and I'm able to access my addressbook. I even quite like the new editor. But three column view is just very strange. Who uses 50 or more addressbooks? In my case there are 51 lines on the screen without scrolling. Why isn't it a just small window in the bottom (or on top) of contact lists with few positions and scrolling possibility? But OK, maybe someone has fifty addressbooks and uses them.

What makes me very sad is that my categories are gone now. Yes, I know that they still exists in .vcf file. They're just not showed in new better Kontact. I hoped some day they'll be back.

Just today I found out something one may find funny, but certainly not me. There's "Informations" panel in Dolphin, this little thing that shows thumbnails and some informations about files. I can add tags to any file or folder. And guess what? Available tags are nothing else but my gone categories.

Isn't it strange? Did someone really meant this, or is it just not finished version?

brserek wrote:Isn't it strange? Did someone really meant this, or is it just not finished version?

I agree, this is definitely a "work-in-progress". Like you I had assigned categories to my contacts and use them extensively in KMail for filtering messages and creating distribution lists etc.

All the 'category' stuff still works in KMail but I cannot update or add category details in the address book. I can only assume that this capability will be switched back on again at a later date - I don't really mind whether they are called 'tags' or 'categories' only that I don't lose all the data I spent so much time setting up.

Don't get me wrong, I had my eyes wide open when I upgraded to 4.4 from the Kubuntu backports - this stuff has a health warning attached to it, use with caution!

As you say, it's work-in-progress. Also as noted, the information is still there. It's hoped and expected that the currently unviewable fields will be present by 4.5. What's intriguing me at the moment is that while experimenting the other day, I managed to select and list all the entries in one of my categories - but I can't do it again. I simply can't remember how it happened. If I find it again I'll report back.

OK, so it's work in progress... I understand, but why I'm forced to use this? It's included in KDE 4.4, not some beta or release candidate. And why Nepomuk, the most unwanted of all programs is using them?
Try to understand me. I'm desperately trying to convince my wife to use Linux. Unfortunately KDE developers don't make it easier. Every now and then I find out, that something that worked yesterday is not working today. I now it will work tomorrow again, but all my wife expects is computer that works every day...

How else do we get a new, better service? KAddressBook works perfectly as it is intended to do. You must understand that it is expected that KDE4 is being used by ordinary users, not companies. There are Enterprise distros for them. In reality the missing things are an inconvenience. They are not things that you can't live without. The data is there, and if you desperately needed one bit of information for a very specific need, you can examine std.vcf in a text editor to get it. I'm sorry, but I'm out of patience with people who want the latest, but are not prepared to make any concessions while features are being developed.

As for converting your wife to Linux, ask yourself whether now is the best time. If it's important to you to do it now, you will have to set up work-arounds for her. I have recently set up KDE4 for two completely non-tech users who are managing fine - but then I did just what I'm advising you to do. I set it up to meet their needs, which are quite different from mine.

I think you misunderstood me. I accept the fact, that some things may not work as they supposed to. I choosed Fedora as my distribution and not Debian, because I like new things.
Biggest problem is, the way KDE is going. Or maybe how it is going this way. Staying with Addressbook example - in current KDE version, which is by no means beta someone introduced new program, which may not be perfected yet. New program misses some functionalities? It's something to change in future. That's the way things got better, you're right. But why is the old Addressbook gone? I would like to have both of them. To try new one, even if it's not complete, but still being able to use old program.
Lately KDE developers forced a lot of new solutions. Some of them are quite controversial. There are lot of threads in this forum about for example Akonadi and Nepomuk. Do we really need those programs? I don't. But maybe someone else does, so I accept the fact, that Kontact requires Akonadi now. Maybe some day I will use it's functionalities too. But right now Kontact needs some two minutes to start (thank God only once per day), I had to downgrade MySQL and it's still reporting errors (maybe it's Fedora specific).
I have feeling, that developers are loosing contact with users. There's lot of topics on this forum with questions like: Do we need Plasma-Toolbox? How to run Kontact without Akonadi? What is Nepomuk for?. I don't want to be seen only complaining, but don't you think there's something to it?

brserek wrote:Lately KDE developers forced a lot of new solutions. Some of them are quite controversial. There are lot of threads in this forum about for example Akonadi and Nepomuk. Do we really need those programs? I don't. But maybe someone else does, so I accept the fact, that Kontact requires Akonadi now. Maybe some day I will use it's functionalities too. But right now Kontact needs some two minutes to start (thank God only once per day), I had to downgrade MySQL and it's still reporting errors (maybe it's Fedora specific).
I have feeling, that developers are loosing contact with users. There's lot of topics on this forum with questions like: Do we need Plasma-Toolbox? How to run Kontact without Akonadi? What is Nepomuk for?. I don't want to be seen only complaining, but don't you think there's something to it?

I get your point but I don't think the KDE developers have forced these changes on us, they have always been part of the plan for KDE4, it's just that some of the underlying technologies are only now ready to be implemented.

The problem here is not necessarily the changes themselves but the way they are being introduced, I do think the process could have been managed a lot better. Normally the end users are blissfully unaware of what's going on beneath the surface but at the moment we are all TOO WELL AWARE because some strange stuff is going on. I fully believe it will be worth it in the end but also that there are going to be a few more bumps along the way.

Sorry for not answering for a long time, but I was really busy. Look like there's nothing more to do. I've just wanted to report a bug, but there is one already
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=222678
Looks like I'm not the only one complaining...

Recognizing the obvious that KDE, as with any similar FOSS platform, is a substantial community driven development effort. Many devs freely contributing their time (and often money) to the project for any number of reasons - whether philanthropic or more self-serving. On occasion, we users forget this. Although this is arguably the exception, not the rule. By and large I believe that most users fully and graciously appreciate these awesome contributions from the development community. But let's not forget that the user is a key part of the KDE community. Either the project serves the broader needs of its users or narrowly of its developers (who are also users). Just something for us all to keep in mind.

Having been a long an loyal KDE user since very early, I've watched the platform evolve quite nicely and progressively over time. KDE4, while painful at first, has matured rather well and has nearly reached functional parity with KDE3.5 already - which was an awesome, award winning achievement for KDE.

One thing I would ask of all KDE developers is to re-evaluate their reasons for contribution. On the other hand, that same plea doesn't make sense for users. Users are what we are. Frankly, we are nearly all simply looking for quality tools at the lowest cost. Something for nothing is always nice. Many users feel compelled to contribute in many ways - e.g. money, alpha/beta/RC testing, managing user groups/forums/web sites, etc. But the honest truth is that most do not. They just want something that works! And, when it doesn't, they occasionally get annoyed and frustrated - EVEN when it's free. While that may seem contradictory on the surface - it really isn't. Collectively, all users provide the very opportunity and the base for projects like KDE to even exist, plain and simple. I'm simply asking that all KDE developers try to remember this (not suggesting that most don't).

Now, having said all that nonsense, what's my point? My point is that KDE seems to be trending away from its users. This issue is only one example of a growing number whereby the broader users' needs seem secondary. Over and over in these threads is the opinion that users should just shut up and appreciate the free gift they've been given. To quit whining and start coding if they don't like it what they've been given. This attitude completely contradicts the FOSS philosophy and (IMO) is the early stages of demise.

I'm old enough to remember and to have been a part of the Unix demise. While all the major Unix vendors collectively pounded their chests on unwavering grounds of technical superiority, their Redmond competition ate their lunch in userland. Only when faced with the stark reality - long after it was too late - did they budge from their arrogance. Of course this was only one of a large number of reasons for Redmond's success, but it was a huge one. I'm starting to see a similar and growing trend among KDE producers. Actually, it's always been there to a minor degree (understandably), but it seems to be gaining frightening ground.

There's a reason that KDE is not the primary desktop choice among most major Linux distributions (a fall from grace I might add). This may change as KDE4 matures, but I don't see signs of that yet. Especially when there seems such a casual attitude among KDE developers about what to release and when.

I'm not pointing my finger at any developers for this kaddressbook mistake. I have no doubt that they are as committed to the effort as anybody and are coding their poor fingers to the bone ever trying to improve and enhance the KDE product. Maybe, instead, this is a natural trend in the current KDE support structure. Whatever the case, something has to give. We simply can't afford to continually make these mistakes (KDE4.0, Amarok 2.0, Konqueror and now Kmail/Kaddressbook to wit) and gain acceptance in userland.

I confess that I don't know or understand the current support structure very well. Who decides what? When? Nor do most users. But my sense is that there really is no effective "governance" at the project level. While the overall KDE direction seems to have some effective management (KDE4.0 release headaches notwithsanding), I wonder who's making authority decisions - ON THE USERS' BEHALF - at the individual product level.

Now we're faced with a huge problem vis-a-vis kaddressbook. Users can't get their data. This is simply unacceptable - whatever the reason. There are several options to correct this - short of 4.5. But will it be done?!?! Since the options should be obvious to anybody involved, I won't bother listing them here. KDE (or some components) is bleeding users!! Are we content as a community to allow this to continue? Who can/will make the command decisions to try to reverse this?

I too would like to see the category function return.

I have added new contacts, and now have no way to categorize them short of calling the std.ics file up in Kate, and manually editing.

I noticed that Kmail can use categories as a filter when adding addresses to mail in the composer.
Kinda hard to use this when the newly added contacts are not categorized.

If tags are to be utilized, how do you set them in the contact edit window?
And be able to filter on the main listing window?

Hope this is fixed in 4.5.

Categories, powered by Nepomuk feature in my version of KAddressBook, and contacts can be seperated by folders also to help seperate them.

Contacts can be in more than one category.

Perhaps that's a newer version than the rest of us have. When I use Select in KMail, I can list the old, existing category groups, but I can't access them at all in KAddressBook - either to list them, to add to them, or to create a new group. If you can do some or all of this, can you give us a taste of something to look forward to?

I didn't have a addressbook prior to the Akonadi move, so I can't test as such. If anyone knows where to find a testing file, i'll be more than willing to test it out.

Please see for how it looks http://imagebin.org/97434

As you can see, the Categories are not used in KMail for selecting contacts yet, and I couldn't see the functionality exposed. The folders shown seem to be for organisational purposes only, since they can't be added either.

This is KMail 2, from Trunk.

Nice! I have 4.4.3-1, and Categories are not yet there. The phone entries are the last on the page. Still, it's good to know it's coming soon.

I am very glad I read this post. Categories are a very important feature to me. As a result I had switched to using Thundebird but that did not have all the contact management features of Kontact. Therefore I was very seriously considering moving to Outlook on Windows.