CourseBook (v1.6)

CourseBook is a desktop app that helps university students keep track of their course mates and the modules they’re taking. It’s designed to be fast and efficient. Just type in simple commands to add friends, see who’s taking which module, and find the right person to ask when you’re stuck on an assignment.

Even though CourseBook runs in a window like other apps, it’s built for speed: instead of clicking through menus, you type short commands to get things done quickly. Don’t worry if you’re new to this. CourseBook comes with helpful examples and a guide to get you started.

Need to find your course friends? Use CourseBook!

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1 Who This Guide Is For
  • 1.2 What CourseBook Does
• 2. Quick Start
• 3. Understanding Command Format
• 4. Features
  • 4.1 Person Management Commands
    • 4.1.1 Adding a person: add
    • 4.1.2 Editing a person: edit
    • 4.1.3 Deleting person(s): delete or rm
    • 4.1.4 Listing all persons: list or ls
    • 4.1.5 Finding persons: find or f
    • 4.1.6 Viewing detailed information: viewperson
    • 4.1.7 Adding a birthday: bday
    • 4.1.8 Managing favourites: favourite and unfavourite
    • 4.1.9 Listing favourite persons: favs
  • 4.2 Course Management Commands
    • 4.2.1 Adding courses to a person: addcourse
    • 4.2.2 Removing courses from a person: removecourse
    • 4.2.3 Editing course color globally: editcourse
    • 4.2.4 Listing all courses: listcourses
    • 4.2.5 Listing persons in a course: list c/COURSE_CODE
  • 4.3 Display Commands
    • 4.3.1 Changing application theme: theme
  • 4.4 Sorting Commands
    • 4.4.1 Sorting by name: sortn
    • 4.4.2 Sorting by birthday: sortb
  • 4.5 History and Information Commands & Features
    • 4.5.1 Viewing command history: history
    • 4.5.2 Viewing summary statistics: summary
    • 4.5.3 Navigating command history: Arrow keys
  • 4.6 General Application Commands
    • 4.6.1 Viewing help: help
    • 4.6.2 Clearing all entries: clear
    • 4.6.3 Exiting the program: exit
  • 4.7 Undo & Redo
    • 4.7.1 Undoing commands: undo
    • 4.7.2 Redoing commands: redo
  • 4.8 UI Features
    • 4.8.1 Copy phone number to clipboard
• 5. Command Summary
• 6. Data & Storage
  • 6.1 Automatic Saving
  • 6.2 Editing the Data File
  • 6.3 Transferring Data to Another Computer
• 7. FAQ
• 8. Known Issues
• 9. Glossary

1. Introduction

1.1 Who This Guide Is For

This User Guide is designed for:

• Students who need to manage contacts by course enrollment
• First-time users setting up CourseBook for the first time
• Existing users looking for detailed command references

Prerequisites:

• Basic familiarity with command-line interfaces
• Java 17 installed on your computer
• Supported OS: Windows, macOS, or Linux

1.2 What CourseBook Does

CourseBook solves common academic networking challenges:

Problem: “I need help with CS2103T Tutorial 6 but I don’t know who else is taking this module.” Solution: Use list c/CS2103T to instantly see all your contacts enrolled in CS2103T.

Problem: “I have too many contacts and need to organize them better.”
Solution: Tag contacts by course, mark favourites with favourite, and use find to search across multiple fields.

Typical Workflows:

1. Finding study partners: Add contacts → Tag them with courses → List by course → View details
2. Managing favourites: Mark close friends as favourites → Use favs to quickly access them
3. Quick lookups: Use find with partial names/emails/tags to locate contacts instantly
4. Organizing courses: Use color-coded courses for visual clarity → Edit course colors globally

2. Quick Start

Follow these steps to get CourseBook up and running:

Step 1: Install Java 17

Ensure you have Java 17:

• Windows/Linux: Download from Oracle’s website
• macOS: Follow the precise installation guide

Verify installation by opening a terminal and running:

java -version

You should see output indicating Java 17.

Step 2: Download CourseBook

1. Download the latest coursebook.jar file from our releases page.
2. Create a folder on your computer where you want to store CourseBook (e.g., CourseBook in your Documents folder).
3. Move the downloaded coursebook.jar file into this folder.

Step 3: Launch CourseBook

1. Open a command terminal
2. Navigate to the folder containing coursebook.jar:

   cd path/to/your/CourseBook/folder
   

3. Run the application:

   java -jar coursebook.jar
   

A window similar to the one below should appear in a few seconds:

Figure 1: CourseBook main interface with sample data.

Step 4: Explore the Interface

The CourseBook interface has several key areas:

Figure 2: CourseBook UI components breakdown.

1. Command Box (top): Type your commands here and press Enter to execute
2. Result Display (below command box): Shows feedback and results from your commands
3. Person List Panel (right): Displays contacts matching your current view/filter
4. Course View Panel (left): Shows all courses with enrollment counts
5. Copy Button (on each person card): Click to copy phone number to clipboard

Step 5: Try Your First Commands

Type each command in the command box and press Enter:

1. List all contacts:

   list
   

   Expected: All sample contacts appear in the person list panel.

2. Add a new contact:

   add n/Alex Yeoh p/87438807 e/alexyeoh@example.com a/Blk 30 Geylang Street 29, #06-40 c/CS2103T,yellow

   Expected: A new contact “Alex Yeoh” appears at the bottom of the list with a yellow CS2103T course tag.

3. Find contacts:

   find n/alex
   

   Expected: Only contacts with names containing “alex” are shown.

4. List contacts by course:

   list c/CS2103T
   

   Expected: Only contacts enrolled in CS2103T are displayed.

5. View detailed information:

   viewperson 1
   

   Expected: A popup window shows detailed information about the first person in the list.

6. Delete a contact:

   delete 1
   

   Expected: A confirmation dialog appears showing the contact to be deleted. Click “OK” to confirm or “Cancel” to abort.

7. Get help:

   help
   

   Expected: A help window opens displaying all available commands with examples.

Congratulations! You’re now ready to use CourseBook. Proceed to Section 4: Features for complete command documentation.

3. Understanding Command Format

Before diving into specific commands, familiarize yourself with these conventions:

Caution when copying commands:
If using a PDF version of this guide, be careful when copying multi-line commands. Space characters around line breaks may be omitted when pasted.

4. Features

4.1 Person Management Commands

4.1.1 Adding a person: add

Adds a new contact to your coursebook.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [t/TAG]... [c/COURSE_CODE[,COLOR]]...

Parameters:

• n/NAME (Required) — Full name
• p/PHONE (Required) — Phone number (valid format required – 7-15 digits)
• e/EMAIL (Required) — Email address (valid format required)
• a/ADDRESS (Required) — Physical address (any characters)
• t/TAG (Optional, multiple allowed) — Tags for categorization (only alphanumeric characters e.g. bestFriend).
• c/COURSE_CODE[,COLOR] (Optional, multiple allowed) — Course code with optional color

Available Course Colors: green, yellow, red, blue, orange, purple, pink, gray

• If no color is specified, green is used by default.
• If a course code already exists with a color, the existing color is enforced globally.

Name Field Rules:
The n/ (name) parameter accepts the following characters:

• Letters and digits (a-z, A-Z, 0-9)
• Space ( )
• Apostrophe (‘)
• Slash (/)
• Hyphen (-)
• Period (.)
• Comma (,)

Examples that match:

• John
• Jean-Luc
• O’Connor
• Mary Anne
• Smith/Jones
• Dr. John
• J. K. Rowling
• Smith, Jr.
• Bob S/o Bobby
• Mary D/o Mari

Still prevents:

• Names starting with punctuation or space (e.g., -John, ‘John, John)
• Completely empty strings

Tip:
- Each person can be associated with any number of tags and courses, including none.
- Use tags for categorization (e.g., friend, groupmate, ta).
- Use colored course tags for quick visual identification.

Examples:

add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01

Adds John Doe without tags or courses

add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 t/classmate

Adds Betsy Crowe with two tags (friend, classmate)

add n/Alice p/94351253 e/alice@example.com a/123, Jurong West Ave 6 c/CS2103T,yellow c/CS2101,blue

Adds Alice with two color-coded courses

Expected Output:

Figure 3: State of CourseBook after adding the three people.

Warning:
- Duplicate detection checks name, phone, and email. If any match an existing contact, the add will fail.
- Empty tag i.e. edit 1 t/ will remove all tags.
- Adding multiple tags with one of them being empty i.e. edit 1 t/ t/husband is not allowed.
- Duplicate tags for the same person i.e. edit 1 t/hello t/hello will only insert one tag hello.

Related: Editing a person, Adding courses to a person

4.1.2 Editing a person: edit

Edits an existing contact’s details.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]...

Parameters:

• INDEX (Required) — Position in the currently displayed list (positive integer)
• At least one optional field must be provided

Behavior:

• Existing values are replaced by new input values
• When editing tags: all existing tags are replaced (not cumulative)
• A person’s birthday and favourite status will remain unchanged unless explicitly edited.
• To clear all tags: use t/ with no value

Tip:
- After editing, the view automatically switches to show all persons (not just the filtered list).
- Use addcourse or removecourse if you want to modify courses.

Examples:

edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com

Edits the 1st person’s phone and email

edit 2 n/Betsy Crowe t/

Edits the 2nd person’s name and clears all tags

Expected Output:

Edited Person: Betsy Crowe; Phone: 1234567; Email: betsycrowe@example.com; Address: Newgate Prison; Tags: ;

Error Messages:

• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index out of range
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index
• "At least one field to edit must be provided." — No fields specified
• Error message for duplicates detected in name/phone number/email

Related: Adding a person

4.1.3 Deleting person(s): delete or rm

Deletes one or more contacts from the coursebook. Can delete by index or by name.

Format (by index): delete INDEX [INDEX]...

Format (by name): delete NAME[, NAME]...

Alias: rm can be used instead of delete

Parameters:

• By index: Space-separated positive integers (e.g., 1 2 3)
• By name: Comma-separated names, case-insensitive (e.g., John Doe, Jane Smith)
• Cannot mix: You cannot use indices and names in the same command

Confirmation Required: Before deletion, a confirmation dialog appears showing the contacts to be deleted. You must click “OK” to confirm or “Cancel” to abort.

Figure 4: Delete confirmation window pop up.

Warning:
* Make sure you review the confirmation dialog carefully before clicking “OK”.

Behavior:

• Invalid indices: If some indices are invalid, they are shown in the confirmation dialog with warnings.
• Name matching: Full name must match (case-insensitive). Partial names won’t work.

Tip:
* After find or list c/COURSE, indices refer to the filtered results, not the full list.
* If unsure about names, use find first to see exact names, then delete by index.

Examples:

delete 1

Shows confirmation dialog for the 1st person in the current list

delete 1 2 3

Shows confirmation dialog for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons

delete John Doe

Shows confirmation dialog for person named “John Doe”

delete John Doe, Jane Smith

Shows confirmation dialog for “John Doe” and “Jane Smith”

list
delete 2

Deletes the 2nd person in the full address book (after confirming)

find Betsy
delete 1

Deletes the 1st person in the find results (after confirming)

Expected Output (before confirmation):

Figure 5: Delete confirmation screen for singular person.

Expected Output (after confirmation):

Deleted Person: John Doe; Phone: 98765432; Email: johnd@example.com; Address: John street, block 123, #01-01; Courses: ; Tags:

Expected Output (multiple deletions):

Figure 6: Delete confirmation screen for multiple persons.

Expected Output (with warnings):

Figure 7: Delete confirmation screen for multiple persons and invalid index provided.

Error Messages:

• No valid persons to delete. No contact found with name: Alicia" — Name doesn’t match any contact
• "No valid persons to delete." — Index is out of bounds
• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index is negative or zero

Related: Undoing commands, Finding persons

4.1.4 Listing all persons: list or ls

Shows all contacts in your coursebook.

Format: list

Alias: ls

Parameters: None

Expected Output:

Listed all persons

followed by a list view of all contacts.

Related: Listing persons by course, Finding persons

4.1.5 Finding persons: find or f

Finds contacts by searching across multiple fields with partial/substring matching.

Format: find [n/NAME_KEYWORDS] [p/PHONE_KEYWORDS] [e/EMAIL_KEYWORDS] [a/ADDRESS_KEYWORDS] [t/TAG]...

Alias: f

Parameters:

• n/NAME_KEYWORDS (Optional) — Name search keywords
• p/PHONE_KEYWORDS (Optional) — Phone search keywords
• e/EMAIL_KEYWORDS (Optional) — Email search keywords
• a/ADDRESS_KEYWORDS (Optional) — Address search keywords
• t/TAG (Optional) — Tag search
• No prefixes: If no prefixes are used, input is treated as name search

Search Logic:

• Inside one field (like name or email): If you give multiple keywords, it will match any of them.

  Example: n/Alice Bob finds contacts with either “Alice” or “Bob” in the name.

• Across different fields: It will return results if any field matches your keywords. Example: find n/Alice p/123 t/TA. If “Alice” is in the name, or “123” is in the phone number, or “TA” is in the tag, it still counts.
• Case-insensitive and partial/substring matching

Tip:
- Use partial matches to find contacts quickly: find n/ali finds “Alice”, “Alicia”, etc.
- Combine multiple fields to broaden your search: find n/John e/@gmail finds anyone named John OR with a Gmail address.
- Unknown prefixes are rejected to prevent typos.

Important:
- Names containing / with 1-2 letters before the / (e.g., S/o, Al/Johnson) must use the n/ prefix when searching.
- Use find n/S/o instead of find S/o to avoid prefix ambiguity.
- Names with 3+ letters before / (e.g., Smith/Johnson) work without prefixes: find Smith/Johnson ✓

Examples:

find n/Alice n/Bob

Finds persons with names containing “Alice” OR “Bob”

find n/Ali

Finds “Alice”, “Alicia”, “Alison” (partial match)

find p/9123 e/example.com

Finds phone containing “9123” OR email containing “example.com”

find t/fri

Finds persons with tags containing “fri” (e.g., “friend”)

find n/Alice t/friend

Finds persons with name containing “Alice” OR tag containing “friend”

find alex david

No prefixes → name-only search for “alex” or “david”

find n/S/o

Finds persons with names containing “S/o” — note: must use n/ prefix for names with 1-2 letters before /

find Smith/Johnson

Finds persons with names containing “Smith/Johnson” — works without prefix for names with 3+ letters before /

Expected Output (found):

3 persons listed!

Expected Output (not found):

No such contact found

Error Messages:

• Unknown prefix error if you use prefixes other than n/, p/, e/, a/, t/
• Invalid name keywords if names contain non-acceptable characters

Related: Listing all persons, Listing by course

4.1.6 Viewing detailed information: viewperson

Shows detailed information about a specific contact in a popup window.

Format (by index): viewperson INDEX

Format (by name): viewperson NAME

Parameters:

• INDEX — Position in currently displayed list (positive integer)
• NAME — Full name of the person (case-insensitive, must match exactly)

Behavior:

• Name matching is case-insensitive and automatically trims whitespace.

Examples:

viewperson 1

Shows details of the 1st person in the current list

viewperson John Doe

Shows details of the person named “John Doe”

Expected Output:

Showing details for: David Ong; Phone: 91031282; Email: lidavid@example.com; Address: Blk 436 Serangoon Gardens Street 26, #16-43; Courses: [CS2103T][CS2105][CS2101]; Tags: [TA]

A popup window displays full contact details including courses, tags, birthday, etc.

Figure 8: Popup window of the details of the person named “John Doe”.

Error Messages:

• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index out of range
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index
• "No contacts found! Please specify correct contact names." — Name doesn’t match

Related: Finding persons, Listing persons

4.1.7 Adding a birthday: bday

Adds a birthday to an existing contact.

Format: bday INDEX b/BIRTHDAY

Parameters:

• INDEX (Required) — Position in currently displayed list (positive integer)
• b/BIRTHDAY (Required) — Birthday in DD-MM-YYYY format

Constraints:

• Date must be valid (e.g., 29-02-2000 is valid, 31-02-2000 is not)
• Birthday cannot be in the future
• Birthday cannot be before 01-01-1900
• Only one birthday per person

Behavior:

• If person already has a birthday, it is updated to the new one
• If the new birthday is the same as the existing one, the command fails

Tip:
* After adding birthdays, use sortb to sort contacts by upcoming birthdays.
* Birthdays are displayed on person cards and in the detail view.

Examples:

bday 1 b/20-02-2007

Adds birthday 20th February 2007 to the 1st person

bday 2 b/15-12-1995

Adds birthday 15th December 1995 to the 2nd person

Expected Output:

Added birthday: 20-02-2007 John Doe; Phone: 98765432; Email: johnd@example.com; Address: John street, block 123, #01-01; Tags: ; Courses:

Error Messages:

• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index out of range
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index
• "Birthday has already been added!" — Trying to add the same birthday again

Related: Sorting by birthday, Editing a person

4.1.8 Managing favourites: favourite and unfavourite

Mark contacts as favourites or remove them from favourites.

Format (mark as favourite, by index): favourite INDEX

Format (mark as favourite, by name): favourite NAME

Format (remove from favourites, by index): unfavourite INDEX

Format (remove from favourites, by name): unfavourite NAME

Parameters:

• INDEX — Position in currently displayed list (positive integer)
• NAME — Full name (case-insensitive, must match exactly)

Behavior:

• favourite persons are marked with a star (★) in the person list
• Cannot favourite a person who is already favourited
• Cannot unfavourite a person who is not favourited
• Name matching is case-insensitive with automatic whitespace trimming

Tip:
* Use favs command to quickly view all your favourite contacts.

Examples:

favourite 1

Marks the 1st person as favourite

favourite John Doe

Marks “John Doe” as favourite

unfavourite 2

Removes the 2nd person from favourites

unfavourite Jane Smith

Removes “Jane Smith” from favourites

Expected Output (favourite):

Marked as favourite: John Doe; Phone: 98765432; Email: johnd@example.com; Address: John street, block 123, #01-01; Tags: ; Courses:

Expected Output (unfavourite):

Removed from favourites: Jane Smith; Phone: 91234567; Email: janesmith@example.com; Address: Main St; Tags: ; Courses:

Error Messages:

• "This person is already marked as favourite." — Trying to favourite an already favourited person
• "This person is not marked as favourite." — Trying to unfavourite a person who isn’t favourited
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index provided

Related: Listing favourites

4.1.9 Listing favourite persons: favs

Shows all contacts marked as favourites.

Format: favs

Parameters: None

Expected Output (with favourites):

Listed all favourite contacts.

Figure 9: List of favourite contacts.

Expected Output (no favourites):

No favourite contacts yet.

Related: Managing favourites

4.2 Course Management Commands

4.2.1 Adding courses to a person: addcourse

Adds one or more courses to a contact without replacing existing courses.

Format: addcourse INDEX c/COURSE_CODE[,COLOR] [c/COURSE_CODE[,COLOR]]...

Parameters:

• INDEX (Required) — Position in currently displayed list (positive integer)
• c/COURSE_CODE[,COLOR] (Required, multiple allowed) — Course code with optional color

Available Colors: green, yellow, red, blue, orange, purple, pink, gray

Behavior:

• Preserves existing courses
• If a course code already exists globally, and you supply a different color, the global color is updated
• If a new course code is added without color, it defaults to green

Tip:
* Use addcourse when you want to add courses without affecting existing ones.
* Course colors are global — changing a color for CS2103T changes it for all contacts with CS2103T.

Examples:

addcourse 1 c/CS2103T,yellow

Adds CS2103T with yellow color to the 1st person

addcourse 2 c/CS2101 c/CS2040S,blue

Adds CS2101 (default green) and CS2040S (blue) to the 2nd person

Expected Output:

Added courses to Person: John Doe; Phone: 98765432; Email: johnd@example.com; Address: John street, block 123, #01-01; Tags: ; Courses: [CS2103T], [CS2101]

Error Messages:

• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index out of range
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index
• "This person already has one or more of these courses" — Duplicate course

Related: Removing courses, Editing course color

4.2.2 Removing courses from a person: removecourse

Removes one or more courses from a contact.

Format: removecourse INDEX c/COURSE_CODE [c/COURSE_CODE]...

Parameters:

• INDEX (Required) — Position in currently displayed list (positive integer)
• c/COURSE_CODE (Required, multiple allowed) — Course codes to remove (case-insensitive)

Behavior:

• Only removes courses that exist for the person
• If none of the specified courses exist for the person, command fails

Examples:

removecourse 1 c/CS2103T

Removes CS2103T from the 1st person

removecourse 2 c/CS2101 c/CS2040S

Removes CS2101 and CS2040S from the 2nd person

Expected Output:

Removed courses from Person: John Doe; Phone: 98765432; Email: johnd@example.com; Address: John street, block 123, #01-01; Tags: ; Courses:

Error Messages:

• "The person index provided is invalid" — Index out of range
• "Index cannot be a negative integer." — Negative index
• "None of the specified courses exist for this person" — Courses not found

Related: Adding courses, Editing a person

4.2.3 Editing course color globally: editcourse

Sets the color for a course code globally across all contacts.

Format: editcourse c/COURSE_CODE,COLOR

Parameters:

• c/COURSE_CODE,COLOR (Required) — Course code and color (comma-separated)

Available Colors: green, yellow, red, blue, orange, purple, pink, gray

Behavior:

• Updates the color for the course code globally
• All contacts with this course code will reflect the new color
• Both course code and color must be provided

Tip:
* Use consistent colors for similar course types (e.g., yellow for all CS courses, blue for math courses).
* This helps with visual organization when viewing contact lists.

Examples:

editcourse c/CS2103T,red

Changes CS2103T color to red for all contacts

editcourse c/CS2101,green

Changes CS2101 color to green for all contacts

Expected Output:

Updated color for CS2103T to red

Error Messages:

• "Course code and color must be provided" — Missing course code or color

Related: Adding courses, Listing courses

4.2.4 Listing all courses: listcourses

Lists all unique courses in the coursebook.

Format: listcourses

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Shows all courses with their enrollment counts
• Switches to the courses view panel

Expected Output (with courses):

Listed 5 course(s)

Expected Output (no courses):

No courses found in the course book

Related: Listing persons by course, Summary

4.2.5 Listing persons in a course: list c/COURSE_CODE

Shows all contacts enrolled in a specific course.

Format: list c/COURSE_CODE

Alias: ls c/COURSE_CODE

Parameters:

• c/COURSE_CODE (Required) — Course code to filter by (case-insensitive)

Behavior:

• Course code matching is case-insensitive
• If course doesn’t exist, an empty list is shown with an error message

Examples:

list c/CS2103T

Shows all persons taking CS2103T

ls c/cs2101

Shows all persons taking CS2101 (case-insensitive)

Expected Output (found):

Listed all persons in CS2103T

Figure 10: List of contacts taking course CS2103T.

Expected Output (not found):

No such course: CS9999

Related: Listing all persons, Listing courses

4.3 Display Commands

4.3.1 Changing application theme: theme

Changes the application’s visual theme. The theme is not persistent i.e. will revert to the default dark theme when you launch the application.

Format: theme THEME_NAME

Available Themes:

• dark — Dark theme (default)
• blue — Blue theme
• love — Love theme (pink/romantic colors)
• tree — Tree theme (nature-inspired)

Parameters:

• THEME_NAME (Required) — One of: dark, blue, love, tree (case-insensitive)

Behavior:

• Theme change is applied immediately
• Cannot switch to the currently active theme

Tip:
* Choose a theme that matches your preferences or reduces eye strain.

Examples:

theme blue

Figure 12: Changes to blue theme.

theme dark

Figure 13: Changes to dark theme.

theme love

Figure 14: Changes to love theme.

theme tree

Figure 15: Changes to tree theme.

Expected Output:

Theme changed to: tree

Error Messages:

• "Invalid theme name. Available themes: dark, blue, love, tree" — Unrecognized theme
• "Theme is already <current_theme>!" — Trying to switch to current theme

Related: Undoing commands

4.4 Sorting Commands

4.4.1 Sorting by name: sortn

Sorts the contact list by name in ascending or descending order.

Format: sortn by/ORDER

Parameters:

• by/ORDER (Required) — Sort order: asc (ascending A-Z) or desc (descending Z-A)

Behavior:

• Case-sensitive order matching (ASC/DESC/AsC/dEsC are invalid)
• Sorts by person’s full name

Examples:

sortn by/asc

Sorts names A to Z

sortn by/desc

Sorts names Z to A

Expected Output (with results):

Sorted contacts by name in ascending order.

Expected Output (empty list):

No contacts to sort by name.

Error Messages:

• Incorrect format if order is missing or invalid

Related: Sorting by birthday, Listing persons

4.4.2 Sorting by birthday: sortb

Sorts contacts by how soon their next birthday occurs.

Format: sortb

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Contacts with upcoming birthdays appear first
• Contacts without birthdays are placed at the end

Tip:
* Use this command to see whose birthdays are coming up soon.
* Combine with favs to see favourite contacts’ birthdays first: favs followed by sortb.

Example:

sortb

Sorts contacts by upcoming birthdays

Expected Output (with results):

Sorted contacts by upcoming birthday.

Figure 16: Sorted contacts.

Expected Output (empty list):

No contacts to sort by birthday.

Related: Adding birthdays, Sorting by name

4.5 History and Information Commands & Features

4.5.1 Viewing command history: history

Shows all commands executed in the current session.

Format: history

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Commands are listed from most recent to oldest (reverse chronological order)
• Each command is numbered starting from 1
• History is cleared when the application is closed

Example:

history

Expected Output:

History (from latest to earliest)

1. add n/John Doe p/12345678 e/john@example.com a/123 Main St
2. list
3. find alex
4. delete 1

Expected Output (no history):

No commands in history!

Related: Undoing commands

4.5.2 Viewing summary statistics: summary

Shows a summary of all contacts with breakdown by course enrollment.

Format: summary

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Displays total number of persons
• Shows enrollment counts for each course
• Courses are sorted alphabetically
• Handles persons with multiple courses correctly

Example:

summary

Expected Output:

Summary: 15 person(s) found

Breakdown by course:
[CS2030S]: 5 enrollment(s)
[CS2040S]: 8 enrollment(s)
[CS2101]: 6 enrollment(s)
[CS2103T]: 10 enrollment(s)

Expected Output (empty coursebook):

Course book is empty. Please add persons before viewing summary.

Related: Listing courses, Listing by course

4.5.3 Navigating command history: Arrow keys

CourseBook lets you scroll through your previously entered commands using the ↑ (up arrow) and ↓ (down arrow) keys, just like in a terminal.

• Press ↑ to go back to the last command you typed.
• Press ↑ again to keep going further back through your command history.
• Press ↓ to move forward to more recent commands (after you’ve gone back).

This feature makes it easy to repeat, tweak, or re-run past commands without having to retype them from scratch.

4.6 General Application Commands

4.6.1 Viewing help: help

Opens the help window displaying all available commands.

Format: help

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Opens a help window with a table of all commands
• Shows command names, descriptions, and examples
• Includes a link to the full User Guide
• Has a “Copy URL” button to copy the User Guide link to clipboard

Example:

help

Expected Output:

Opened help window.

Figure 17: Help window showing command summary table.

Tip:
* Use keyboard shortcut F1 to quickly open the help window.
* Click “Copy URL” in the help window to get the link to the full online User Guide.

Related: Command summary table

4.6.2 Clearing all entries: clear

Removes all contacts from the coursebook.

Format: clear

Parameters: None

Warning:
* Consider exporting your data file before using this command.

Example:

clear

Expected Output:

Course book has been cleared!

Related: Undoing commands, Data storage

4.6.3 Exiting the program: exit

Exits the CourseBook application.

Format: exit

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Saves all data automatically before exiting
• Closes all windows (main window, help window, etc.)

Example:

exit

Related: Data storage

4.7 Undo & Redo

4.7.1 Undoing commands: undo

Reverts the last command that changed a person’s details or the CourseBook theme.

Format: undo

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Commands that can be undone are add, delete, edit, bday, favourite, unfavourite, addcourse, removecourse, editcourse, theme, clear, redo
• Commands that cannot be undone are list, favs, find, viewperson, listcourses, list c/, sortn, sortb, history, summary, help, exit
• Can undo multiple times in sequence
• After undo, the view switches to show all persons

Tip:
* You can undo multiple commands by running undo repeatedly.
* Use redo to reapply undone commands if you change your mind.

Example:

undo

Expected Output:

Undo success!

Error Messages:

• "No more commands to undo!" — No undoable commands in history

Related: Redoing commands, Command history

4.7.2 Redoing commands: redo

Reapplies the last undone command.

Format: redo

Parameters: None

Behavior:

• Reapplies the last command that was undone
• Can redo multiple times in sequence
• After redo, the view switches to show all persons

Example:

redo

Expected Output:

Redo success!

Error Messages:

• "No more commands to redo!" — No redoable commands

Related: Undoing commands

4.8 UI Features

4.8.1 Copy phone number to clipboard

Each person card has a copy button on the right side that copies the phone number to your clipboard.

Figure 18: Copy person’s phone number to clipboard.

How to use:

1. Locate the person card in the person list panel
2. Click the copy icon button on the right side of the card
3. The phone number is now in your clipboard and can be pasted anywhere

Tip:
* This is faster than manually selecting and copying phone numbers.
* Use this feature when you need to call or message a contact.

5. Command Summary

6. Data & Storage

6.1 Automatic Saving

CourseBook automatically saves your data after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Data File Location: [JAR file location]/data/CourseBook.json

Preferences File Location: [JAR file location]/preferences.json

6.2 Editing the Data File

Advanced users can update data directly by editing the CourseBook.json file.

Caution: * If your changes make the format invalid, CourseBook will discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run. * Always backup the file before editing. * Certain edits can cause unexpected behavior (e.g., values outside acceptable ranges). * Only edit if you are confident you can update it correctly.

6.3 Transferring Data to Another Computer

To transfer your CourseBook data:

1. Install CourseBook on the new computer
2. Run it once to create the data folder structure
3. Replace the empty CourseBook.json file with your existing data file
4. (Optional) Copy preferences.json to preserve window settings

7. FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer? A: Install CourseBook on the new computer and replace the empty data file it creates with your existing CourseBook.json file. See Section 6.3.

Q: Why does delete show a confirmation dialog? A: This is a safety feature to prevent accidental deletions. Always review the confirmation dialog before clicking “OK”.

Q: Can I undo a clear command? A: Yes, use the undo command immediately after clear to restore all contacts.

Q: How do I change a person’s birthday? A: Use the bday command with a new date. If the person already has a birthday, it will be updated (unless it’s the same date, which will fail).

Q: Can I search by partial names? A: Yes, the find command uses partial/substring matching. find n/ali will match “Alice”, “Alicia”, etc.

Q: Do course colors apply to all persons with that course? A: Yes, course colors are global. Changing the color for CS2103T will update it for everyone enrolled in CS2103T.

Q: What happens if I enter an invalid command? A: CourseBook will display an error message explaining what went wrong and suggest the correct format. If unsure of a command, use the help command to view the command summary.

8. Known Issues

Issue: When using multiple monitors, if the application window is moved to a secondary screen and that screen is later disconnected, the application may open off-screen and appear invisible.

Cause: The application remembers its last window position using a preferences.json file. If that position was on a monitor that’s no longer connected, the window may launch outside the visible area.

Workaround: Delete the preferences.json file before launching the application again. This resets the window position to its default location on the primary screen.

9. Glossary

End of User Guide

For support or to report issues, visit our GitHub repository.