QuickHire User Guide

QuickHire is a desktop address book application designed for recruiters to manage and organise the details of their potential job candidates.

---

Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
   Mac users: Ensure you have the precise JDK version prescribed here.

2. Download the latest .jar file from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your QuickHire application.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar quickhire.jar command to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   

1. Type the 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 j/Software Engineer l/Unreviewed : Adds a contact named John Doe to the Address Book.

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

   • clear : Deletes all contacts.

   • exit : Exits the app.

2. Refer to the General command format below for details of each command.

[Go to top]

---

General command format

[Go to top]

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

[Go to top]

Commands for candidate data

Adding a candidate: add

Adds a candidate to the address book.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS j/JOB ROLE l/LABEL [r/REMARK] [t/TAG]…​

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/311, Clementi Ave 2, #02-25 j/Data Scientist l/Unreviewed r/Likes to code t/friends t/owesMoney
• add n/Vish p/1293123 e/sample@domain.com a/213123 street j/ProData guy l/Rejected

[Go to top]

Listing all candidates : list

Shows a list of all candidates in the address book.

Format: list

[Go to top]

Editing a candidate : edit

Edits an existing candidate in the address book.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [j/JOB ROLE] [l/LABEL] [r/REMARK] [t/TAG]…​

• Edits the candidate at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed candidate list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the candidate will be removed i.e., adding of tags is not cumulative.
• A remark can have up to a maximum of 150 characters.
• You can remove all the candidate's tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
• You can remove a candidate's remarks by typing r/ without specifying any remarks after it.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number, and email address of the 1st candidate to be 91234567, and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd candidate to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.
• edit 1 r/ Clears all remarks for the 1st candidate.
• edit 1 l/Shortlisted Updates the label of the 1st candidate to Shortlisted.

[Go to top]

Viewing a candidate's full application details: view

Displays the full details of selected candidate.

Format: view INDEX

• Additional details about candidate shown include candidate contact number and address.

Example:

• view 1 Displays the full information of the first candidate in the side panel.

[Go to top]

Locating candidates using keywords: find

Finds candidates whose details contain any of the given keywords.

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

• All details of a candidate are searched.

• Only full words will be matched. e.g. Han will not match Hans

• Candidates whose details match at least one of the keyword(s) provided will be returned. The details of a candidate that will be searched for are as follows:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Address
  • Job Roles applied for
  • Label given to the candidate
  • Remarks provided for the candidate
  • Tags associated with the candidate
    

  e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Examples:

• find John Returns john and John Doe.
• find alex david Returns Alex Yeoh, David Li.
  

[Go to top]

Deleting a candidate : delete

Deletes the specified candidate from the candidate list.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the candidate at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed candidate list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• Note: Deleting a candidate won’t remove their interview schedules. We keep those schedules for record‑keeping so you can review past interviews.
• If you do need to delete them, use the sdelete command shown below. Examples:
• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd candidate in the address book.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st candidate in the results of the find command.

[Go to top]

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from the address book.

Format: clear

[Go to top]

Adding remarks to a candidate : remark

Note: The functionalities of this command can be achieved via the r/REMARK flag in add and edit commands.

Format: remark INDEX [r/REMARK]

• Adds a remark to the candidate at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed candidate list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• You can remove a candidate's remarks either by typing r/ without specifying any remarks after it or by not specifying the parameter at all.
• A remark can have up to a maximum of 150 characters.

Examples:

• remark 1 r/Likes to code Adds a remark (Likes to code) to the 1st candidate
• remark 1 r/ Clears all remarks for the 1st candidate
• remark 1 Clears all remarks for the 1st candidate

[Go to top]

Commands for interview schedules

Adding an interview schedule: sadd

Adds an interview schedule of a candidate to the interview schedule board.

Format: sadd c/INDEX s/INTERVIEW_DATE_AND_DURATION m/MODE

• Adds the interview schedule of candidate specified at the INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed candidate list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

• INTERVIEW_DATE_AND_DURATION: Interview schedule for candidates

  • Format: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm HH:mm
    • yyyy-MM-dd: date of the interview
    • First HH:mm = start time
    • Second HH:mm = end time
  • Both start time and end time must fall on the same calendar day.
  • Duration must be at least 15 minutes and no more than 4 hours.
  • You may schedule interviews in the distant past or future—just as Google Calendar allows—to support record‑keeping and planning. The past schedules will be displayed in a lighter color in the schedule board.
  • To schedule across midnight, split into two commands (one per day).

• MODE: Format of the interview

  • Either Online or Offline.

• All fields must be provided.

Examples:

• sadd c/2 s/2025-03-15 15:00 16:00 m/online
• sadd c/1 s/2025-05-05 9:00 10:00 m/offline

[Go to top]

Listing all interview schedules : slist

Shows a list of all interview schedules in the interview schedule board.

Format: slist

[Go to top]

Editing an interview schedule : sedit

Edits an existing interview schedule in the interview schedule board.

Format: sedit SCHEDULE_INDEX [s/INTERVIEW_DATE_AND_DURATION] [m/MODE]

• Edits the schedule at the specified SCHEDULE_INDEX. The schedule index refers to the index number shown in the displayed schedule board. The schedule index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• INTERVIEW_DATE_AND_DURATION: Interview schedule for candidates
  • Format: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm HH:mm
    • yyyy-MM-dd: date of the interview
    • First HH:mm = start time
    • Second HH:mm = end time
  • Both start time and end time must fall on the same calendar day.
  • Duration must be at least 15 minutes and no more than 4 hours.
  • You may schedule interviews in the distant past or future—just as Google Calendar allows—to support record‑keeping and planning. The past schedules will be displayed in a lighter color in the schedule board.
  • To schedule across midnight, split into two commands (one per day).
• MODE: Format of the interview
  • Either Online or Offline.
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.

Examples:

• sedit 1 s/2025-05-22 15:00 17:00 m/offline Edits the date and duration, and interview mode of the 1st schedule to be 2025-05-22 15:00 17:00, offline respectively.
• sedit 2 s/2025-05-25 14:00 15:00 Edits the date and duration of the 2nd schedule to be 2025-05-25 14:00 15:00.
• sedit 1 m/online Edits the mode of the 1st schedule to be online.

[Go to top]

Deleting an interview schedule: sdelete

Deletes the specified interview schedule from the interview schedule board.

Format: sdelete SCHEDULE_INDEX

• Deletes the interview schedule at the specified SCHEDULE_INDEX.
• The schedule index refers to the index number shown in the displayed schedule board.
• The schedule index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• slist followed by sdelete 2 deletes the 2nd schedule in the schedule board.

[Go to top]

Clearing all interview schedules: sclear

Clears all interview schedules from the schedule board.

Format: sclear

[Go to top]

Commands for managing saved list of job roles

Adding a job role : addJ

Adds a job role to the list of saved job roles.

Format: addJ JOB ROLE

Examples:

• addJ Software Engineering Intern
• addJ Software Tester

[Go to top]

Deleting a job role: deleteJ

Deletes a job role from the list of saved job roles.

Format: deleteJ JOB ROLE

Examples:

• deleteJ Software Engineering Intern
• deleteJ Software Tester

[Go to top]

List all saved job role: listJ

List all saved job roles that can be added to any candidates

Format: listJ

[Go to top]

Saving the data : save

Changes to data (pertaining to candidates and interview schedules) are automatically saved by QuickHire (see Editing the data file). However, users can choose to save this data to a separate file of their choice (i.e., by using this command).

Format:
save c/CANDIDATES_FILES [s/SCHEDULES_FILE] [/a] [/f]; OR
save s/SCHEDULES_FILE [c/CANDIDATES_FILES] [/a] [/f]

• At least one of c/CANDIDATES_FILES or s/SCHEDULES_FILE must be specified. It is also okay to specify both.
• Saves data pertaining to candidates into the file referred by CANDIDATES_FILES
• Saves data pertaining to interview schedules into the file referred by SCHEDULES_FILE
• By default, if a filename provided does not end with .json, the application appends this automatically for the user.
  • E.g., save c/past_candidates Saves the filtered data of candidates to [JAR file location]/past_candidates.json
• By default, if a filter was applied to the data (e.g., using find), then only the filtered data will be saved.
• (Optional) Specify /a to save all QuickHire data (instead of just the filtered ones).
• By default, if the file(s) specified already exists, then no data will be overwritten to those file(s).
• (Optional) Specify /f to overwrite the contents of the file specified
• The application needs to have sufficient permissions to write to the file(s) specified in order for the save feature to work.

Examples:

• save c/past_candidates.json Saves the filtered data of candidates to [JAR file location]/past_candidates.json (if it does not exist).
• save c/existing_file.json /a /f Saves the data of all candidates in the application to [JAR file location]/exiting_file.json and overwrites any existing data in the file.
• save s/interview_schedule.json Saves the (filtered) interview schedules to [JAR file location]/interview_schedule.json (if it does not exist).
• save c/candidates_details.json s/interview_details.json Saves the filtered data of candidates and (filtered) interview schedules to [JAR file location]/past_candidates.json and [JAR file location]/interview_schedule.json respectively (if they do not exist).
• save c/past_candidates Saves the filtered data of candidates to [JAR file location]/past_candidates.json (if it does not exist).

[Go to top]

Viewing job application statistics: viewstats

Displays the number of applications for each job role.

Format: viewstats

[Go to top]

Changing the theme : theme

Changes the theme of the UI.

Format: theme dark/light

• You may change the theme using the above command or the GUI.
• Your theme will be saved the next time you re-open the application as well.

[Go to top]

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

[Go to top]

Editing the data file

Data pertaining to candidates and interview schedules are saved automatically into two JSON files: [JAR file location]/data/candidates_list.json and [JAR file location]/data/scheduleboard.json respectively. Advanced users are welcome to update these data directly by editing those data files.

[Go to top]

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Allows for the automatic backup of data.

Details coming soon ...

Searching for interview schedule [coming in v2.0]

Provides a way to lookup interview schedules by date and/or time.

Details coming soon ...

Importing data files [coming in v2.0]

Allows for importing data files into the app.

Details coming soon ...

Sorting data displayed in the app [coming in v2.0]

Allows for the sorting of data that is displayed in the app.

Details coming soon ...

[Go to top]

---

FAQ

Q: What if the same candidate applies to the same company a few months later?
A: There are 2 options:

1. Edit the candidate's existing entry with the updated details; or
2. Delete the old entry, and re-add the complete and updated details of the candidate (should there be any clashes in data)

Q: What if the candidate wants to apply for multiple roles within the same company?
A: Multiple job roles can be added using the edit command.

Q: I am trying to edit a candidate's information, but I received the error Job role not recognised!
A: Do check the valid list of job roles that you have saved using the listJ command. If any one of the job role of selected candidate has not been saved into the list of job roles, either

1. Add the job role to the list of job roles using addJ
2. Update the candidate's job role to a valid job role using the edit command

Q: I am unable to see the candidate the view command executes successfully.
A: If the candidate has a field that is very long, the box may run out of space. However, fret not, as adjusting the horizontal scroll bar to the center will show most of the details. The view command is meant to be a workaround to view fields that are cut off in the candidates list.

Q: I have details of 37 candidates saved in the app. But when I run save, the file only has details of 2 candidates. Why is this so?
A: Probably the save command was executed without any optional flags. To be able to save all data, you have 2 options:

1. (Easiest) Use the optional /a flag of save command to save all candidates' information.
   E.g., save c/file_to_save.json /a
2. Run list in the app to ensure the app no filtered is applied to the candidates' data. Then run the save command as usual.

Q: I want to save the data of candidates and interview schedules. I want to overwrite any existing data I have of candidates, but I don't want to overwrite any existing data pertaining to interview schedules. What should I do?
A: Save both data separately using two commands (instead of one) like so:

1. Save only the data of candidates first, specifying the /f flag to overwrite any existing data.
   E.g., save c/candidates_as_of_24_July.json /f
2. Then, save the data on interview schedules separately, but without the /f flag.
   E.g., save s/interview_schedules

Q: I have saved some data of potential candidates in a JSON file and I would like to import it into the application. What should I do?
A: As of v1.5.1, QuickHire doesn't support importing data files from within the application. However, there is a workaround. To import the data, perform the following steps:

1. (Optional, but recommended) Make a copy of the data file you have (so that you have a backup copy in case the data gets corrupted).
2. Close QuickHire.
3. Rename the file you wish to import as either [JAR file location]/data/candidates_list.json or [JAR file location]/data/scheduleboard.json.
   In this case, you want to rename it as [JAR file location]/data/candidates_list.json since you are importing data of potential candidates.
4. Launch QuickHire again. If everything went well, you should be able to view the data from the file you imported in the application.
   

Q: The slist command seems not working?
A: In QuickHire v1.6, the slist command doesn’t affect the interview schedule display because search and sort features haven’t been implemented yet. Once those capabilities are added, you’ll see the schedule board updated. For now, if you navigate back to the original, unfiltered schedule board—which shows every entry—you can run slist there. Although you won’t notice any change until the search/sort functions arrive, that’s where the command will take effect.

Q: I am able to save data to filename with emojis.
A: Some operating system allow users to have filenames with special symbols (not just limited to emojis). Hence, QuickHire follows the behaviour of the operating system that it runs on when validating whether a filename is valid. With that being said, it is probably a good idea to avoid the use of special characters like emojis in general in your filenames. There is a great article from Michigan Tech University on Characters to Avoid in Filenames and Directories (link to external website).

[Go to top]

---

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.
2. If you minimize the Help Window and then run the help command (or use the Help menu, or the keyboard shortcut F1) again, the original Help Window will remain minimized, and no new Help Window will appear. The remedy is to manually restore the minimized Help Window.

[Go to top]

---

Flags summary

[Go to top]

Command summary

[Go to top]