Manage Contacts

Many functionalities are available through contacts; some of them found on the table of "Contacts" and others from within the contact overview page. The two views are described below:

#1 Contact list

You may need to massively disable or delete contacts. For this you click "Contacts", directly from the main menu.

Archive contacts

Although they remain in Elorus, archived contacts are not available for invoicing or payments and do not participate in reports. This is great for clients and suppliers you are no longer working with as it can prevent accidental actions towards the client. To archive one or more contacts, you simply select the desired ones and click "Actions-> Archive selected".

You may re-activate your contacts anytime by hitting "Actions->Reactivate" from the list of archived contacts. You can navigate between the list of active/archived contacts from the two buttons on the top right (see image below)

Note: The action does not affect client limits - a client remains active for 365 days since their last invoice, regardless of whether they have been deactivated from contacts to select when invoicing.

Delete contacts

Similarly, you may permanently delete contacts by navigating to 'Contacts' (list of active contacts) and selecting "Actions-> Delete selected".

To ensure data integrity, the system does not allow deletion of contacts that are already used in invoices, bills or payments. If this is the case for a contact, you may need to remove all related documents and transactions prior to deleting said contact.

Please note that this action is irreversible.

Merge contacts

The option allows you to get rid of duplicates while maintaining the related transactions in a single contact.

If you have one or more contacts for the same client/supplier, chances are you have invoiced them. This would create different statements, double or multiple contact entries in reports etc. Essentially, the 'merge contacts' is a tool that combines transactions under the same contact.

If you wish to proceed with merging two or more contacts together, follow the steps below:

1. From the main menu, click contacts and select the entries to merge.

2. Click "Actions-> Merge selected", as shown below:
   

3. Select the contact you wish to merge the rest one(s) in. Note that this is the contact whose details will still remain in the system.

If the rest of the contacts have any information that you wish to keep (for example phone numbers, email or physical addresses, a template default, tracking categories etc) it is advised that you add it to the contact you select here, prior to the merge.

Note: The action of merging contacts is irreversible.

#2 Contact Overview

To enter the contact overview page, all you need to do is go to "Contacts" and click on the contact you desire to review.

At the top of each contact's page, you can see its basic info and 5 action buttons.

Edit

By clicking on "Edit" the contact's fields "open" and you are able to add new information or change existing details, as shown in the image below:

Changes you make to a contact do not affect already existing invoices.

Contact Statement

• Depending on the type of contact you choose, the corresponding button (Client statement or Supplier statement) appears on the contact's view page.

• There are cases where a contact can be both a client and a supplier. In these cases, both options are available so you can see a sales transactions statement and a purchases one in order to have a clear image of corresponding balances.

"+Add" shortcut

Say that, you are considering discount for your client's next purchase. You have therefore opened the related contact to check your transaction history. You wish then to proceed with the invoicing.
You can make use of the "Add->Invoice" shortcut that will take you to the add form of the invoice, saving you time from navigating to the main menu and re-entering details.

See the rest of the client and supplier "+Add" options offered below.

Invoice unbilled projects is available in the menu for clients with ongoing, billable projects. For instructions regarding the project invoicing process, visit the related article. The Project option inside the Add shortcut button can be used to create a new project under the client contact.

By clicking Invoice, Estimate and Credit note, a form of adding an invoice, estimate or credit note respectively will open with the client details pre-filled. A client payment allows you to enter a new "payment received". The recurring invoice will take you to a new recurring invoice form.

For the case of suppliers, a Bill and Supplier payment is available to be added directly in the "Bills" and "Payments sent" respectively.

Please note: when a contact is both a client and a supplier, all of the above features will be available.

Attachments and Notes

By clicking either of these two buttons, you can attach documents from your computer related to the contact, add a new note so you can refer to them at any time or see the ones already registered to the contact. For more information read the relevant articles here and here.

(...) More options

Clicking the (...) button will show the following options:

All users

• Archive Record: by clicking here, your contact will not appear on the list (see paragraph one)

• History: here you can view the contact's history.

Managers

• Restrict User Access: If your user is registered as "manager" in the organization, you have the option to prevent certain users from handling a contact. To get more detail on how to use the feature click here.

Events

A timeline of all the actions taken on the relevant record.