3.2 Navigating the Contacts Screen

Getting comfortable with the layout of the main Contacts screen is the first step to effectively managing your database.

Accessing:

Click the Contacts icon (often looks like a person or address book) in the main left-hand navigation menu.

Main Layout Components:

  1. Top Tabs (Primary Views): These tabs allow you to switch between different perspectives or related functions:
    • Smart Lists Tab: This is your primary working view. It always includes an All tab showing all contacts (respecting user permissions if applicable). It also displays tabs for any custom saved filter views (Smart Lists - see 3.6) you create, allowing quick access to specific segments like "Hot Buyers" or "Past Clients."
    • Bulk Actions Tab: This tab displays a history log of significant actions performed on multiple contacts at once, such as imports, bulk SMS/Email sends, bulk tag updates, or bulk deletions. Useful for tracking progress and troubleshooting errors.
    • Restore Tab: Provides a way to recover Contact records that have been recently deleted (typically within a grace period like 30-60 days).
    • Tasks Tab: Shows a global view of all Tasks assigned across all contacts in the system, allowing for centralized task management.
    • Companies Tab: Allows you to manage records for business entities (like other brokerages, lenders, title companies, developers, investment groups) and link individual Contacts to them.
  2. Action Bar: This contextual bar appears horizontally below the top tabs only when you select one or more contacts using the checkboxes next to their names in the list. It contains buttons for performing Bulk Actions on the selected contacts (e.g., + Add Tag, - Remove Tag, Send SMS, @ Send Email, + Campaign/Workflow (Add to Workflow), Send Review Request, Export Contacts, Delete Contacts, Merge Contacts, + Pipeline (Add Opportunity)). The available actions may vary slightly.
  3. Filter/Search Area: Located above the contact list, these tools help you find specific contacts or groups:
    • Search Bar: Allows for quick, free-text searching across key fields like Name, Email, Phone Number, Company Name, or applied Tags. Type your query and hit Enter or wait for results to filter dynamically.
    • More Filters Button: Clicking this button opens a more powerful filtering panel (often sliding out from the right side). This is where you build complex searches based on specific criteria using standard fields, Custom Fields, Tags, activity history, or Opportunity status. (See 3.4).
  4. Column Headers: These are the titles displayed at the top of each column in the contact list (e.g., Name, Phone, Email, Tags, Last Activity).
    • Clicking a column header typically sorts the list ascending or descending based on the data in that column.
    • You can customize which columns are visible and their order using the Columns button (usually near the top right of the list).
  5. Contact List: The main area displaying rows of your contacts based on the currently selected view (All or a Smart List) and any active filters. Each row represents a single Contact and shows data according to the configured columns.
  6. Pagination Controls: Located at the bottom of the contact list. These controls allow you to navigate through large lists:
    • Page Number: Go to specific pages.
    • Rows per page dropdown: Select how many contacts to display on a single page (e.g., 20, 50, 100). Increasing this can reduce clicking but may slightly slow down loading time for very large lists.
    • Next/Previous arrows: Move between pages.