Detailed Help for People Dashboard Fields
So maybe there’s some particular functionality of a less-used field or feature on the People Dashboard that you want to learn more about it. And you don’t really like to learn by trial and error. If that’s you, here you go!
Step-by-Step:
A. Main screen of the People Dashboard
1. Add New—used whenever you wish to add a new Individual or Organization to your database.
2. Basic Categories—Click any one of these categories to view all contacts within that category.
a. Listing of Individual Human contacts.
b. Listing of Organizations.
c. Listing of everyone in your database.
d. Listing of anything you chose to Trash but did not yet permanently delete.
3. Bulk Actions
a. First select the contacts you wish to Edit or Move to Trash. (If you wish to take action on the entire list shown, check the box near “Name” on the Title Bar.)
b. Next click Bulk Actions > Edit or Move to Trash> Apply.
c. If you select Move to Trash, all the selected contacts are deleted from the file. (Thankfully, there is an Undo option if you suddenly realize you made a mistake!)
d. If you select Edit, a Bulk Edit screen comes up in which you may choose what fields you want to change for ALL of the contacts you had selected. Be sure to Update all changes before leaving the screen.
4. Filter
a. Choose which Tribes, Tags, or Contact Types you want to view.
b. Click Filter.
5. Search for a specific contact by First Name, Last Name, or the first or last part of an Email Address.
6. Options per contact—hover mouse over contact to show the quick options for the contact.
a. Click the Name or click View to view the contact’s file.
b. Click Quick Edit to bring up a short list of commonly edited fields, such as Tribes or Tags, for this contact.
c. Click Trash to throw this contact into the trashcan. You won’t be asked to verify.
(Here is an option for restoring the contact, if you made a mistake.)
B. Individual Contact Setup/Editing Fields
Whether you are entering a new contact or editing an existing one, the field options are as follows.
1. Edit Contact Info
a. Be sure that every field with an asterisk * is filled in. These are required fields.
b. You do not need to format the phone number. It auto-formats when you save.
c. To Add an image, click Add or Upload File, then choose to add an image that is already in your Media Library or to Upload Files. Once an image is selected, click Use This File in the lower, right hand screen.
d. If you add a birthday, don’t forget to select the correct year.
2. Edit Privacy Settings—choose method of contact and whether or not this contact wishes to opt out of Bulk Mailings.
3. Edit Contact Address—including country and extra address line. Note that none of these fields are required fields, since there are no asterisks *.
4. Related Organization—if this contact is a part of a larger organization already in your system, you may note that here.
5. Tribes and Tags—often set up ahead of time by your administrator in the Settings Dashboard, but can be selected or added to here.
a. Tribes are specific, major categories of contacts. Categorizing your contacts in this way is very useful for something like targeted email blasts.
b. You can select from the tribes shown, or click on Add a New Tribe to set up a whole new category.
c. If the new category you add is a sub-category of a Tribe that already existed, select the pre-existing Parent Tribe before you click on the Add New Tribe button.
d. Tags are also specific categories of contacts, but they are minor categories and are more incidental. If needed, you can Add a New Tag from this screen.
e. For either Tribes or Tags, you can filter existing categories by clicking the Most Used option.
6. Create
Once you have entered all the desired contact information, click Create (or Update, if this contact pre-existed). There are also other options found in the Create box.
a. In the event that you are not ready to save this file officially yet, you may choose to save this contact information as a Draft rather than hitting the Create button. All information is saved, but the item will not be published yet.
b. Click Preview to view this contact page before you create it.
c. There are additional options given when you click on the Edit link for the Status, Visibility, and Publish fields.
d. Whether a new contact or a pre-existing contact, if you decide at this point to send it to the Trash, here’s the shortcut link.
e. If this is a brand new contact, the blue button will say Create. If you are editing an existing contact, it will say Update. And if the contact was a draft or waiting for preview, it will say Publish. In any case, clicking the blue button indicates that you are done working on this record for now.