LOOKOUT(1)LOOKOUT(1)NAMElookout - convert Microsoft Outlook address-book export files to KAB
or GnomeCard format
SYNOPSISlookout [--gc] [--kab] [file]
DESCRIPTION
The lookout converts Outlook address-book export files, as produced by
Outlook 97 or Outlook Express, to either the KAB format used by the
abbrowser address-book browser in KDE or the GnomeCard format used by
the GNOME address book application.
You may select the format to be written with --kab for KAB or -gc for
GnomeCard. If you do not select a format, lookout will try to determine
what format it should translate to by looking for a ~/.kde or ~/.gnome
directory.
Run with a single file argument, lookout will interpret it as an Out‐
look address-book export file to be converted, and write the corre‐
sponding KAB- or GnomeCard format address file to the default location
for the calling user's address book. The new information will be
appended to any previously existing address book.
Run with no arguments, lookout will act as a filter, translating an
Outlook address-book export file presented on standard input to KAB or
GnomeCard address-book data written to standard output.
The fields supported by Outlook do not always have exact equivalents in
the output address-book formats that lookout supports. Despite this, no
information is ever discarded in translation; lookout inserts untrans‐
lated fields into whatever facility for notes or user-defined fields
the output format supports.
THEORY OF OPERATION
To export your Outlook address book in the format this program reads,
use the the 'Tab Separated Values (Windows)' export format. To generate
this export file:
1. In Outlook (on your Windows machine), select File -> 'Import and
Export' to call up the import/export wizard.
2. In that wizard, select 'Export to a file', which should be the sec‐
ond entry of the wizard's first menu. Press Next to continue.
3. Select the "Contacts" folder. Press Next to continue.
4. Select 'Tab Separated Values (Windows)'. This is the last entry in
the list; you may have to scroll down to see it. Press Next to con‐
tinue.
5. Outlook will prompt you for a path and filename to write to. Supply
one, or accept the default. Press Next to continue.
6. Press `Finish' to write the file.
7. Transfer the export file to your Unix machine by any available
means. (An MS-DOS-formatted floppy disk read on your Unix box by
mcopy(1) will do nicely.)
To use the export file you have just generated in KDE:
1. Select abbrowser as your address-book interface. Note that it is not
(at time of writing) the default address-book interface of KMail. To
enable it, run kmail select Settings -> Configuration to pull up the
Configuration dialog, then select `Appearance' and select the
`Addressbook' tab. Change the pulldown from `Traditional Kmail' (the
default) to `Abbrowser'.
2. Make sure that the directory in which your contact manager expects
to find address-book files exists before running lookout. The easi‐
est way to make sure is to run abbrowser once before converting, to
create a dummy address-book file in the right location.
As of KDE 2.1.1 (as shipped in Red Hat 7.1) abbrowser is the only
address-book interface shipped with KDE which can handle anything like
the full set of Outlook address-book fields. The KAB format that look‐
out writes can be written and read by some other KDE address books,
however.
Under either KDE or GNOME:
1. Run lookout file, replacing file with the actual name of your Out‐
look export file.
2. Call up your address-book application to verify that the transfer
was successful.
FILES
~/.kde/share/apps/kab/addressbook.kab
location of the address book used by abbrowser and other KDE
address book plugins.
~/.gnome/GnomeCard.gcrd
location of the address book used by the GNOME address-book
application.
REQUIREMENTS
Requires Python 1.5.2 or greater.
COMPATIBILITY
This version of lookout was written for the 1.2.0 of gnomecard and the
KDE 2.1.1 version of abbrowser. Future versions of these addressbook
applications may add more fields matching Outlook fields. Therefore,
you should check which version of your addressbook you are using; it
may be that a more up-to-date version of lookout will do a better
semantic translation, relegating less data to the notes or extension
fields. You can find the latest version of lookout at the : lookout
project pagehttp://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/lookout/.
AUTHORS
Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
Rob Landley <telomerase@yahoo.com>
LOOKOUT(1)
