Contacts

• General
• Views
• Categories
• Import

General

Contacts module allows to import, manage and share company contacts information. Initially, it displays all contacts in an organized view with ability to order them by any field, change view, update information using inplace editor or the edit form, navigate using letters or search using simple or advanced search.

Simple search allows to find files quickly by just entering a search phrase or a part of it. The quick search will be performed in all fields included in the current template.

Advanced search uses broad match as well, which allows you to enter just a part or even a single letter of the search term, but the search will be performed only in the defined fields.

At any time, the current selection can be exported in CSV by pressing "Export to CSV" button in the top left corner. Exported data will use the current contacts view.

Views

Views serve for the purpose of comfortable way of organizing your contacts lists. Each contact has a lot of fields and views help you to select only those you need to see. By default you have 3 pre-defined views ("by name", "By company" and "By category") suitable for general purposes, and these views are non-editable. In case you lack any fields in a view, or wish to reorganize them you need to create a new one. This can be done by pressing "Create a view template" button in the views management page ("Contacts" -> "Views" in the main navigation). In the creation form type in the view title and select the fields you need. Also, you can move the fields up and down to organize them properly.

To edit a view, click the view title in "Exisitng views" block. This loads the view information in the left of the two selection panes. Make any changes and press "Save changes" button. The view can be deleted by pressing "Delete view" button.

Categories

Here you can create contacts categories to manage several groups of contacts. Categories here resemble paper folders - you create a category, say "Clients" and put all clients contacts there. Besides categorizing purpose, you can set permissions to restrict some user accounts or groups from accessing the category, or editing its content.

Categories management is available for account managers only.

Import

Import page allows to import already existing contacts data into aheadOffice. The procedure is simple:

• Navigate to "Contacts" -> "Import"
• Select the fields that you have in your CSV file, keeping the fields in correct order
• Select the CSV file and upload
• Optionally, you can select category where you'd like to import the information to