Online sharable address book?

January 23, 2008 1:21 PM

I'm looking for an online, free address book that my partner and I can share -- so we should both/each be able to log in to access it, rather than it being linked to just one person's email address. Bonus if it provides a good way to handle address-book entries for, say, a married couple (i.e., two people in one entry), and bonus if the user can choose/configure which fields any given entry contains. Must be usable on a Mac, preferably w/ Safari.
posted by barefoot to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Check out Keepm or Highrise.
posted by mattbucher at 1:41 PM on January 23, 2008

My wife and I use Google spreadsheets. It works really well for us and you can share it across multiple emails. It may not be as pretty as some other sites but it is simple, works on any O/S and unlike a lot of those companies I think Google might be around for a while.
posted by birdlips at 1:45 PM on January 23, 2008

I use Google Notebook for an contacts/address book. It also has sharing capabilities, though I am not sure how easy it is for the other person to use.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 2:20 PM on January 23, 2008

An update-once/enjoy-everywhere address book has been something of a holy Grail for me for years. The closest I've come is the Mac's Address Book plus .Mac syncing. .Mac is a terrible deal for the money, but the syncing "just works" and I've found no viable alternatives.

Of course, I'm speaking from a single user/multiple computer perspective, and you're looking for a multiple user solution. I think Address Book does sharing, but maybe only over a local network. Have you considered rolling your own LDAP server? (kidding)

I'll second the recommendation for Highrise. Though I've never used it, I hear it's nice.
posted by sportbucket at 2:25 PM on January 23, 2008

Oddly enough, I just ran across this today, which might work for you.
posted by adamrice at 2:35 PM on January 23, 2008

plaxo? they recently integrated one of their widgets into os x's address book: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/01/new-plaxo-widge.html

admittedly, i don't use it, and there are may be some... concerns about their privacy policy but i haven't looked far enough into it.
posted by sxtxixtxcxh at 2:42 PM on January 23, 2008

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Still looking for the perfect solution, so I'd love to hear more suggestions, too. So far Google Spreadsheets may be the most workable answer -- but I'm hoping to find something with built-in addressbook features. (Some of the ones mentioned, like Highrise etc., are good but a bit clunky or not as configurable as I'm hoping.) To the person using Google Notebook: Do you create a new notebook for each entry? Or just type each entry as a line in one notebook?
posted by barefoot at 3:43 PM on January 23, 2008

Sounds like Plaxo is definitly your thing.
posted by kall at 1:50 AM on January 24, 2008

I'll echo the Google's Spreadsheets suggestion. I use SS for just about any kind of database I can think of (DVD's I own or want, books and so forth).

It's perfect as a contacts manager because you can create whichever fields serve you best and you're not stuck with field limitations that product designers think are best for you. You can search fields, sort fields and so forth.

However if that's still not satisfactory, you might consider a (private) family wiki. You can use WikiMatrix or this chart to compare various features of wikis.
posted by magnoliasouth at 5:32 AM on January 24, 2008

Some sort of LDAP server would work too. Though, i'm not sure how to go about setting one up.
posted by chunking express at 6:38 AM on January 24, 2008

Today I was reading my favorite blogs when I came across an entry that discussed Blist. Blist is a site where you create databases and share them. I immediately was reminded about this post and thought I'd come here and mention it. There is a demo video too that you can watch, if interested.

Blist sounds promising. I can think of hundreds of things to do with Blist and this will be my new toy for awhile. ;)
posted by magnoliasouth at 11:50 AM on March 24, 2008