How to manage linked Company and Contact fields

Question: How do I manage linked Company and Contact fields
 
Product Details: 
Product Family:  Act!
Product: Act! Pro, Act! Premium
Version: 2006 and later
 

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Answer: 
 
Important Notes:

• Contacts can be either attached or linked to a Company. Only if the Contact is linked to a company will the following information be applicable. If a contact is attached as a member of a company, using either static or dynamic membership methods, the linked fields process will not be invoked
• The field length of the Contact field must be the same or greater than the field length of the Company field it is being liked with. The fields must also have the same data type

 
 
Linking or Unlinking Contact Fields with Company fields
 

1. In Act!, click Tools > Define Fields
2. Click the View fields for: drop-down, then select Companies
3. Click the desired Company field, then click Edit field
4. Click Next
5. Enable the option to Link to contact field, then select the desired field from drop-down, or disable the option to Link to contact field, if you wish to unlink
   
   Note: Grayed out Contact fields in the drop-down are already linked to other Company fields. You can only link one Contact field to one Company field, and you cannot link the same Contact field to multiple Company fields.
    
6. Click Next to change other options for this field, or click Finish
7. Close the Define Fields window and return to Act!

 
 
Viewing Linked Fields
 

1. In Act!, navigate to the Companies section
2. Click the Companies menu, then select View Linked Fields

 
Note: You can also view this in the Define Fields Window


Updating Linked Fields of Contacts
 
Updating Individual Contacts
 

1. In the Contact view, locate the desired contact
2. Click Contacts > Update Linked Contact

 
 
Updating All Contacts
 

1. From the Company view, locate the desired company
2. Click Companies > Update Linked Contacts
3. When prompted to confirm, click Yes

 
 
 
Related Information:
 
For additional information on managing fields and field security, please refer to the following knowledgebase articles:
 
How to manage fields in Act!
Answer ID How to create and manage database fields in Act!
 
How to manage field level security in Act!
Answer ID How to manage field level security in Act!