Address Book Matching

Address Book Matching

Address Book Matching allows you to make sure incoming calls match up to existing contacts without having to create new contact entries. Since incoming calls to your voip account may not be formatted the same way as your existing contacts, they may not match up correctly otherwise, meaning you will only see the number and not the contact.

Address Book Matching works by creating rules. Each rule works by creating a condition and an action (You can also setup multiple rules and/or actions for a given rule). This basically work as - if 'condition', then 'action'. I'll go over each of the conditions and actions, then give a couple of examples of popular ways to use the feature.

Conditions

Starts With - If the incoming number starts with what you put here, then the action will be applied.
Doesn't Start With - If the incoming number does not start with what you put here, then the action will be applied.
Equals - If the incoming number exactly matches what you put here, then the action will be applied.
Length Equals - If the incoming number is the same length as what you put here, then the action will be applied. For example, if you put 7 here, all incoming numbers with 7 digits will have the action applied.
Shorter Than - If the incoming number is shorter than what you put here, then the action will be applied.
Longer Than - If the incoming number is longer than what you put here, then the action will be applied.

Actions

Replace With - Will replace whatever you have entered in the condition with what you enter here
Prepend - Will prepend what you have entered here
Append - Will append what you have entered here
Try Others - Rules are followed in descending order, from first to last. Normally, once a rule is applied to an incoming number, no other rules will be applied, whether or not the application of the rule results in a match. Try Others means that if this rule does not result in a match, it will continue to go through the following rules, with the actions for this rule already applied.

Now for a couple of examples of uses. 

Say you use the Softphone or Groundwire with a PBX. In your contacts, your colleagues numbers are in the format 1 212 777 xxxx, the way you call them from your GSM line. But when your colleagues call you on the Softphone or Groundwire, you only see their extension, in the format 7xxxx. This does not match up with your contacts. Instead of having to create multiple contact entries for each of your colleagues, you can create one rule to be sure all of your colleagues calls will match up with the correct contact. Tap on settings, then preferences, then Address Book Matching. Tap on the + to create a new Rule. Tap on the + to create a new Condition. Set the condition Starts With 7. Tap done, then add a second condition of Length Equals 5. Tap done, then tap on the + to add an action. Select prepend and enter 121277. Then tap done. Now, all incoming numbers of 5 digits that start with 7 will automatically be prepended with 121277, meaning your colleagues calls will match up to their existing contacts without adding new entries. 

One more example. Say your French contacts are all saved with just the local number. But when you receive a call from them, their numbers are all prepended with 0033 (33 is the French country code) and they are not matching your contacts. Instead of adding new contact entries, one rule in Address Book Matching would take care of this. Go back to Address Book Matching and create a new rule. Set a condition of Starts With 0033. Then set an action of Replace With and leave the filed blank. Now all incoming numbers that start with 0033 will delete the 0033 and will match your existing contacts.

These are just a couple of examples of how Address Book Matching can be used, but we have made it extremely customizable intentionally so users can make the rules as general or as specific as they need. When used in conjunction with Number Rewriting, this can save a lot of time since they both limit the need to add new contact entries in order to fit your providers formatting requirements.

Check out our article on Number Rewriting if you haven't already.

https://faq.acrobits.net/number-rewriting#

Please note: This feature is currently only available in the iOS version. We expect to add it to the Android version, but it could be some time.