NAB User Guide

NAB is a desktop app for NUS students to manage contacts across multiple modules, project groups, and CCAs, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, NAB can help you organize and retrieve context-specific contacts and track commitments faster than traditional GUI apps.

Quick Start

  1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
    Mac users: Ensure you have the precise JDK version prescribed here.

  2. Download the latest .jar file from here.

  3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your AddressBook.

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar addressbook.jar command to run the application.

    A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
    Ui

  5. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it.
    e.g. typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.

    Some example commands you can try:

    • list : Lists all contacts.

    • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 : Adds a contact named John Doe to the address book.

    • delete n/John Doe : Deletes a contact with name 'John Doe' from the address book.

    • clear : Deletes all contacts.

    • exit : Exits the app.

  6. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

Features

Notes about the command format:

  • Words in UPPER_CASE are the parameters to be supplied by the user.
    e.g. in add n/NAME, NAME is a parameter which can be used as add n/John Doe.

  • Items in square brackets are optional.
    e.g n/NAME [t/TAG] can be used as n/John Doe t/friend or as n/John Doe.

  • Items with ... after them can be used multiple times including zero times.
    e.g. [t/TAG]... can be used as (i.e. 0 times), t/friend, t/friend t/family etc.

  • Parameters can be in any order.
    e.g. if the command specifies n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER, p/PHONE_NUMBER n/NAME is also acceptable.

  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not take in parameters (such as help, list, exit and clear) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

  • Tags are case-insensitive. t/Friends and t/friends are treated as 1 unique tag. Multiple use of the same tags with different case sensitivity should not be used. e.g find n/John Doe t/Friends t/friends

  • If you are using a PDF version of this document, be careful when copying and pasting commands that span multiple lines as space characters surrounding line-breaks may be omitted when copied over to the application.

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to the address book.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [pfp/PHOTO_PATH]

Tip: Can associate 0 or more tags during the add process

  • Contact cannot be added if the added phone number is already registered in the address book.

Examples:

  • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
  • add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 t/criminal
  • add n/Kim Chaewon p/67676969 pfp/C:\Users\User\Desktop\Photos\Le_sserafim.jpg
  • add n/Hibiscus p/12345678 t/enemy pfp//home/Desktop/Pictures/hibiscus_flower.png

Listing all persons : list

Shows a list of all persons in the address book.

Format: list

Editing a person : edit

Edits an existing person in the address book.

Format: edit n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... -- [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [pfp/PHOTO_PATH]

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to narrow down the updating of the correct contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after edit n/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The segment before -- identifies which contact to edit.
  • The segment after -- specifies fields to be updated.
    • Updatable fields: n/NAME, p/PHONE_NUMBER, e/EMAIL, a/ADDRESS, t/TAG, pfp/PHOTO_PATH.
  • n/NAME in the target segment is required.
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • To add tags, you can specify new tags by typing t/TAG in the updated field.
  • To delete a specific tag, type an existing tag in the updated field.
  • You can remove all the person’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
  • Tags are case-insensitive.

Additional information for updating profile picture:

  • For pfp/PHOTO_PATH, accepted file extensions are .png, .jpg, and .jpeg.
  • PHOTO_PATH can be absolute (e.g., C:/Users/Alex/Pictures/me.jpg) or relative to the app folder (e.g., images/me.png).
  • The file must exist; NAB will copy it into data/images/.

Examples:

  • edit n/John Doe -- p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com edits John Doe's phone and email.
  • edit n/John Doe p/98765432 -- n/Johnathan Doe t/teammate uniquely identifies John Doe by phone, then updates name and tags.
  • edit n/Betsy Crower -- t/ clears all tags for Betsy Crower.
  • edit n/Alex Yeoh -- pfp/C:/Users/Alex/Pictures/profile.jpg updates Alex Yeoh's profile picture.

Locating persons by name: find

Finds persons who match the given contact information.

Format: find n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to narrow down the search to a specific contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after find n/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The search is case-insensitive. e.g. hans will match Hans
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • find n/John returns contacts named John
  • find n/John t/cs2106 returns contacts named John with tag cs2106

Filtering persons by context : filter

Finds persons with the given tag(s).

Format: filter t/TAG[, TAG]...

  • The search is case-insensitive. e.g. friend will match Friend tag.
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. frie will not match friend tag.

Examples:

  • filter t/friends finds all contacts that are tagged friends
  • filter t/cs2103, cs2105, cs2109s finds all contacts that have any of these tags.

Pinning a person : pin

Pins the person identified by their name.

Format: pin n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

  • Pinned persons are shown first when the list command is used.
  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • pin n/John Doe pins John Doe when the name uniquely identifies the contact.
  • pin n/John Doe p/91234567 pins the matching John Doe contact by name and phone number.

Unpinning a person : unpin

Unpins the person identified by their name.

Format: unpin n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • unpin n/John Doe unpins John Doe when the name uniquely identifies the contact.
  • unpin n/John Doe p/91234567 unpins the matching John Doe contact by name and phone number.

Assigning tag(s) to person(s) : tag

Assigns one or more tags to one or more contacts in one command.

Format: tag label/TAG_TO_ASSIGN [label/TAG_TO_ASSIGN]... n/NAME [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [n/NAME [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...]...

Tip: Use optional fields immediately after each n/NAME to disambiguate contacts with the same name.

How it works:

  • label/... are the tags that will be assigned to all specified contacts.
  • Contact segments start with n/NAME.
  • Optional fields after a given n/NAME apply only to that contact segment.
  • The tag-assignment segment (label/...) and person segments (n/...) cannot be mixed. All label/... entries must appear before the first n/....
  • If a tag does not exist yet, NAB creates it automatically.
  • If a person segment matches multiple contacts, NAB shows those matches and asks for a more specific command.

Examples:

  • tag label/CS2103 label/CS2030S n/Alice n/Bob
  • Suppose there are multiple Alice and Bob , an enriched search would betag label/CS2103 label/CS2030S n/Alice p/81234567 n/Bob a/Clementi, where Alice has a phone number of 81234567 and Bob has an address of Clementi

Deleting a person : delete

Deletes the specified person from the address book.

Format: delete n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to narrow down the deletion of the correct contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after delete n/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • delete n/Alex Yeoh deletes the contact with a matching name.
  • Suppose there are multiple Alex Yeoh, an enriched search would be delete n/Alex Yeoh t/cs2103 t/cs2105

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from the address book.

Format: clear

Adding an event : event add

Create a new event for a specified person.

Format: event add title/TITLE [desc/DESCRIPTION] start/START_DATE end/END_DATE to/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to narrow down the creation of event for the correct contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after event ... to/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh
  • Order of parameters does not matter.
  • The date time format for start/ and end/ is YYYY-MM-DD HHmm or DD-MM-YYYY HHmm

Examples:

  • event add title/CS2109S Meeting desc/Final discussion on problem set 1 start/2026-03-25 0900 end/2026-03-25 1000 to/David Li adds an event to David Li.
  • Suppose there are multiple David Li, an enriched search would be event add title/CS2109S Meeting desc/Final discussion on problem set 1 start/2026-03-25 0900 end/2026-03-25 1000 to/David Li p/99272758

View an event : event view

View all events for a specified person

Format: event view n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to view the events of the correct contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after event view n/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh

Examples:

  • event view n/Bernice Yu views all events that Bernice Yu has.
  • Suppose there are multiple Bernice Yu, an enriched search would be event view n/Bernice Yu e/berniceyu@example.com

Delete an event : event delete

Delete an event for a specified person

Format: event delete title/TITLE start/START_DATE end/END_DATE n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Tip: If there are multiple contacts with the same NAME, utilize the other optional parameters to narrow down the deletion of event for the correct contact. This can be done by supplying any of the following information just after event ... n/NAME: Phone number, Email, Address or Tag.

  • The NAME is case-insensitive. e.g. aLeX YeOH will match Alex Yeoh
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Alex Yeo will not match Alex Yeoh
  • Order of parameters does not matter.
  • The date time format for start/ and end/ is YYYY-MM-DD HHmm or DD-MM-YYYY HHmm

Examples:

  • event delete title/Meeting start/2026-03-12 1100 end/2026-04-12 2359 n/David Li deletes the event that titled Meeting which starts at 12 March 2026 1100 and ends at 12 April 2026 2359 assigned to David Li.
  • Suppose there are multiple David Li, an enriched search would be event delete title/Meeting start/2026-03-12 1100 end/2026-04-12 2359 n/David Li p/99272758

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Exporting Contacts : export

Exports a list of contacts into a CSV formatted file.

Format: export t/EXPORT_TYPE f/FILENAME

  • EXPORT_TYPE dictates the scope of the export. Expected inputs are all (exports the entire address book) or current (exports the currently filtered list)
  • FILENAME dictates the name of the target CSV file. Do not include the .csv extension in the input
  • The exported file is saved in the same directory that contains the current NAB data file.
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • Exports all contacts stored in NAB into a CSV file : export t/all f/save_file
  • Exports contacts from the currently filtered list : export t/current f/save_file

Importing Contacts : import

Imports a list of contacts from a CSV formatted file.

Format: import t/IMPORT_TYPE f/FILENAME

  • IMPORT_TYPE dictates how the data is imported. Expected inputs are add (appends the contacts from the list to existing address book) or overwrite (replaces all the current address book information with contacts from the list).
  • FILENAME dictates the name of the source CSV file. Do not include the .csv extension in the input
  • The file to be imported must be located in the same directory as your current AddressBook data file.
  • Any contacts in the CSV file that already exist in your current address book will be skipped to prevent duplicates.
  • Rows in the CSV that are malformed or have missing mandatory fields will be safely skipped.
  • Order of parameters does not matter.

Examples:

  • Import from the CSV file and overwrite existing data in NAB : import t/overwrite f/save_file
  • Import from the CSV file and append to the existing data in NAB : import t/add f/save_file

Saving the data

AddressBook data are saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

AddressBook data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

Caution: If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid, AddressBook will discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run. Hence, it is recommended to take a backup of the file before editing it.
Furthermore, certain edits can cause the AddressBook to behave in unexpected ways (e.g., if a value entered is outside the acceptable range). Therefore, edit the data file only if you are confident that you can update it correctly.

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Details coming soon ...

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous AddressBook home folder.

Known issues

  1. When using multiple screens, if you move the application to a secondary screen, and later switch to using only the primary screen, the GUI will open off-screen. The remedy is to delete the preferences.json file created by the application before running the application again.
  2. If you minimize the Help Window and then run the help command (or use the Help menu, or the keyboard shortcut F1) again, the original Help Window will remain minimized, and no new Help Window will appear. The remedy is to manually restore the minimized Help Window.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [pfp/PHOTO_PATH]
e.g., add n/James Ho p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com a/123, Clementi Rd, 1234665 t/friend t/colleague pfp/images/james.jpg
Clear clear
Delete delete n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., delete n/Alex Yeoh t/cs2103 t/cs2105
Edit edit n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... -- [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [pfp/PHOTO_PATH]
e.g.,edit n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com -- t/CS2100 pfp/images/james.jpg
Event Add event add title/TITLE [desc/DESCRIPTION] start/START_DATE end/END_DATE to/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., event add title/CS2109S Meeting desc/Final discussion on problem set 1 start/2026-03-25 0900 end/2026-03-25 1000 to/David Li
Event Delete event delete title/TITLE start/START_DATE end/END_DATE n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., event delete title/Meeting start/2026-03-12 1100 end/2026-04-12 2359 n/David Li
Event View event view n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., event view n/Bernice Yu
Exit exit
Filter filter t/TAG[, TAG]...
e.g., filter t/friends
Pin pin n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., pin n/John Doe p/91234567
Unpin unpin n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., unpin n/John Doe p/91234567
Find find n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...
e.g., find n/James Jake p/67676969
Help help
List list
Tag tag label/TAG_TO_ASSIGN [label/TAG_TO_ASSIGN]... n/NAME [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]... [n/NAME ...]...
e.g., tag label/CS2103 label/CS2030S n/Alice n/Joe t/Family
Export export t/EXPORT_TYPE f/FILENAME
e.g., export t/all f/save_file
Import import t/IMPORT_TYPE f/FILENAME
e.g., import t/overwrite f/save_file