A User's Guide to Ximian Evolution
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# LDAP: Shared Addressbooks on a Network

The LDAP protocol was created to let users share contact information over a network by sharing access to a central address book. LDAP allows a company to maintain a shared set of contact information for a company or department. Many companies keep a common LDAP address book for all their employees or for client contacts.

To learn how to add a remote directory to your available contact folders, see the Section called Managing the Addressbook in Chapter 10. Once you have a LDAP connection, the network contacts folder or folders will appear inside the External Directories folder in the folder bar. It will work exactly like a local folder of cards, with the following exceptions:

- Network folders are only available when you are connected to the network. If you use a laptop or have a modem connection, you may wish to copy or cache the network directory. You do this by dragging and dropping your desired contacts into the local contacts list.

- To prevent excess network traffic, Evolution will not normally load the contents of LDAP folders immediately upon opening. You must click Display All before LDAP folder cards will be loaded from the network. You can change this behavior in the Contact Preferences window.

- You cannot add, delete, or alter cards on the LDAP server. If you need to change information there, you will need to speak to your system administrator

## Configuring Evolution to use LDAP

For information about setting up Evolution to use LDAP, please refer to the Section called Adding Directory Servers in Chapter 10>

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