Shared, unshared and unique contact fields

As described in Sharing contact information, in general contact information is shared between the Company List and the cases where the contact is linked. An update in one place updates the same field in the other place, subject to what is set at the Contacts settings.

However:

  • there are two fields whose values are not shared between them, which allows customisation at the case level
  • case contacts and contacts at the Company List each have several unique field(s) that do not exist in the other

Values not shared

Reference

The value of this field in the Company List is not the same as that seen at the case. A contact (e.g. a referrer) can have their own reference number at each case. This is also available as a merge field.

Notes

The value of this field in the Company List is not the same as that seen at the case. Specific notes can be stored for a contact in each case they are connected to.

Thus, if you change the values of Reference or Notes at the Company List, neither field will be updated for the contact at case Contacts tabs. Conversely, if you update the values of Reference or Notes for a contact at the Contacts tab, this information is not seen at any other cases where the contact is linked, nor at the Company List.

Unique fields at the Company List

Contact active and Location active - these are checkboxes indicating whether the contact and the location are active.

Is office specific - this allocates the contact to an office. This is relevant when office filters are used as part of searching for contacts (adding contacts to cases, making payments, and so on).

Unique fields at the case

Roles - the role(s) that the contact plays in this particular case.

Service -the service that the contact provides in this particular case.

Include on CC list - this is used with Contacts merge fields.

Contact custom fields - certain custom fields are defined as belonging to case contacts and are available at the Contacts tab. The value belongs to the contact when in this case, not the contact anywhere else. Thus, the value for a case contact's custom field will be different from the value for the same contact when they are linked to another case (unless you'd enter the same values).