iluvmymacbookpro

Q: Contacts Recommendation

IOS 10 - I have been waiting for this feature but never seems to make it out there in any of the releases.  I would like to see a field added to contacts that would either link to a photograph or better yet, insert a photograph into my contact.  I know there is a photo for the contact itself.  But if I needed a 2nd photo embedded into my contacts I have no way of getting it there.  Please Apple ... consider this needed recommendation.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Sep 14, 2016 6:03 AM

Close

Q: Contacts Recommendation

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 14, 2016 7:41 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro
    Level 6 (9,314 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 14, 2016 7:41 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro

    The photo field is generally used to store a photo of a persons face, as a person normally only has once face there is normally only a justification for one such field.

     

    (Since some people are described as two-faced I will leave open the possibility that a few people might legitimately need two fields. I don't think anyone these days is going to need a contacts address card for Janus the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, doorways, passages, and endings.)

     

    I therefore do not think Apple are likely to provide this feature. It is also worth bearing in mind that the Contacts program can be and often is linked to various corporate directory systems and these also are limited to a single photo - for presumably the same reason as described above.

     

    The nearest workaround I can suggest is having two separate contacts for the same person with most of the details the same. This is something possible with the Contacts program.

  • by iluvmymacbookpro,

    iluvmymacbookpro iluvmymacbookpro Sep 14, 2016 8:00 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 8:00 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Unfortunately this is not a solution for me.  The photo is not a picture of the contact.  It is a bar code for that contact that is provided to all patience for that doctor's office.  Unfortunately when I take a photo of the bar code and try to put it into the contacts photo itself it gets cropped.  If I shrink the photo down, the bar code is unrecognizable.  This is why I need either a link to my photos or just a new field called photo that would allow me in bed it into the contact itself.

     

    Thanks you for your response.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 14, 2016 8:21 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro
    Level 6 (9,314 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 14, 2016 8:21 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro

    There is a notes field available for each contact. You could put a URL in that field which takes you to a webpage which then displays the relevant bar code.

     

    While driving this via a database which generates the barcode dynamically would be possible and clever, a simpler more basic approach would be to store each barcode as a PNG (JPEG might not be good enough quality) and the URL would refer to the unique file name of the PNG file.

     

    Note: A client Mac can still act as a web server although this might be easier with a copy of Server.app or some other 'real' server.

  • by iluvmymacbookpro,

    iluvmymacbookpro iluvmymacbookpro Sep 14, 2016 8:54 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 8:54 AM in response to John Lockwood

    John,

     

    This is a good work around.  Unfortunately the doctor's office I use does not have any WIFI or cellular service so I would have to bring up the bar code before I walk into the office.  Thank you for the recommendation.  I'm hoping that someone from Apple will hear my plea at the same time

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 14, 2016 9:34 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro
    Level 6 (9,314 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 14, 2016 9:34 AM in response to iluvmymacbookpro

    I don't know what business you are personally in but you should 'sell' them a WiFi solution.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Sep 14, 2016 3:28 PM in response to iluvmymacbookpro
    Level 9 (50,141 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 14, 2016 3:28 PM in response to iluvmymacbookpro

    Another similar workaround,

    You can drag the file into the URL field on the card. You'll have to add "file://" in front of the path so that the start of the URL is "file:///" (three slashes).

    Clicking on that link will open the file in Preview.