Share an Address Book via Dropbox

Instead of manually exporting and importing an address book, you have the option to automatically update it through a shared resource such as a Dropbox or OneDrive folder. This tutorial will guide you through the process of syncing an address book via a Dropbox folder. A similar procedure can be followed to share through other file sharing services or a network drive in a LAN.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we assume that you have two PCs with the Viewer software installed ("Viewer A" and "Viewer B"), and you have access to your Dropbox account on each Viewer PC.

Setting up "Viewer A"

1. In Viewer A, navigate to the Manage tab and click Address Book Manager.
2. In the Address Book Manager window, click Add.
3. Select Local and click Next.
4. Select Create new address book file and click Finish.
5. Select your Dropbox folder and click Save.
6. Click on the Name column to rename your address book to something more descriptive. Click Close.
7. The new address book will appear in Viewer A. You can now populate it with records.

Setting up "Viewer B"

1. In Viewer B, go to the Manage tab and click Address Book Manager.
2. In the Address Book Manager window, click Add.
3. Select Local and click Next.
4. Select Open existing address book file and click Finish.
5. Navigate to your Dropbox folder, select the address book file, and click Open.
6. Click on the Name column to rename your address book to something more descriptive. Click Close.
7. The new address book will appear in Viewer B.

Now the address book in Viewer A and the address book in Viewer B both point to the same file stored in your Dropbox folder. You can add, update, or delete records on either side. Any changes made in one Viewer will be reflected in the other Viewer as soon as Dropbox updates the address book file.

Using Portable Viewer

If you prefer, you can use the Portable Viewer instead of the installable version. With the Portable Viewer, you can create your address book directly in the Viewer, and it will be stored in its own directory along with the other program files. To use the Portable Viewer with Dropbox, you simply need to copy the entire Portable Viewer folder to your Dropbox account. Then, you can run the Viewer executable (rutview.exe) from the Dropbox folder on each workstation you use.

Many users find this method to be more convenient than installing the Viewer on multiple workstations and managing a shared address book in the Address Book Manager.