How to create and manage companies in Act!

If you are using v16 or later, you can set preferences that will allow for automatic Company creation based on the number of Contacts who have the same Company name. For information, refer to the following knowledgebase article:

How to set automatic company creation preferences in Act! v16 and later



You can also create Companies manually:


Creating a Company from the Companies view

1. Click Companies from the Navbar on the left-hand side of Act!
2. At the top of the screen, click Companies &gt New Company, or click the New button
3. In the new Company record that appears, fill out the details of the company
4. Click the Save icon

Creating a Company from a Contact Lookup

1. Create a lookup of the Contacts you wish to create a Company of. For information on creating lookups, refer to the following knowledgebase article:
   
   How to perform a lookup in Act!
   
   
   
2. Depending on whether you are using Act! for Windows or Act! Premium (access via web)/Act! Premium Cloud:
   • Act! for Windows: Click Lookup &gt Companies &gt Save Lookup as Company
     
   • Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud: Click Contacts &gt Save Lookup as Company
     
   
   
   
3. In the new Company record that appears, fill out the details of the company
4. Click the Save icon

Note: When creating a Company this way, contacts are added as Static members. For more information about membership types, refer to the section of this article titled “Adding and removing Contacts to a Company or Division from within the Company/Division”.

Creating a Division

If you have a larger Company that you need to organize by branches/districts, or even department, you can do so by using Divisions. You can create up to 15 levels of Divisions, and have an unlimited number of Companies and Divisions at each level. To create a Division:

1. From the Companies Detail View, select the Company or Division you wish to create a Division for
2. At the top of the screen, click Companies > New Division
3. In the new Company record that appears, enter the name into the Company Name field
4. If desired, enter a description
5. Click the Save icon

Note: If you have many levels of Divisions, you can view and switch between these records by either using the Company list to the left of the Company Detail View, or by going to the Divisions tab of the Company or any of the Divisions and using Hierarchy drop-down and Divisions field. You will need to double-click the Division you wish to go to.

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Contacts can be added to multiple companies if needed. There are two types of Company membership:

• Static membership: Static members of a Company are added to the Company manually and will remain a member of the Company until you manually remove them from the Company. To add Static members:
• Dynamic membership: Dynamic members of a Company are added to the Company based on a match of specified field criteria. Dynamic memberships use Advanced Queries to define membership.

Depending on which method you wish to use to add the contacts, refer to the steps below:

Note: You can use Static and Dynamic membership in a single Company at the same time. This can be useful if you have certain criteria that needs to be met, but you also have contacts you wish to be members of the same Company regardless of their contact details

Static Membership

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Company or Division you wish to add contacts to
2. In the Contacts tab, click Add/Remove Contacts…
3. Under Static members, click Contacts…
4. Under Select from, choose either
   
   • All Contacts
     
   • Current Lookup
     
   • Groups
     
   • Companies
     
   
   Note: If choosing Groups or Companies, click the drop-down to the right to choose the appropriate Group or Company before proceeding to the next step
   
   
5. Manually add contacts in one of two ways:
   
   • Pick and choose: In the list of Contacts to select from, click to highlight a single contact or Ctrl + Click each individual contact you wish to add to the Company, then click the greater than ( &gt ) button to add the contacts to the selected contacts list
     
   • Add entire Lookup, Group, or Company: Skip highlighting any contacts and just click the double greater than ( &gt&gt ) button to add the entire lookup to the selected contacts list
     
   
   Note: If you accidentally add one or more contacts that you did not intend to add, or you just wish to remove contacts from the Company, you can can remove them by doing the inverse of the options above by selecting the contacts in the Selected contacts section, and clicking the less than ( &lt ) button, or clear the entire list and start over by using the double less than ( &lt&lt ) button
   
   
6. When finished adding contacts, click OK
7. Click OK again to close out of the Add/Remove Contacts window

Dynamic membership

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Company or Division you wish to add contacts to
2. In the Contacts tab, click Add/Remove Contacts…
3. Under Dynamic members, click Edit Criteria…
4. In the Company Criteria window, configure the desired criteria for which contacts you wish to include in the Company
   
   Note: The Company Criteria window uses Advanced Queries for configuring Company criteria. You can either define the Company Criteria here or, if you have a saved Query, you can load it into the Company Criteria window to use as your Company Criteria. To learn how to configure Advanced Queries, refer to the following knowledgebase article:
   
   How to create, use, and edit an advanced query in Act!
   
   
   
5. When you are satisfied with the criteria, click OK
6. Click OK again to close out of the Add/Remove Contacts window

Note: Individual contacts added to the Company using Dynamic membership cannot be manually removed from the Company from the Add/Remove Contacts window. In order for a contact to be removed from the Company, their Contact Details must be changed so that they no longer match the criteria, or you will need to update your criteria

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You can add Static Company members from the Contact Views by using the following methods:

Adding from Contacts List View

1. Create a lookup of the contacts you wish to add and select all of them, or individually select the desired contacts (or contact)
2. Click Contacts &gt Add Selected to Company
3. Choose the Company you wish to add them to, then click OK

Adding a single Contact from Contact Detail View

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Contact Record you wish to add to a Company
2. Click the Companies/Companies tab
   
   Note: This tab will show any Companies that this contact is currently a static member of, however it will not show Dynamic membership in the list. To view the Dynamic Membership, you can click the Show Dynamic Membership button (not available in Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud).
   
3. Depending on how you are using Act!:
   
   • Act! for Windows: Click Add/Remove Companies
     
   • Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud: Add/Remove Contact from Company
     
   
   
4. Select the Company you wish to add the Contact to, then click the greater than ( &gt ) button
   
   Note: You can also remove the contact from a Company using this screen.
   
5. When finished, click OK

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In addition to the membership options previously discussed, a Contact can be linked to a Company, however each contact can only be linked to one company at a time. Company linking creates a third kind of membership that is similar to Static membership, but allows you to update information on the fields in the linked Contact’s record with information from fields in the Company’s record. For example, a contact linked to a company will take on the Company’s address as their own business address. Additionally, linking a Contact to a Company will allow you to automatically add a linked Contact’s activities, notes, histories, and opportunities directly to the Company’s histories, where they will stay even after you unlink the Contact from the company. Linking a Contact to a Company will also create a clickable link in the Contact’s Company field that will allow you quickly navigate to the Company record.

Linking a Contact to a Company

1. Navigate to a Contact
   
2. Click the [...] button next to the Company field
   
3. Select the Company or Division you wish to add the Contact to, then click OK
   

Updating the Linked Fields

If you want to update the linked fields so that the Contact fields that are linked to the Company fields match what is in the Company fields:

1. Navigate to the Company you linked to the Contact
   
2. Click Companies > Update Linked Contacts
   
3. When prompted to confirm, click Yes
   

Unlinking a Contact from a Company

If you no longer wish to have a Contact linked to a Company, you can unlink them by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Contact
   
2. Click the […] button next to the Company field
   
3. Choose Unlink from company, then OK

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Divisions can be promoted to be Companies, or they can be moved to be a Division of an entirely different main Company. Additionally, a main Company can be demoted to being a Division of a different Main Company. To do this:

1. From the Companies Detail or List views, click to select the Company or Division you wish to promote or demote
2. Click the Companies Menu, then click Move Company
3. Do one of the following
   
   • If you wish to promote a Division, choose Promote division to company
     
   • If you wish to move a Division to another main Company, or to demote a main Company to be a Division of another main Company, choose the option to Change to be division of, then choose the desired Company from the list
     
4. Click OK to complete the move

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If desired, it is possible to duplicate a Company. Duplicating the Company record will create a new Company with the same Company information and the same Company members as the original Company. To duplicate a Company:

1. From the Company Detail View or Company List View, select the Company or Division you wish to duplicate
   
   Note: Duplicating a Division will create a duplicate Division of the same main Company as the original Division
   
2. Click the Companies menu, then choose Duplicate
3. Choose one of the following:
   
   • Duplicate data from primary fields
     
   • Duplicate data from all fields
     
   
   Note: For more information about Primary fields, refer to the following knowledgebase article:
   
   What are Primary Fields in Act!?
   
   
   
4. Click OK to create the duplicate Company
5. Enter a name for the new Company and fill out any other fields as you require
6. Click the Save icon

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