A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information (the name is a portmanteau word of rolling and index) currently manufactured by Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products including such well-known brands as Rubbermaid food storage, home organization, and refuse container products; Sharpie, PaperMate, Parker and Waterman writing instruments; Calphalon gourmet cookware; Goody beauty and...

. The Rolodex holds specially shaped index card

Index card

An index card consists of heavy paper stock cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. It was invented by Carl Linnaeus, around 1760....

s; the user writes the contact information for one person or company on each card. The cards are notched to be able to be snapped in and out of the rotating spindle. Many users avoid the effort of writing by taping the contact's business card

Business card

Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...

 directly to the Rolodex index card. Some companies have produced business cards in the shape of Rolodex cards, as a marketing idea.

The Rolodex, invented by Arnold Neustadter

Arnold Neustadter

Arnold Neustadter was an American inventor and businessman. With Danish engineer Hildaur Neilson, he invented the Rolodex desktop rotating card file and other office equipment....

 and Hildaur Neilsen in 1956 and first marketed in 1958, was an improvement to an earlier design called Wheeldex. Neustadter's business Zephyr American invented, manufactured and sold Autodex, a spring-operated phone directory that automatically opened to the selected letter, Swivodex, an inkwell that did not spill, Punchodex, a paper hole puncher, and Clipodex, an office aid that attached to the stenographer's knee. Memex

Memex

The memex is the name given by Vannevar Bush to the hypothetical proto-hypertext system he described in his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article As We May Think...

, a sort of conceptual precursor to hypertext

Hypertext

Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...

, borrowed the ex suffix.

The name rolodex has become somewhat genericized

Genericized trademark

A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...

 for any personal organizer

Personal organizer

A personal organizer, day planner, personal analog assistant, or personal planner is a small book/binder, designed to be portable, usually containing a diary, calendar, address book, and other sections usually including blank paper. It may also include pages with useful information, such as maps,...

 performing this function, or as a general term to describe the sum total of an individual's accumulated business contacts.

See also

• Address book
  Address book
  An address book or a name and address book is a book or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields...
  
  
• Contact list
  Contact list
  A contact list is a collection of screen names in an instant messaging or e-mail program or online game or mobile phone. It has various trademarked and proprietary names in different contexts....
  
  
• Index card
  Index card
  An index card consists of heavy paper stock cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. It was invented by Carl Linnaeus, around 1760....
  
  
• Microsoft Cardfile
  Cardfile
  Cardfile is a personal information manager that was distributed with Microsoft Windows starting from the original version 1.01 until Windows NT 4.0 Server. Cardfile is also included with Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, but has to be installed manually from the installation CD-ROM....