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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 ab-
       browser 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  ap-
       pended 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 Ex-
	  port'	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  `Ad-
	  dressbook'  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 ad-
       dress-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 ad-
	      dress book plugins.

       ~/.gnome/GnomeCard.gcrd
	      location	of the address book used by the	GNOME address-book ap-
	      plication.

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  se-
       mantic  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)

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