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Address Books

Marc Pope edited this page Jul 26, 2026 · 3 revisions

Address books

Address books are the peer lists RustDesk clients sync. CortenDesk implements both the modern multi-address-book API and the legacy single-book API, so old and current clients both work against the same data.

Address Books screen with a shared book selected, showing its coloured tags and peer entries

Personal and shared books

Every user gets a personal book automatically. It is theirs, it is not shared, and it cannot be shared.

Shared books are created in the console and handed out with share rules. Use them for the peer lists a team works from.

Share rules

Each shared book carries its own rules. A rule grants one subject one permission:

Subjects

  • Everyone
  • A specific user
  • A user group

Permissions

Permission Holder may
Read See the book and its entries
Read/write Also add, edit and remove entries
Full control Also manage the book itself, including its rules

Rules are per book, so one book can be readable by everyone and writable by one team. They apply on top of the role's Address books area — a role granting Manage does not bypass a book's own rules.

Entries

An entry is a peer: its RustDesk ID, an alias, tags and a note. Entries are what the client actually sees in its address book pane.

Tags

Tags are per book and carry a colour. Clients can filter by them. They are the practical way to organise a large shared book without splitting it up.

What clients see

A client syncing against CortenDesk receives the user's personal book plus every shared book they hold a rule for, with the permission that rule grants. A read-only book is read-only in the client too.

Address book contents are independent of device access scoping — a peer can be in an address book without the user having console visibility of that device as a managed machine.

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