---
title: Managing contacts
description: Create a contact, record their details, legal basis and refused channels, attach them to one or more accounts and follow their history.
url: "http://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-managing-contacts/"
updated: "2026-11-08"
category: CRM
---

# Managing contacts

A contact is a person the CRM follows: someone you deal with at a customer, a prospect or a partner. This article explains how to find and create a contact, record their contact details and preferences, attach them to one or more accounts and follow their history. It is intended for sales representatives, their managers and CRM administrators.

## Before you start

- The CRM module must be enabled for your workspace and open to you (see [Enabling and administering the CRM module](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-enable-and-administer/)).
- Permissions in the role matrix, CRM menu: “CRM contacts — View” to see the list and the records, “CRM contacts — Create” for the **New contact** button, “CRM contacts — Edit” to edit a contact and manage their attachments, “CRM contacts — Delete” to delete and merge. The Access level is enough.
- Each permission applies within a scope, **Mine**, **My team** or **All**, based on the contact’s owner (see [CRM settings](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-settings/)). By default, a Sales representative reads every contact but edits only their own.
- To attach a contact to an account, you must also be able to read that account.

## Finding a contact

Open **CRM › Contacts**. The list shows the people the CRM follows, within your scope, with the total number of contacts.

- **Search**: type a name, an email address or a phone number, then confirm.
- **Filters**: account (search for it by name), role, owner (**Me**, **No owner** or a person) and tag.
- **Sort by**: name, recently updated or recently created contacts, owner.
- **Columns**: account, role, job title, email, phone, owner, tags, language, date updated. Your choice is remembered in this browser.

Next to the name, badges flag the channels the contact refuses: **Do not call**, **Do not email**, **No mail**. They appear wherever the contact is shown. In the list and on the record, a contact who has objected carries a single badge instead, **Objected**.

With the “CRM import and export — View” permission, the **CSV** and **Excel** buttons export the filtered list (see [Importing, exporting and using the API](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-import-export-and-api/)).

![CRM › Contacts screen filtered on Schémaz: the search, the Account, Role, Owner and Tag filters, the CSV, Excel and New contact buttons, then two contacts; Hugo Schémaz carries the Do not call badge under his name.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-managing-contacts-01.en_.png?resize=800%2C230&quality=80&ssl=1)
The contact list: refused channels appear next to the name.

## Creating a contact

1. In **CRM › Contacts**, click **New contact**.
2. Fill in the identity: **Title**, **First name**, **Last name** (required), **Job title**, **Department**, **Language** and, if you wish, the **LinkedIn** address (an https address on linkedin.com).
3. The **Owner** is you by default.
4. Under **Emails** and **Phone numbers**, click **Add an email** or **Add a phone number**, choose the type and enter the value. Tick **Main** on the detail to use first; only one email and one phone number can be the main one.
5. Enter the contact’s **Source** and **Legal basis**: legitimate interest, consent, contract or legal obligation. With consent, the date (**Given on**, never in the future) and the **Proof** (form, email, reference…) are required.
6. Set the **Contact preferences** (see below), then the **Tags**, **Custom fields** and **Notes**.
7. Click **Create the contact**.

Before creating, Illizeo looks for similar contacts: same email, same name in the same account, or same phone number. If it finds any, the window shows “Similar contacts already exist.”. **Open the existing one** opens the record already there; **Back to the form** lets you correct your entry; **Create anyway** creates the contact. The same email address usually means the same person: only create if it really is someone else. A contact outside your scope is never named.

## Contact preferences

The **Contact preferences** section of the form records two things:

- the **Preferred channel**: **None**, **Email**, **Phone** or **Mail**;
- the refused channels: tick **Do not email**, **Do not call** or **No mail**.

The preferred channel cannot be a channel the contact refuses: the screen flags it before you even save.

These refusals apply elsewhere in the CRM. Planning a call with a contact who does not want to be called is refused (“This contact does not want to be called.”); a call received can always be logged. Sending a quote by email to a contact who refuses emails is refused in the same way.

![Contact preferences section of the Edit the contact window: Preferred channel with the choices None (selected), Email, Phone and Mail, then the Do not email, Do not call (ticked) and No mail boxes.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-managing-contacts-02.en_.png?resize=800%2C77&quality=80&ssl=1)
Contact preferences: preferred channel and refused channels.

## The contact record

The top of the record shows the name, job title, main account, owner and refusal badges, then the buttons: **vCard** for anyone who can read the contact, **Edit** with the permission to edit, **Merge with…** and **Delete** with the permission to delete.

- **Overview**: identity, contact details (the main one is marked), the **Preferences and data protection** section (preferred channel, refused channels, source, legal basis and, where relevant, date and proof of consent), CRM data (tags, notes) and custom fields.
- **Accounts**: the active attachments, then the closed ones.
- **Activities**: if you have the permission to view them (see [Activities and “My activities”](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-activities/)).
- **Memberships** and **Events**: their club memberships and the events they were invited to, if you have the permission to view them.
- **Timeline**: the contact’s history.

Depending on your permissions, the **Preferences and data protection** section also carries the **Stop contacting**, **Export their data** and **Erase this contact** buttons; a contact who has objected shows a banner at the top of the record (see [Protecting contact data (GDPR)](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-contact-data-protection/)).

![Julien Testaz contact record: at the top, his job title, main account and owner, the vCard, Edit, Merge with… and Delete buttons, the Overview, Accounts, Activities, Memberships, Events and Timeline tabs, then the Identity, Contact details, Preferences and data protection (preferred channel Email, consent as the legal basis with its date and proof) and CRM data sections.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-managing-contacts-03.en_.png?resize=800%2C429&quality=80&ssl=1)
A contact record, with their preferences and legal basis.

To edit the contact, click **Edit**, correct the form, then click **Save**. The emails and phone numbers in the form replace the contact’s existing ones. If you change the owner, the new person is notified; the list only offers active people who have the permission to view CRM contacts and are within your scope.

The **vCard** button downloads the contact’s business card, to import into an address book. Each vCard export is recorded in the timeline.

## Attaching a contact to accounts

A contact can be attached to several accounts, each with a role, a job title and a period. One of them is their main account, the one shown in the list and in the record header.

### From the contact record

1. Open the **Accounts** tab and click **Attach to an account**.
2. Search for the **Account** (at least two characters).
3. If needed, choose the **Role** (decision maker, influencer, user…), the **Job title in this account** and the **Since** date.
4. Tick **Contact’s main account** to make it their main account: the previous one loses that mark. If you leave it unticked, this account becomes the main one when the contact has none yet.
5. Click **Attach**.

### From an account record

An account’s **Contacts** tab lists its attachments, filtered with the **Active**, **Closed** and **All** buttons. A contact outside your scope does not appear there.

- **Attach an existing contact** opens the same window: search for the **Contact** by name, email or phone number.
- **New contact** opens the creation form; the contact is attached to the account as soon as it is created, with the role chosen in **Role at**, and this account becomes their main account if they had none.

![Attach to an account window opened from Julien Testaz’s record: account search, Role, Job title in this account, Since, the Contact’s main account box and the hint “If you leave this unchecked, this account becomes the main one when the contact has none yet.”.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/crm-managing-contacts-04.en_.png?resize=576%2C446&quality=80&ssl=1)
Attaching a contact to an account: role, job title and main account.

### Editing or ending an attachment

In the contact’s **Accounts** tab, the pencil icon edits an attachment. When the contact leaves an organisation, click **End**, enter the **End date** (today by default, never in the future nor before the start) and confirm with **End**. The attachment moves to the closed attachments: it stays in the history and is never deleted.

## The timeline

The **Timeline** tab traces the contact’s creation, changes, changes of owner, attachments, vCard exports, merges, the objection and the export of their data, the activities you can read and the emails logged with them. Filter by **Event type** to see only one kind. Notes and contact details never appear there: only the fact that they changed is recorded.

## Deleting a contact

Click **Delete** and confirm. The contact’s details, attachments, tags and custom fields go with them. The activities and opportunities they appeared in remain, without them.

## Good to know

- A contact has only one active attachment per account: attaching them twice to the same account is refused.
- A closed attachment cannot be the main account.
- The same email address or phone number cannot appear twice on a contact; each contact accepts ten emails and ten phone numbers at most.
- A contact who has objected under data protection rules keeps all their channels closed: the objection must be lifted before a channel can be reopened (see [Protecting contact data (GDPR)](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-contact-data-protection/)). That article also covers exporting and erasing a contact’s data.
- A contact created with the email address of a contact who has objected is created with an objection too, even with **Create anyway**.
- The roles and sources offered, custom fields and tags are set in **Settings › CRM › CRM settings** (see [CRM settings](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-settings/)).
- Two duplicate contacts are brought together with **Merge with…** (see [Finding duplicates and merging records](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/crm-duplicates-and-merging/)).
- If your workspace submits the creation or change of some records for validation, the message “Sent for validation: nothing is written until a person approves it.” appears, with **View the request**: the contact is only created or changed after the decision.

## FAQ

### The account I have just attached is not marked as main.

If you leave the box unticked, an account only becomes the main one when the contact had none yet. To change the main account, edit the attachment with the pencil icon and tick **Contact’s main account**.

### Why can I not choose “Phone” as the preferred channel?

Because **Do not call** is ticked. Untick it if the contact accepts calls again; if the contact has objected, the objection must be lifted first.

### *Similaire*