User Guide

Are you finding it difficult to keep track of your insurance clients? Life as an insurance agent isn’t easy. We understand. Link.me is a desktop app built for insurance agents to help you manage your clients. Features of Link.me include adding, editing, deleting, searching for and filtering clients. Link.me also supports peripheral features such as adding and removing insurance plans of clients, meeting scheduling, recording client notes and notifying the user of important upcoming events.

Link.me 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, Link.me can get your client management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Using this guide

This user guide will guide you, as an insurance agent, through the process of setting up Link.me, introduce you to the capabilities of Link.me and facilitate your usage of Link.me so that you can better manage your ever-increasing number of clients.

Note the following symbols and formatting used in this guide:

Symbol/Formatting	Meaning
	This symbol indicates important information to take note of.
	This symbol indicates a helpful tip.
	This symbol indicates a warning that you should follow.

You may navigate this document using the Table of Contents provided below.

• Using this guide
• Quick start
• Overview
  • Layout
  • Functionalities
• Features
  • Listing all of your clients : list
  • Adding a client: add
  • Editing a client : edit
  • Deleting a client : delete
  • Clearing all clients : clear
  • Adding or removing insurance plans of a client : plan
    • Adding an insurance plan
    • Removing an insurance plan
  • Recording, clearing or viewing notes : note
    • Recording a note
    • Viewing notes
    • Clearing all notes
  • Arranging Meetings with Clients
    • Scheduling a meeting : schedule
    • Removing a meeting : unschedule
  • Searching for clients
    • Finding clients by name: find
    • Filtering clients by attributes : filter
  • Displaying notifications : notif
  • Viewing help : help
  • Exiting the program : exit
  • Saving the data
    • Editing the data file
• FAQ

Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed on your computer.

2. Download the latest linkme.jar from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for Link.me. We recommend you create a new folder for this.

4. Double-click the file to start Link.me. A window similar to the one shown below should appear in a few seconds. Note how Link.me already contains some sample data. You may look through the sample data to get an idea of what client information Link.me will store.
   

5. 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 of your clients.

   • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/123 John Street g/M b/1993-05-06 : Adds a client named John Doe to Link.me.

   • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd client shown in the currently displayed client list.

   • clear : Deletes all of your clients. You may use this to clear the sample data.

   • exit : Exits Link.me.

6. Refer to the Features section below for details of each command.

Overview

Layout

The structure of the Link.me interface is split into five main parts:

• The Input Command Line is where you input commands for execution.

• The Result Display displays the result of your command.

• The Client List displays the list of clients you have stored in Link.me.

• The Meeting List displays the list of meetings that you have scheduled.

• The Status Bar displays information regarding where your information is stored (not relevant for basic users).

You can view the personal information of each client, as well as their insurance plans and if there are any notes recorded about them.

You can also view information regarding upcoming meetings, such as the meeting time and a brief description of the meeting.

Functionalities

Features

Listing all of your clients : list

You can view a list of all of your clients stored in Link.me.

Format: list

Adding a client: add

You can add a client to Link.me, by specifying each of the fields below:

• Name
  • should only contain alphanumeric characters, spaces and these special characters: (),-
  • should not be blank
  • should not be the same as an existing client
  Tip: Use - in place of / if your name has it. e.g. Ravi s/o Veegan –> Ravi s-o Veegan
  
  Tip: Link.me does not allow identical names to help you avoid confusion. If more than one of your clients have the same name, you are encouraged to add additional information in parentheses after their name to help you differentiate them.
• Phone number
  • should only contain numbers
  • should be between 3 and 50 digits (inclusive) long
• Email
  • should be in the format local-part@domain
  • local-part should not be blank and should only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters: !#$%&’*+/=?`{|}~^.-
  • domain should be at least 2 characters long, start and end with alphanumeric characters, and only contain alphanumeric characters, periods and hyphens
• Address
  • should not be blank
• Gender
  • should be either M/Male, F/Female or N/Non-binary
• Birthdate
  • should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD
  • should be a valid date (before the current date)
• Tags (optional)
  • should only contain alphanumeric characters

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS g/GENDER b/BIRTHDATE [t/TAG]...

Tip: A client can have any number of tags (including 0).

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 g/M b/1995-01-01 t/investment
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/medical e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/91234567 t/life g/F b/1998-02-03

Editing a client : edit

You can edit the information of an existing client.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [g/GENDER] [b/BIRTHDATE] [t/TAG]...

• Edits the client at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• The format of each field is specified above under Adding a client.
• Existing values will be updated to new values you provide.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of your client will be removed i.e. adding of tags is not cumulative.
• When editing names, you cannot use a name that is identical to that of an existing client.

Tip: You can remove all of your client’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com
  Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st client to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/
  Edits the name of the 2nd client to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.
• edit 2 t/medical
  Edits the insurance tag of the 2nd client to be medical.

Deleting a client : delete

You can delete a specific client from Link.me.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the client at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd client in Link.me.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st client in the results of the find command.

Clearing all clients : clear

You can remove all clients from Link.me.

Format: clear

Adding or removing insurance plans of a client : plan

Adding an insurance plan

You can add a new insurance plan to an existing client.

Format: plan INDEX i/PLAN_NAME $PREMIUM

• Adds the insurance plan to the client specified at INDEX. INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• PLAN_NAME refers to the name of the insurance plan.
• PREMIUM refers to the yearly premium amount that the client pays for this plan.
• PREMIUM must be a positive amount with up to 2 decimal places.

Example:

• plan 3 i/Protecc $4000
  Adds a new insurance plan Protecc with a yearly premium amount of $4000 to the 3rd client.

Removing an insurance plan

You can remove an existing insurance plan from a client.

Format: plan INDEX c/PLAN_INDEX

• Removes the plan specified by PLAN_INDEX from the client specified at INDEX.
• INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list, while PLAN_INDEX refers to the index number shown in the list of insurance plans for that client.
• Both INDEX and PLAN_INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Example:

• plan 2 c/3 Removes the 3rd insurance plan of the 2nd client in the displayed client list.

Recording, clearing or viewing notes : note

Recording a note

You can record a note for a specific client.

Format: note INDEX r/NOTE

• Adds the provided NOTE to the client specified at INDEX. INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• NOTE should not be empty.

Example:

• note 3 r/Wants to upgrade insurance coverage adds the note “Wants to upgrade insurance coverage” to the 3rd client.

Tip: New notes will not replace old notes. Instead, they will be added to the existing list of notes.

Viewing notes

You can view all existing notes for a specific client. Notes will be displayed in a popup box, with each note listed as a bullet point.

Format: note INDEX v/

• View notes from the client specified at INDEX. INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Example:

• note 4 v/ generates a popup box displaying the notes recorded for the 4th client.

Clearing all notes

You can clear all existing notes from a specific client.

Format: note INDEX c/

• Clears all notes from the client specified at INDEX. INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Example:

• note 4 c/ clears all notes from the 4th client.

Arranging Meetings with Clients

Scheduling a meeting : schedule

You can schedule a meeting with a specific client in Link.me.

Format: schedule INDEX m/DESCRIPTION @ DATE_TIME

• Adds the client at the specified INDEX, the DATE_TIME and the DESCRIPTION of the meeting to the scheduled meetings list.
• INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• DATE_TIME refers to the date and time of the scheduled meeting.
• DATE_TIME should be provided in the specific datetime format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM.

Tip: Scheduling a new meeting will replace any existing meeting with that client.

Tip: Meetings with clashes will not be scheduled, but Link.me only detects clashes when the scheduled time is exactly the same. Even with a difference of 1 minute, Link.me will schedule a new meeting. This is to give you the largest flexibility when using Link.me.

Tip: You cannot schedule meetings in the past.

Example:

• schedule 2 m/Insurance Plan @ 2023-10-28 14:30 schedules a meeting with description “Insurance Plan” with the 2nd client on 28th October 2023 2:30 pm.

Removing a meeting : unschedule

Removing meetings comes in three flavors:

• Format: unschedule INDEX
  • Removes the meeting in the meeting list at INDEX. INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed meeting list.
  • The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• Format: unschedule all
  • Removes all meetings in the meeting list.
• Format: unschedule expired
  • Removes all expired meetings in the meeting list, i.e. meetings before the present date and time.

Tip: All expired meetings have to be manually unscheduled. This is so that you can refer old meetings when scheduling the next.

Example:

• unschedule 2 removes the 2nd meeting on the meeting list.

Searching for clients

Finding clients by name: find

You can find clients by simply entering their name. If you wish to filter clients by specific attributes such as gender, age, insurance plan name, etc, refer to Filtering clients by attributes below.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g. hans will match Hans
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Hans Bo will match Bo Hans
• Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans
• Clients matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber , Bo Yang

Examples: (Please refer to the sample data for this.)

• find John returns John Doe
• find Alex Jeff returns Alex Yeoh, Jeff Liu
  

Filtering clients by attributes : filter

You can filter clients by their address, gender, tags, age or insurance plan name.

Format: filter PREFIX/KEYWORD [PREFIX/MORE_KEYWORDS]...

Supported PREFIX/KEYWORD pairs:

• address: a/ADDRESS
• gender: g/GENDER (GENDER should be either M/Male, F/Female or N/Non-binary)
• tag: t/TAG
• age: age/[AGE] or age/[AGE_LOWER_BOUND]-[AGE_HIGHER_BOUND] (Age should be a non-negative integer)
• insurance plan name: i/PLAN_NAME

Note:

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g. for gender, male will match Male
• Clients with attributes matching all of the keywords will be returned (i.e. AND search). e.g. g/F age/40 will return all clients that are female AND are aged 40.

Example:

• filter a/Clementi g/M t/medical i/Protecc age/23-30 returns:

  • clients who have “Clementi” in their address, and
  • clients who are Male, and
  • clients with the “medical” tag, and
  • clients with the insurance plan “Protecc”, and
  • clients aged between 23 and 30 years old, inclusive

Displaying notifications : notif

You can view a notification window containing:

• All meetings occurring today, arranged in order of time.
• All client birthdays within the next two weeks, arranged in order of time.

Tip: The timeframes for notifications were chosen to give you ample time to prepare for upcoming meetings, or prepare gifts for upcoming client birthdays.

Tip: This notification window is also shown when starting up Link.me.

Format: notif

Viewing help : help

You can view a message with a link to the User Guide (this page).

Format: help

Exiting the program : exit

You can exit Link.me.

Format: exit

Saving the data

Link.me data is saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that modifies existing data. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

Link.me data is saved as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/linkme.json. We encourage only advanced users to edit the JSON file directly. The Link.me team does not take any responsibility in data loss or startup failures following invalid inputs.

Caution: If your changes to the data file make its format invalid, Link.me will try to discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run. However, if the damage is too excessive, Link.me may be unable to start up. In the case that this happens, please manually delete the data file in order to start the app successfully.

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer?
A: Install Link.me in the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the data file in your current Link.me home folder.

Q: What operating systems can I install Link.me on?
A: You can install Link.me on most modern desktop operating systems, including Linux, MacOS and Windows.