How to Manage Contacts

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You must be a Super Admin user or have the following permissions: create contacts update contacts

Contacts are the phone numbers or email addresses associated to clients. Each client can have any number of contacts. Learn how to create and manage contacts.

Learn how to create and manage contacts within eCourtDate, including adding, editing, and organizing contact information for effective client communication.

Overview

Managing contacts within the eCourtDate platform is crucial for maintaining efficient communication and information flow between your agency and its clients. This article will guide you through the process of creating and managing contacts, explaining:

What contacts are and their role within the platform
The importance of maintaining accurate contact information
Who typically manages contacts and their expected outcomes
How proper contact management supports client communication and case management

Prerequisites

Before you begin managing contacts, ensure you have completed the following:

Administrator or appropriate user role with permissions to manage contacts
Access to the eCourtDate platform and login credentials
Basic understanding of the agency's workflow related to client communication
All necessary client information ready for input into the system

How to Create a Contact

You must already have a client created. Read this article to learn how to create a client.

Sign into your eCourtDate staging or production agency
Click the Clients link in the top navigation bar
(Optional) Use the Search Clients form to search for the client
Click the Edit button next to the client
In the top right Contacts list, enter a phone number or email address.
Click the Create Contact button.

You should expect to see any created contacts added to the list. If the contact is invalid, you will see a Invalid badge.

To receive notifications, a contact should not have Invalid or Opted-Out.

How to Search Contacts

There are two ways to search for a contact:

Quick Search

Click the search icon in the top left of the navigation bar.
Type in the contact phone number or email address.
Click on a result.
You should expect to be redirected to the client screen.
Click the contact phone or email in the contact list to go to the contact screen.

Contacts Page

If the quick search is not returning any results, follow these steps:

Click the Clients link in the top navigation bar.
Click the Contacts tab.
In the Search Contacts form, type in the phone or email in the Search field.
Fill in any other search options.
Click the Search button.

Note: if the contact is archived or trashed, click either the Archived or Trashed checkbox when searching.

How to Update a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to make updates to.

When viewing the contact screen, you can change the following:

(Optional) Contact Name - use this if the contact name is different from the client name
Contact Type - mobile, home, work, school, fax, other
Contact Channel - text, voice, email, fax

Click the Save button after making any changes.

How to Opt Out a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to opt out.

Click the Tools button and then click the Opt Out button.

What to expect:

You should expect to see an OPTED-OUT badge.
Any scheduled messages should be immediately deleted.
No further messages will be sent to the contact.

How to Opt In a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to opt in.

You should then see an OPTED-OUT badge. If so, click the Opt In button.

What to expect:

You should expect to see an OPTED-IN badge.
New messages will be created.

How to Archive a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to archive.

Click the Tools button and then click the Archive button.

What to expect:

An alert will appear confirming that the contact has been archived.
The contact is no longer visible when viewing the client.
The contact can't be found using the Quick Search.
The contact can't be found using the search on the Contacts page without clicking the "Archived" checkbox.
New outbound messages won't be created for the contact.
Any existing scheduled messages for the contact will be deleted.
Based on the Auto Trash Archived Data option in General Settings, the contact may be automatically trashed after a certain period.

How to Trash a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to trash.

Click the Tools button and then click the Trash button.

What to expect:

An alert will appear confirming that the contact has been trashed.
The contact is no longer visible when viewing the client.
The contact can't be found using the Quick Search.
The contact can't be found using the search on the Contacts page without clicking the "Trashed" checkbox.
New outbound messages won't be created for the contact.
Based on the Auto Delete Trashed Data option in General Settings, the contact may be automatically purged after a certain period (30 days by default).

How to Restore a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to restore.

Click the Tools button and then click the Restore button.

You should only be able to see the Restore button if the contact is currently trashed or archived.

What to expect:

The trashed or archived alert should no longer be visible.
If the contact was attached to a client, then the contact will be re-attached.
The contact will be searchable using the Quick Search.
The contact can be found using the search on the Contacts page without clicking the "Trashed" or "Archived" checkboxes.
New outbound messages will be created for the contact.
Only newly created or updated records may trigger automated messages.

If you want to re-sync messages associated to the client:

Click the View Client button
Click the Tools button
Click the Sync Messages button

Any automated messages will resync with the restored contact within 1 - 2 minutes.

How to Send a Message to a Contact

Follow the How to Search Contacts steps to find a contact that you want to send a message to.

Locate the Send a Message form in the right of the screen
The From Phone will auto populate based on the contact channel
(Optional) Click the Auto Messages button and then choose an auto message to pre-populate the message field
Type in the message that you want to send
(Optional) Fill in a Send Date and Send Time if you want to send the message later
Click the Send Message button

You should then expect to see a one-off message scheduled for the contact.