Apple’s iTunes was the first popular application to make use of Smart Playlists. The concept is simple: a playlist that populates itself dynamically based on a given set of rules. For example, it is easy to create a Smart List that contains only songs from your music collection that are rated as 5 star. With a smart playlist, it is easy to keep that playlist up to date with all 5 star songs. Any time a song receives a 5 star rating, it automatically appears in that playlist. No maintenance required!

This concept is so simple. It is surprising that it did not become popular before now. Apple quickly added similar functionality to iPhoto. This made it easy to maintain dynamic groupings of photos in exactly the same manner as iTunes.

Now the creative minds at PommSoft have found a way to bring Smart Lists to Apple’s Address Book application. The product is called SmartBook— it does one thing, and it does it well! SmartBook works in tandem with Apple’s Address Book. It simply provides a way to create smart groups for the Address Book application.

Example:
To better explain how SmartBook works, consider my example. I have an address book containing hundreds of contacts. I used SmartBook to create a filter that looks for everyone in the Address Book who’s Company field contains “Other World Computing.”

As soon as I defined the criteria for the filter, and gave it a name, the SmartBook was immediately available in the Apple Address Book. When I defined the filter in SmartBook, I named it “Other World Computing.” As soon as I did, there was a smart list option called “Other World Computing” instantly available in the Address Book, and inside it was the entire staff of OWC. Now, when we add a new member to the staff, I simply add the person to Address Book as I normally would. They automatically become part of the SmartBook based on the contents of the company field of the address book. It could not be simpler!

SmartBook is only necessary to define the filters. It simply enhances Apple’s Address Book. Once the filters are defined, they appear in Address Book. It is only necessary to launch SmartBook to create new filters.

The software designers at PommSoft deserve credit for their creativity. Sadly, this product will likely be short lived. This idea is so simple, powerful, and intuitive that it will likely be built into Apple’s Address Book in the very near future. Since SmartBook is freeware, we encourage you do make a donation. This type of creative work should be rewarded!