CareSync User Guide

CareSync is a desktop application designed for Social Workers in Singapore to manage client and support organization contact details, as well as track home visit schedules efficiently.

CareSync is optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, CareSync can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI applications.

Table of contents

• CareSync User Guide
  • Table of contents
  • Quick start
    • Step 1 - Java Installation
    • Step 2 - Download and Run CareSync
    • Step 3 - Get Started!
  • Features
    • Viewing help : help
    • Adding a contact: add
    • Archiving a contact : archive
    • Listing all unarchived contacts : list
    • Listing all archived contacts : list-archive
    • Editing a contact : edit
    • Locating contacts by specified field: find
    • Adding note to a contact : note
    • Managing tags for a contact : tag
    • Deleting contact(s) : delete
    • Unarchiving a contact : unarchive
    • Clearing all entries : clear
    • Exiting the program : exit
    • Autocompleting a command
    • Remembering a command
    • Saving the data
    • Editing the data file
  • FAQ
  • Known issues
  • Command summary
  • Glossary

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Quick start

Step 1 - Java Installation

• Ensure that you have Java 17 or above installed on your computer. Installation guides can be found here.

• To check for the Java version installed on your computer, open a command terminal and enter java --version. Example output for Java 17:

java version "17.0.17" 2025-10-21 LTS
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 17.0.17+8-LTS-360)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 17.0.17+8-LTS-360, mixed mode, sharing)

Step 2 - Download and Run CareSync

1. Download the latest CareSync.jar file from here.

2. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for CareSync.

3. Open a command terminal and navigate (cd) to the folder you placed CareSync.jar .

4. In the command terminal, enter java -jar CareSync.jar to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. There will be some sample data in the application to get you started!
   

Step 3 - Get Started!

• Type a command in the command box and press Enter to execute it (e.g. typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window).
  

• Some example commands you can try:

  • list : Lists all contacts.

  • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 nt/Needs financial support v/2026-12-01 14:00 : Adds a contact named John Doe to CareSync with the specified note and visit date and time.

  • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd contact shown in the current list.

  • find t/caseid1 : Lists all contacts with the caseid1 tag.

  • exit : Exits the app.

• For details of each command, refer to the Features section below.

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Features

Viewing help : help

Opens the Help window.

Format: help

Examples:

• help

Adding a contact: add

Adds a contact to CareSync.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [nt/NOTE] [v/VISIT_DATE_TIME] [t/TAG]…​

• n/, p/, e/, and a/ are compulsory and must each appear exactly once.
• nt/ and v/ are optional and can each appear at most once.
• You cannot add a contact whose name already exists in CareSync.
• You cannot add a contact whose VISIT_DATE_TIME is in the past.

Examples:

• add n/Betsy Crowe p/61234567 e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Road #02-01
• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 nt/Needs financial support v/2026-12-01 14:00

Archiving a contact : archive

Archives a contact identified by the index number shown in the current list.

Format: archive INDEX

• Archives the contact at the specified INDEX.
• CareSync will prevent duplicate archiving by displaying an alert if the selected contact is already archived.
• After a successful archive, the displayed list refreshes to update the currently shown list.

Examples:

• archive 1
• find n/Alex followed by archive 1 archives the 1st contact in the find results.

Listing all unarchived contacts : list

Shows a list of all unarchived contacts in CareSync.
Optionally, the list can be sorted by a specified field.

Format: list [s/FIELD]

• If no sorting field is provided, all contacts are listed in their default order (i.e. the original stored order of contacts).
  • list s/ (empty FIELD) can also be used to list the default order.
• If a sorting field is provided, the list will be sorted according to the specified field.
• Valid fields:
  • name - sorts contacts alphabetically by name
  • visit - sorts contacts by visit date and time

Examples:

• list
• list s/name
• list s/visit

Listing all archived contacts : list-archive

Shows a list of all archived contacts in CareSync.

Format: list-archive

• This command does not take any parameters.
• The displayed list is updated to show archived contacts only.
• If there are no archived contacts, an empty list is shown.

Examples:

• list-archive

Editing a contact : edit

Edits an existing contact in CareSync.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [nt/NOTE] [v/VISIT_DATE_TIME] [t/TAG]…​

• Edits the contact at the specified INDEX.
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• You cannot edit a contact to have a VISIT_DATE_TIME in the past.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the contact will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st contact to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd contact to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.
• edit 3 v/ Clears the visit date and time for the 3rd contact.

Locating contacts by specified field: find

Finds unarchived contacts whose information matches the provided search criteria.

Format:

• By name: find n/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…
• By tag: find t/TAG
• By specific date: find d/DATE
• By today: find d/today
• By date range: find sd/START_DATE ed/END_DATE

Examples:

• find n/John returns john and John Doe
• find t/caseid1 returns all contacts with the caseid1 tag (case-insensitive).
• find d/today returns all contacts with visits scheduled for today.
• find sd/2026-01-01 ed/2026-04-30 returns all contacts with visits between 1 January 2026 and 30 April 2026 (inclusive).

Adding note to a contact : note

Adds, replaces, or clears a note for the specified contact.

Format: note INDEX nt/NOTE

• Adds or replaces the note for the contact at the specified INDEX.

Examples:

• note 1 nt/Requires wheelchair assistance adds or replaces the note for the 1st contact in the list.
• note 1 nt/ clears the note for the 1st contact in the list.

Managing tags for a contact : tag

Adds or removes specific tags for the specified contact. Unlike edit, this command modifies tags incrementally without clearing existing tags.

Format: tag INDEX [at/TAG_TO_ADD]… [dt/TAG_TO_DELETE]…

• Operates on the contact at the specified INDEX.
• Use at/ prefix to add one or more tags.
• Use dt/ prefix to delete one or more tags.
• Both at/ and dt/ can be used together in a single command to add and delete tags simultaneously.

Examples:

• tag 1 at/caseid2 adds the tag caseid2 to the 1st contact.
• tag 1 dt/client removes the tag client from the 1st contact.
• tag 1 at/client at/caseid2 adds the tags client caseid2 to the 1st contact.
• tag 1 dt/client dt/caseid2 removes the tags client caseid2 from the 1st contact.
• tag 1 at/client dt/caseid1 adds client and removes caseid1 from the 1st contact.

Deleting contact(s) : delete

Deletes one or more contacts from CareSync.

Format: delete INDEX [MORE INDEXES or RANGES]…

• Deletes the contact(s) at the specified index(es) and range(s).
• A range is specified in the format START_INDEX-END_INDEX, using -.
  • END_INDEX must be greater than or equal to START_INDEX (e.g. delete 3-1 is invalid).
  • The maximum range cannot exceed 100.
• Indexes do not need to be in ascending order (e.g. delete 5 2 4 is valid).
• Duplicate indexes will be automatically ignored.
• Extra whitespaces () will be automatically ignored.

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd contact in CareSync.
• find n/Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st contact in the results of the find command.

• delete 1 3 5 deletes the 1st, 3rd, 5th contact in CareSync.
• delete 2-4 deletes the 2nd, 3rd, 4th contact in CareSync.
• delete 1 3-5 8 deletes 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th contact in CareSync.

Unarchiving a contact : unarchive

Unarchives a contact identified by the index number shown in the current list.

Format: unarchive INDEX

• Unarchives the contact at the specified INDEX.
• If the selected contact is not archived, CareSync will show a message indicating that the contact is not archived.
• After a successful unarchive, the displayed list refreshes to update the currently shown list.

Examples:

• list-archive followed by unarchive 1 unarchives the 1st contact in the archived list.
• unarchive 2

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries in CareSync.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits CareSync.

Format: exit

Autocompleting a command

Autocompletes a command or its prefixes with TAB

• Command
  • Suggests the shortest command that starts with the user input.
    • li suggests list
    • list suggests list-archive
• Prefix
  • Suggests next valid prefix.
    • edit 1 n/Alex suggests edit 1 n/Alex p/
    • find n/Alex will not suggest a second prefix.

Examples:

• After typing d, CareSync will suggest delete.
• After typing add, CareSync will suggest n/.

Remembering a command

Cycle through entered commands with ↑ / ↓ arrow keys in the command box.

• ↑ cycles back into history and ↓ cycles forward to the most recent command entered.
• Consecutive identical commands are collapsed into one entry in history.
  • Entering list followed by list, the command history will only save one instance of list.

Saving the data

CareSync data is saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Running CareSync for the first time without any existing data folder will generate a JSON file.

Editing the data file

CareSync data is saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

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FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous CareSync home folder.

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Known issues

1. When using multiple screens, if you move the application to a secondary screen, and later switch to using only the primary screen, the GUI will open off-screen. The remedy is to delete the preferences.json file created by the application before running the application again.

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Command summary

Glossary

• INDEX: Refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list.
  • Must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …
  • Must be a valid integer in the range of the displayed contact list
    
    
• n/NAME: Refers to the name of the contact.
  • The 1st character must be an alphanumeric character
  • Can only contain alphanumeric characters and whitespaces ()
  • No contacts can have the same NAME (case-insensitive. i.e., Adam and adam cannot exist at the same time)
  • Max length: 80
    
    
• p/PHONE: Refers to the phone number of the contact.
  • The 1st character must be a numeric character or +
  • Can only contain numeric characters, whitespaces () and certain special characters (+-)
  • Must contain at least one numeric character.
  • Min length: 3
  • Max length: 15
    
    
• e/EMAIL: Refers to the email address of the contact.
  • local@domain pattern
  • Max length: 254
    
    
• a/ADDRESS: Refers to the address of the contact.
  • Can only contain alphanumeric characters, whitespaces () and certain special characters (,.#'()-)
  • Must contain at least one non-whitespace character.
  • Max length: 120
    
    
• nt/NOTE: Refers to the note of the contact.
  • The 1st character must be a valid non whitespace () character
  • Can only contain alphanumeric characters, whitespaces () and certain special characters (,.)
  • Max length: 150
    
    
• v/VISIT_DATE_TIME: Refers to the visit date and time of the contact.
  • Must be in yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm format
  • Any month not in the range of 01 to 12 (inclusive) is treated as invalid
  • Any day not in the range of 01 to 31 (inclusive) is treated as invalid
  • Any hour not in the range of 00 to 23 (inclusive) is treated as invalid
  • Any minute not in the range of 00 to 59 (inclusive) is treated as invalid
  • Exceptions:
    • 24:00 is treated as 00:00 of the next day
    • For any month that has a max date smaller than 31, inputting an invalid date smaller than 31 (inclusive) will be rounded to the highest valid date
  • Accepted values are saved in normalized form after coercion/validation
    
    
• d/DATE, sd/DATE, ed/DATE: Refers to the visit date of the contact.
  • Must be in yyyy-MM-dd format or use the today keyword to specify today's date
  • For any month that has a max date smaller than 31, inputting an invalid date smaller than 31 (inclusive) will be rounded to the highest valid date
    
    
• t/TAG, at/TAG_TO_ADD, dt/TAG_TO_DELETE: Refers to the tag of the contact.
  • Can only contain alphanumeric characters
  • Can only be in lowercase (i.e. CASEID1 is the same as caseid1)
  • Max length: 15