1338111 - Add phone numbers search criteria for address book

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, enhancement)

Description

[Pander]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:51.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/51.0
Build ID: 20170201174907

Steps to reproduce:

Click on the Criteria pull down menu on the left of the search field.


Actual results:

Only the following options are offered:
* Name or Email
* Category


Expected results:

Offer also option:
* Phone numers

Choosing this option should search all phone numers in:
* Work
* Home
* Fax
* Pager
* Mobile

This is useful when you have missed a telephone call or received a message but only have the telephone number, not a contact name. This can happen when on that specific device or software not yet a synchronization has been established or can be established with the contacts in your Thunderbird Address Book. With this search, the use can quickly see if the telephone number is stored under one or more of his or her contacts and take appropriate action such as call or write with proper salutation or update a contact that cannot be synced (yet).

Work around is Edit / Search and build a non-persistent custom search. For some users this is too difficult or cumbersome. Myself, after using Thunderbird for 12 years, only found this way of searching when I was writing this bug report. Most users will only see/find the main search field.

Implementing this feature should not be complex and is similar to the existing search on Name or Email.

Comment 1

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Note that the TB address book is likely to be replaced completely at some stage, so we're investing minimum effort into it.

Comment 2

[blueice_haller]

With Thunderbird 102 it got a new UI.
I don't know if anything in the Address Book has been changed.

When I open the Address Book, create a Test contact with the Phone Number 01234 56789 and search for 01234 it shows: No contacts found.

Comment 3

[blueice_haller]

Attachment: 1 Address Book - Mozilla Thunderbird - Test Contact with Phone Number 01234 56789.png

Comment 4

[blueice_haller]

Attachment: 2 Address Book - Mozilla Thunderbird - Search Phone Number 01234 - No contacts found.png

Comment 6

[Ralf Jung]

Note that the TB address book is likely to be replaced completely at some stage, so we're investing minimum effort into it.

It has been replaced in the mean time. Maybe it's time to consider adding new features? :)

Comment 7

[arcasys]

This bug is now 8 years old and still has status NEW and is considered an enhancement. Please let me explain why I think it's a bug rather than an enhancement and why the feature as explained by the OA is important for me:
Unfortunately there is an increasing number of calls coming in which must be considered as spam. Before I answer a missed call I'd like to check if the number shows up somewhere in my address book. As simple as that - I could miss an old contact or customer.

Why do I think it's a bug?
The address book has a search line above the list of entries which shows a selectable choice of fields. Why on earth should I think the search is restricted to only two of the fields. There isn't even a "Criteria pull down menu on the left of the search field" - as the OA quoted - any more.
I kindly ask you to reconsider Type and Priority.
Thank you.

Comment 8

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

This actually exists.
Edit | Find | Search Addresses.