Contacts & sites

Every client, supplier and individual you deal with lives in Contacts. A contact is either a person or an organisation (a company), and you can mark how you work with them so you always know at a glance who's who. Sites are the physical locations where you carry out work - each one can be linked to a client so the work, the place and the people stay connected.

How to add a contact

1. Go to Contacts and select New contact.
2. Choose whether the contact is a Person or an Organisation. For an organisation, enter the company name. For a person, enter their first and last name and, if you like, their job title and which organisation they belong to.
3. Set the Relationship so you know how you work with them - Client, Supplier, Both, or Other.
4. Add their email, phone and address, then add any tags (typed in and separated by commas, for example "Retail, Priority") and any notes.
5. Save the contact. It's given a unique reference automatically - organisations get an "O-" reference and people get a "P-" reference.

How to add a site

1. Open Contacts, select Sites, then New site.
2. Give the site a name, add its address and any access notes.
3. Link it to the client it belongs to, if relevant, so it shows up on that client's page.

Good to know

• A person can be linked to an organisation, and that company's page then lists everyone linked to it.
• A contact can be marked as a Client, Supplier, Both, or Other - the Clients and Suppliers tabs use this, and a contact marked "Both" appears in both places.
• Tags are your own free-text labels - duplicates are removed automatically, and you can search and filter by them.
• A site is a location, not a contact, and can be linked to one client at most. A site doesn't need to be linked to anyone.
• A contact's page shows the enquiries and jobs linked to them, plus a running total of what they've paid and how many jobs they have.
• Address fields are typed in by hand - there's no postcode or address lookup on the contact or site forms.
• Only an office user can delete a contact or a site. Deleting a site or a company just unlinks it from related records rather than deleting those records too.
• If the same person or company has been added twice, open the one you want to get rid of and select Merge, then pick the contact to keep. Everything attached to the duplicate - enquiries, jobs, quotes, invoices, purchase orders, bills, sites and any linked people - moves onto the contact you're keeping, and any missing details are filled in from the duplicate without overwriting what's already there. This can't be undone, so you'll be asked to confirm first.
• If your workspace is connected to Xero, a Xero panel appears on each contact so you can link it to the matching Xero contact, or let it link automatically the first time you sync an invoice or bill.