Adding and Managing Contacts

Contacts replace unfamiliar phone numbers with recognizable names and keep useful customer details available wherever your team communicates in Waveline. Add contacts individually, update their information, save favorites, post notes, resolve duplicate phone numbers, and remove contacts you no longer need.

External and internal contacts

External contacts are customers, vendors, and other people outside your organization. These are the contacts you can add and manage using the instructions on this page.

Internal contacts represent teammates and shared inboxes. Waveline creates them automatically from your organization's existing setup, so they are managed through the corresponding teammate or inbox rather than from Contacts.

Learn more in Contacts Overview and Contact Visibility and Sharing.

Before you begin

• Have the person's name and, when applicable, their phone number or email.
• For an existing contact, confirm that you have permission to edit it. Access only as a Viewer of a shared inbox does not allow editing or posting notes. See Contact access.
• Use Importing Contacts when adding a larger contact list.
• Consider who should have access to the contact. Learn more in Contact Visibility and Sharing.

Where to find contacts

Web app: Select Contacts from the dashboard sidebar.

Mobile app: Select Contacts from the bottom tab bar near Dial.

On either app, you can also create a contact from an unknown number shown in call or conversation details. Waveline carries the number into the new contact form for you.

What you can save

• First and last name: Identify the person throughout Waveline.
• Phone: Used for caller identification, calling, and messaging.
• Email: Provides another searchable identifier and useful reference.
• Company and role: Give teammates additional business context.
• Access: Determines which teammates and inboxes can find and work with the contact. Learn more in Contact Visibility and Sharing.
• Notes: Preserve updates and context in chronological order. You can prepare notes while creating a contact; they are posted after the contact is saved. Learn how to add contact notes.

Add a contact from the web app

1. Select Contacts from the dashboard sidebar.
2. Select Add contact.
3. Enter the contact's name and a valid phone number. Waveline creates and saves the contact automatically after both are provided.
4. Add any available email, company, and role information. Each field saves when you finish editing it.
5. Open Access and review who can see the contact. Access changes also save as you make them.

Once the contact is saved, you can favorite it and post notes. If you began writing a note before the contact was complete, Waveline posts it after the contact is saved.

If you close an incomplete new contact, Waveline may ask Discard this contact? Select Keep editing to finish it or Discard to leave without saving the draft.

Add a contact from the mobile app

1. Select Contacts from the bottom tab bar near Dial.
2. Select the plus button.
3. Under Contact info, enter the contact's name. Add a phone number for calling, messaging, or caller identification, and any email, company, and role information. A phone number is optional when saving a contact on mobile, but any number or email you enter must be valid.

You can also select an unknown number in call details and choose Add Contact, or tap an unknown number at the top of a conversation. Waveline carries the number into the new contact form for you.

Contacts imported from a connected service

Imported provider-owned contact details are read-only in Waveline. Edit the name, numbers, and other source details in the connected service, then allow the changes to sync. Waveline notes are separate from those source details; you can post them when your contact access permits it. See Contact access.

Removing the integration removes its imported contacts from the Waveline directory. Their notes stay with historical records, and other Waveline contacts are preserved.

Edit an existing contact

Web app: Select the contact to open its details, then update the necessary fields. Waveline saves each field when you finish editing it.

Mobile app: Open an external contact, update its information, and select Save.

A view-only contact does not allow changes. Contacts managed by a connected service have read-only source details. Internal teammates and inboxes must be changed from their respective teammate or inbox settings. See Contact access if editing is unavailable.

Favorite a contact

Favoriting places frequently used contacts closer to the top of contact selectors when you start a call or message.

• Web app: Open the contact and select Favorite.
• Mobile app: Open the contact's options and choose Add to Favorites.

Favorites are personal to each teammate. Favoriting a contact does not change another teammate's favorites.

Add contact notes

Contact notes create a chronological record of useful context for everyone who can access the contact. Each note shows who posted it and when, making it easier for another teammate to understand previous conversations or follow-up needs.

1. Open the contact.
2. Find Notes on web, or select the Notes tab on mobile.
3. Enter the update in Write a note on web, or Post a note on mobile.
4. Select the send button.

You can prepare notes while creating a contact in either app. On web, complete the name and valid phone number so the contact can save. On mobile, complete the contact and select Save. Notes prepared before saving are posted after the contact is saved; check that they appear on the saved contact before leaving. View-only access does not allow posting notes.

When a phone number is already in use

If another contact already uses the same phone number, Waveline shows Phone in use and asks what to do with the contact you are saving. Your choice determines which contact name appears when that number calls or messages.

Delete a contact

Web app: Open the contact, select Delete contact, and then select Delete to confirm.

Mobile app: Open the contact's options, choose Delete Contact, and confirm.

Internal teammates and inboxes cannot be deleted from Contacts.

What happens next

• The saved name can identify matching calls and messages.
• Updated contact information becomes available on web and mobile.
• Favorites appear more prominently in contact selectors.
• Notes remain with the contact for teammates who have access.
• The contact's access setting determines who can find and work with it.

Best practices

• Use the person's recognizable name rather than a temporary description.
• Include a company and role when several contacts have similar names.
• Keep phone numbers and email addresses current.
• Use notes for useful business context rather than information that belongs in a message.
• Review duplicate-number choices carefully before saving.

Troubleshooting

Related pages

• Contacts Overview
• Importing Contacts
• Contact Visibility and Sharing
• Making Calls
• Sending Messages
• Roles and Permissions