Ability to show Nickname in the Name column

[Maksym Kozub]

If a contact has no name but has a nickname, it does not show up in the Name column. There is either nothing, or, if that contact has a Company field, then its Company is shown as Name. This is not the most convenient way of handling those fields. For example, I have some contacts identified by their unique occupation etc., and I record such identifier as their Nickname. I also have some contacts within the military for whom I only record their callsign or position, and, again, I record those callsigns or positions as Nicknames in MPE. I.e., it is something like this:

Code: Alles auswählen

Contact 1:
First name: John
Last name: Doe
Company: XYZ Inc.

Contact 2:
Nickname: Deputy brigade commander for logistics
Company: 1st Motorized Brigade

Contact 3:
Nickname: Chief of staff
Company: 1st Motorized Brigade

Contact 4:
Nickname: Street musician from Wien

For all "nameless" contacts, it would be nice to see those identifiers as Names in the first column. Instead, I see "John Doe" for contact 1, "1st Motorized Brigade" for both contact 2 and contact 3, and nothing for contact 4, and there seems to be no way to change it.

[icke1954]

Ability to show Nickname in the Name column

This is not common and in my opinion you are the first to have this wish?!
Workaround:
1. Enter the contents of the “Nicknames” field in the “Last name” field
or
2. Enable the 'Alias' (nickname) column in the contact list:
Context menu (right mouse button) Column header name => Alias

[Maksym Kozub]

icke1954, thank you for your reply. First of all, the respective column is called "Nickname", not "Alias". I have it enabled, so I see nicknames in that column. However, when I scroll through my contacts, having my eyes focused on the Name column, I would prefer to see some unique identifier in that column for each of them. Of course, I could enter their nicknames in another field; instead of using "Last name", I am actually using "Suffix", which I almost never use for anything else :). When there is a position/role rather than a nickname, I put it in "Title". However, it looks a bit strange that FJ decided to show e.g. the contents of "Company" in the "Name" column but not "Nickname", although nicknames can logically be used as people's unique names in many cases, like company names are used for business entities.

[icke1954]

...the respective column is called "Nickname", not "Alias"...

Yes, sorry, “Alias” is the name of the field with the German interface

...if that contact has a Company field, then its Company is shown as Name.

Correct, this would make the additional inclusion of the nickname in the Name field confusing for many users
It would be possible to make this optional, but it would counteract the clarity of the interface.
The following compromise would be possible:
If there is no name, surname and company entry, the nickname is adopted.
Would that be enough for you?

P.S. Are you aware that the “Name” field cannot be transferred to your cell phone?!

[Maksym Kozub]

The following compromise would be possible:
If there is no name, surname and company entry, the nickname is adopted.
Would that be enough for you?

Why not show it also in those cases where there is a "Nickname" and "Company" but no "First name", "Last name", etc.?
Look: if there is some last name and some company name, MPE does not show the company name but only the last name as the person's unique identifier, which is logical. It would be similarly logical to show the nickname as the person's unique identifier if there is a nickname and a company name.

Example:

Contact 1:
First name: John
Last name: Doe
Nickname: (empty)
Company: X Inc.
Name: John Doe
(That's how MPE shows it now, which is OK.)

Contact 2:
First name: (empty)
Last name (empty)
Nickname: (empty)
Company: X inc.
Name: X Inc.
(That's how MPE shows it now, which is OK — it is a general contact for X Inc. as a corporate entity.)

Contact 3:
First name: (empty)
Last name (empty)
Nickname: Very nice support guy
Company: X inc.
Now MPE shows "Name: X Inc." for that Contact 3. It would be logical to show "Name: Very nice support guy". I.e., it is very similar to Contact 1, but for Contact 1 his real name is shown as Name, and for Contact 3 his nickname, as a replacement for (non-existent) real name, would be shown. I hope you understand this logic.

P.S. Are you aware that the “Name” field cannot be transferred to your cell phone?!

Yes, I know it cannot be transferred, nor can it be exported into VCF. Sounds logical, since, as far as I understand, "Name" is not any actual field but rather a "view" combined from other fields.

[icke1954]

OK, you convinced me
I'll pass your suggestion on to FJ without obligation!
Best regard icke

[Maksym Kozub]

OK, you convinced me
I'll pass your suggestion on to FJ without obligation!

Thank you very much! I am sorry if I did not manage to explain the idea clearly from the very beginning.

[FJ]

Its implemented now in the current beta: https://www.fjsoft.at/files/MyPhoneExpl ... Update.exe
- first priority is firstname and lastname
- if those are empty then nickname is used
- if this is also empty then company is used
- and if also this is empty then thge email is used