I try to be organized and split out contacts into different address books, but I find some contacts overlap between different address book “functions”, particularly between friends and work. I do this so I can show or hide contacts on my phone based on what address book(s) is/are selected. Groups, however, do not appear outside of the NextCloud web app and are of limited function as a result.
My request is to basically replace address books with “Smart Address Books” based on groups. In lieu of creating individual address books, I propose a single container of contacts where each group is interpreted as a separate address book. This would allow a single contact to exist in multiple address books without duplicating the actual contact. The remaining functionality of the address books should remain, such as sharing and downloading.
This could be done in multiple steps. The first would be to create the “Smart Address Book” feature without eliminating the actual multi-address book functionality. Then, if all goes well and removal is desired, remove the ability to create multiple address books.