DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

LOOKOUT(1)                                                          LOOKOUT(1)

NAME
        lookout - convert Microsoft Outlook address-book export files to KAB
       or GnomeCard format

SYNOPSIS
       lookout [--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
       Outlook address-book export file to be converted, and write the
       corresponding 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
       untranslated 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
          second 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
          continue.

       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
          easiest 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
       lookout 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
          Outlook 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)