This tab contains all of the options needed to set up the general operation of ContactsEx. The available options are as follows:

Long Press of TALK: This options configures the way the TALK key behaves inside of ContactsEx. When set to Long Distance Call the program will dial all calls as local calls if you simply press and release the TALK key. In order to dial a long distance call you must press and hold the TALK key for approximately half-a-second. When set to Local Call however, this behavior is reversed and calls are normally dialed as long distance. To dial a call as local you must press and hold the TALK key.

Name Order: This options configures the way names are displayed on the Names Tab. First Middle Last displays name in natural order (such as Steve James Punter). Last, First Middle displays them with the surname first, followed by a comma, followed by first and middle name (such as Punter, Steve James). The choice you make here not only determines the way the names are displayed, but in what order they appear, and how the T9 search is performed.

Middle Name: This options determines whether ContactsEx includes a Middle Name editbox when adding or editing a contact name. If a middle name has been given for a contact, then a Middle Name editbox will always appear when editing it. However, if middle name is hidden, then the Middle Name editbox will be removed when adding new contacts or when editing contacts without an existing middle name.

Extended Icons: Symbian S60 does provide native icons for home and office phone numbers, but they don't conform to the style of those for other types of phone numbers and are subsequently not used. Instead home and office type phone numbers are given the same icon as general phone numbers. ContactsEx provides icons for these two phone number types that are designed to look similar to the native icons used for other phone number types, but you aren't forced to use them. This option gives you three choices: first you can turn off custom icons completely and have only the icons that appear in the native phonebook manager; second you can use the poorly-designed native icons that Symbian chose to ignore; and third you can choose to use the icons designed for ContactsEx.

Update Connection: This options let you choose which connection to use when ContactsEx checks to see if there are new versions of the software available. The list includes all of the connections the phone knows about (including all configured WiFi connections, even if they are not current present) and an entry labeled Always Ask. If you are concerned about the program using data without your consent, choose Always Ask.

Update Schedule: This options determines when (or if) the program checks for new versions. You have three choices, which are: Manual, in which case the program never checks automatically and will only do so if you explicitly ask it to check; Automatic, in which case the program will perform a check once per day; At Startup Only, which means the check will only be performed whenever you start the application.

Update Type: Normally this is set to Signed, in which case the update feature downloads and installs the signed copy of the program. However, if you have a hacked phone that is capable of installing unsigned programs, then you can choose the Unsigned option here and have the unsigned version downloaded.

Filtered Contacts: This options configures the lifespan of contacts filtered by Group. If you choose Reset Upon Hide, then the filtering remains in effect only as long as the program is in the foreground. The moment you hide the application, the filters are removed. When you choose Reset Upon Shutdown, the filters remain in effect so long as the application remains running (hidden or otherwise). The filters are only reset when you next restart the application.

Hide Behavior: This option decides whether the selector position in the Names tab and/or the selector position in the Log tab is remembered when the application is hidden (via the Hide softkey). You can choose to save neither of these positions, just the contact, just the Call Log, or both.

Keyboard: This options tells the program whether you have a numeric or QWERTY keyboard. Normally you don't need to set this option manually, since QWERTY is chosen automatically the first time you press an alpha key at the Names Tab. This setting determines how numeric keys are processed when performing a search for a contact in the Names Tab.

# Key: This option is provided for users with non-QWERTY phones that do not have a pencil key. On these phones the shift functionality was moved to the # key, but that creates a problem for ContactsEx because it uses the # key in a couple of different tabs to perform specific functions. By changing this setting from Normal to Shift you ensure that the # key is never used for anything specific (and where it was, there are alternate ways of getting at the functionality).