Folders

As your log grows, folders help you find contacts quickly. Folders give you a hierarchical file-system-style structure for organizing your contacts.

Folders

Folders organize your contacts into a tree. Every account starts with an All Contacts root folder. Beneath it, Hamtrax maintains two built-in category folders -- Activations and Hunting -- that hold auto-created subfolders. You can also create your own custom folders as direct children of All Contacts.

Automatic folders

Hamtrax auto-creates folders so you don't have to think about organization during operation:

• Activation folders — When you start a POTA activation, a folder is created automatically inside the Activations category. It is named using the ADIF convention: callsign@reference-YYYYMMDD (e.g., KA8H@K-1515-20201127). All contacts logged during that activation are saved here. Activation folders are also created automatically when you import a past activation from an ADIF file. In the folder tree, activation folders display the park name and activation date beneath the folder name for quick identification. If an activation has not yet been ended, the folder shows a pulsing green Active badge in the folder tree. Select the folder to see a Resume Activation button at the top of the detail view, letting you jump back into the active session without returning to the Activity tab.
• Monthly folders — Non-activation contacts (hunting, casual QSOs) are filed into a monthly folder inside the Hunting category (e.g., "March 2026"), created automatically on your first non-activation contact of the month.

Creating a manual folder

There are two ways to create a custom folder:

• From the folder tree. Expand All Contacts, click the New folder button at the top of the custom-folders section, enter a name (e.g., "Field Day 2025" or "DXpeditions"), and click Create.
• From the first contact. If you tap Log Contact without any custom folders yet, Hamtrax shows a one-time prompt — "Where should we save this contact?" — that creates the folder and drops you straight into the QSO form pre-set to it.

Manual folders are created as children of All Contacts. Only the root folder (All Contacts) accepts new children -- you cannot create subfolders inside category, activation, monthly, or custom folders.

Organizing contacts into folders

• During Add Contact: Choose any destination folder in the Log in field of the QSO form. If you skip it, Hamtrax files the contact into the current monthly folder.
• During Log Contact (non-POTA flow): The folder picker is restricted to your own custom folders -- Activations, Hunting monthlies, and the auto-categories are intentionally hidden. A folder is required to save. The picker also remembers your last selection so back-to-back contacts skip the step.
• During import: Importing a past activation from an ADIF file automatically creates an activation folder in the Activations category, named in the standard callsign@reference-YYYYMMDD format.
• After the fact: Open a contact, change its folder assignment, and save.

To keep this organization intact, the contact edit form locks the fields that define an auto-folder: both the park and the date in an activation folder, and the date in a monthly folder. Those fields appear read-only with a short banner explaining the lock (for example, "Park is locked to US-2325 for this activation."), so an edit can't accidentally push a contact into a folder where it doesn't belong. Every other field stays editable, and contacts in custom folders have no locked fields. See Manual Logging for details.

How the folder tree is sorted

Folders are grouped and sorted automatically:

• Activations are listed newest first, by activation date.
• Hunting monthly folders are listed newest first, by month.
• Custom folders are sorted by most-recent contact activity -- whichever folder you logged into most recently rises to the top. Empty custom folders fall back to creation order.
• Favorited folders are pinned in their own section above the main tree, regardless of category.

Folder operations

Action	How
Rename	Click the pencil icon on a folder and enter a new name. Root and category folders cannot be renamed.
Move	Drag a folder to a new parent, or use the context menu. Only custom folders can be moved; activation, monthly, and category folders are fixed in place.
Delete	Click the trash icon on a folder. A confirmation dialog appears with a checkbox to "Also delete all contacts and subfolders." If checked, the folder and all its contents are permanently removed. If unchecked, child folders and contacts are moved up to the parent folder before the folder is deleted. Root and category folders cannot be deleted.
Favorite	Toggle the favorite star on any folder. Favorited folders appear in a pinned Favorites section at the top of the folder tree for quick access.

Favorite folders

If you use certain folders frequently -- your main activation logbook, a current contest, or your daily operating folder -- you can favorite them so they always appear at the top of the folder tree.

Favorited folders appear in a dedicated Favorites section above the main tree, separated by a divider. This keeps your most-used folders one tap away, even when your folder tree has dozens of entries.

To remove a folder from favorites, toggle the favorite star again.

Folder equipment

You can assign a default radio and antenna to any content folder (activation, monthly, or custom). New folders automatically inherit your default equipment from your Rig Manager preferences, so most folders are ready to go without any manual setup.

To change a folder's equipment:

1. Select a folder in the logbook.
2. In the Equipment column above the contact list, click the Radio or Antenna button.
3. Choose an equipment profile from your Rig Manager.
4. If the folder already has contacts, a dialog asks how to apply the change: New contacts only (future contacts use the new equipment) or Apply to existing contacts (retroactively updates all QSOs in the folder).

Equipment assignments are displayed in the folder's Equipment column so you can see at a glance what gear was used.

Folder media

Folders can hold more than just contacts. You can attach photos, notes, and livestream URLs to any folder:

• Photos — Select a content folder (activation, monthly, or custom) to reveal an inline gallery strip beneath the folder toolbar. Tap the + button to pick an image from your device. Thumbnails appear in the strip immediately; tap any thumbnail to open a full-screen lightbox. You can also manage photos via the pencil (edit) icon to open the folder detail editor.
• Notes — Add free-text notes to any folder via the pencil icon to record operating conditions, location details, or anything else worth remembering.
• Livestream URLs — Attach YouTube or other video links to activation folders via the pencil icon. Hamtrax fetches the video title and displays a thumbnail in the folder detail editor.

Any folder with attached media displays a green camera icon inline in the folder tree, and folders with a livestream URL show a red video icon. These indicators also appear on activation cards in your profile's Activations section.

tip

Use folders for time-bound or event-bound groupings: a specific contest, a field day, a vacation DXpedition, or a POTA activation trip. Auto-folders handle the routine organization; manual folders handle everything else.

Example folder structure

All Contacts
  |-- Activations                         (auto-created category)
  |     |-- KA8H@K-0817-20260301         (auto-created activation folder)
  |     |-- KA8H@K-4566-20260215         (auto-created activation folder)
  |-- Hunting                             (auto-created category)
  |     |-- March 2026                   (auto-created monthly folder)
  |     |-- February 2026               (auto-created monthly folder)
  |-- Contests                            (manual folder)
  |-- DXpeditions                         (manual folder)

Related pages

• Logging Overview
• Manual Logging
• Importing Contacts
• Exporting Contacts