BBDB Mode

The `*BBDB*' buffer is in BBDB mode, which has keybindings for manipulating the database. Letters no longer insert themselves. Numbers are prefix arguments. You can move around using the usual cursor motion commands.

e

(bbdb-edit-current-field) Edit the field on the current line. If the cursor is in the middle of a multi-line field, such as an address or comments section, then the entire field is edited, not just the current line.

;

(bbdb-edit-notes) A shortcut for editing the notes field.

d, C-k

(bbdb-delete-current-field-or-record) Delete the field on the current line. If the current line is the first line of a record, then this deletes the entire record from the database (prompting first).

C-o

(bbdb-insert-new-field) Inserts a new field into the current record, as opposed to editing an existing one. You are prompted (with completion) for the type of field to insert (phone, address, will be asked whether to add a new "note" field of that type. If you are inserting a new phone-number field, you can control whether it is a North American or European phone number by providing a prefix argument. A prefix arg of ^U means it's to be a euronumber, and any other prefix arg means it's to be a a structured North American number. Otherwise, which style is used is controlled by the variable bbdb-north-american-phone-numbers-p.

n, p

(bbdb-next-record, bbdb-prev-record) Move to the next and previous displayed record, respectively.

t

(bbdb-elide-record) Toggles whether the current record is displayed in a one-line listing, or a full multi-line listing. With a numeric argument of 0, the current record will unconditionally be made elided; with any other argument, the current record will unconditionally be shown expanded. If *t is used instead of simply t, then the state of all records will be changed instead of just the one at point. In this case, a numeric argument of 0 means that all records will unconditionally be made elided; any other numeric argument means that all of the records will unconditionally be shown expanded; and no numeric argument means that the records are made to be in the opposite state of the record under point.

m

(bbdb-send-mail) Begin composing mail to the person represented by the current record. The first email address is used. Normally, the mail-sending package which is used is determined by which mail-reading package is loaded; that is, if MH-E is loaded, then mh-send will be used; if VM is loaded, then vm-mail is used; otherwise, mail is used. You can override this by setting the variable bbdb-send-mail-style to one of the symbols vm, mh, or mail. If *m is used instead of simply m, then mail will be sent to all of the folks listed in the `*BBDB*' buffer instead of just the person under point.

s, C-x C-s

(bbdb-save-db) Saves the BBDB file to disk.

r

(bbdb-refile-record) Merge the current record into some other record; that is, delete the record under point after copying all of the data within it into some other record. this is useful if you realize that somehow a redundant record has gotten into the database, and you want to merge it with another. If both records have names and/or companies, you are asked which to use. Phone numbers, addresses, and network addresses are simply concatenated. The first record is the record under the point; the second is prompted for. Completion behavior is as dictated by the variable bbdb-completion-type.

M-d

(bbdb-dial) If you are on a Sun SparcStation with the `sound' option installed, this command will play the appropriate tones on the builtin speaker to dial the phone number corresponding to the current line. If the point is at the beginning of a record, dial the first phone number. This does not dial the extension. This also does not dial the area code if it is the same as bbdb-default-area-code, unless a prefix argument is given.

bbdb-dial-local-prefix

Set this to a string of digits if your phone system requires you to dial some code to access an outside line.

bbdb-dial-long-distance-prefix

Set this to a string of digits if your phone system requires you to dial some code before dialing a long-distance number (one not in your local area code.)

f

(bbdb-finger) This command "fingers" the network address of a BBDB record. If this command is executed from the `*BBDB*' buffer, it fingers the network address of the record which is at point; otherwise, it prompts in the minibuffer (with completion) for a user to finger. With a numeric prefix argument, it fingers the Nth network address of the current record; with a prefix argument of ^U, it fingers all of them. The `*finger*' buffer is filled asynchronously, meaning that you don't have to wait around for it to finish; but fingering another user before the first finger has finished could have unpredictable results. If this command is executed from the `*BBDB*' buffer, it may be prefixed with * (as in *f instead of simply f), meaning to finger all of the users currently listed instead of just the one under point. The numeric prefix argument has the same interpretation.

?

(bbdb-help) This displays a one-line help message in the minibuffer, showing some of the most common bbdb-mode commands.

i

(bbdb-info) This jumps from the `*BBDB*' buffer to this documentation. If this documentation is installed in the standard place (the directory named by the variable Info-directory) in a file called `bbdb' or `bbdb.info', then no further configuration is necessary to make this work.

bbdb-info-file

If this documentation is not installed in the standard Info directory, then you should set this variable to the name of the texinfo-formatted version of this file; the bbdb-info command will use this file instead.