Managing external contacts in Omnichannel

External contacts are the practices, payers, pharmacies, labs, vendors, and other people or organizations your team reaches from Omnichannel. Use Contacts in the omnichannel inbox to keep them in one address book and open conversations from a saved contact.

How do I open the address book and find a contact?

In the left sidebar, click Omnichannel. In the omnichannel inbox header, click Contacts to open the Omnichannel address book. On desktop, the list opens on the left and the selected contact's details open on the right. On phones, the list and contact details open one at a time.

You can also use the search box above the list. Search matches a contact's name, company, email address, and phone number digits.

1. In the left sidebar, click Omnichannel.
2. In the omnichannel inbox header, click Contacts.
3. To narrow the list, select All, Practice, Insurance payer, Pharmacy, Lab, Vendor, or Other.
4. Select the contact you want to open.

The contact's details open with their type and company near the name, action buttons for Text, Call, and Email, and any saved phone, email, company, notes, plus the date they were added.

How do I add a contact?

On the same page, click New to add a contact from the same place you start new conversations. Use this when you want to save someone before you message, call, or email them. The screenshot's New contact (1) button opens the form, Name (2) is the contact's name, and Phone (3) and Email (4) are the details you can add to reach them.

1. Click New.
2. In New conversation, under Create, select New contact.
3. Enter Name.
4. Add at least Phone or Email.
5. If needed, choose Type and add Company or Notes.
6. Click Add contact.

The contact is saved and opens in Contacts.

Choose Practice, Insurance payer, Pharmacy, Lab, Vendor, or Other when you want to group the contact by type. You can leave Type blank.

If you type a name, phone number, or email address in New conversation before creating the contact, the form opens with that value filled in.

How do I start a text, call, or email from a contact?

On the same page, open the contact you want to reach. Use the action buttons at the top of the contact record to start the conversation.

1. Select the contact you want to reach.
2. Click Text, Call, or Email.

The address book closes and Omnichannel opens that contact's conversation on the channel you chose.

If a button is unavailable, the contact is missing the phone number or email address that channel needs, or your practice has not set that channel up in Settings. For channel setup, see Setting up your channels.

How do I edit a contact?

On the same page, open a saved contact to update its details. Editing keeps future texts, calls, and emails from that number or address filed under the saved contact.

1. Select the contact you want to update.
2. Click Edit.
3. Update Name, Type, Company, Phone, Email, or Notes.
4. Click Save changes.

Your changes are saved and the contact returns to its detail view.

If you are already in a saved contact's conversation, you can also open the ⋯ menu at the top right and click Edit contact.

How do I delete a contact?

On the same page, open a saved contact to remove it from the address book. Delete a contact when you no longer want Omnichannel to file that number or address under that saved name.

1. Select the contact you want to remove.
2. Click Delete.
3. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete contact.

The contact is deleted. Their conversations stay in the inbox under the bare number or address.

How do I save a conversation as a contact?

In the omnichannel inbox, open a text, call, or email conversation and use Save as contact when the conversation is not already saved to a patient or contact. This is the fastest way to turn an unknown number or address into a reusable contact.

1. In the omnichannel inbox, open the conversation you want to save.
2. Open the ⋯ menu at the top right and click Save as contact.
3. Review Name, then add or update Type, Company, Phone, Email, or Notes as needed.
4. Click Add contact.

The contact is saved, and texts, calls, and emails from that number or address are filed under the new contact.

What can't I do here?

In Omnichannel Contacts, these limits apply:

• You cannot save a contact without Name.
• You must add a Phone or an Email before you can save the contact.
• Text and Call are unavailable when the contact has no phone number.
• Email is unavailable when the contact has no email address.
• Text, Call, and Email can also be unavailable if your practice has not set that channel up in Omnichannel.
• The address book shows up to 200 contacts at a time. If you have more, search to narrow the list.

Common questions

Do I have to choose a type?

No. Type is optional.

What can I search by?

You can search by name, company, email address, and phone number digits.

Why is Text, Call, or Email unavailable?

That action is unavailable when the contact does not have the phone number or email address that channel needs, or when your practice has not provisioned that channel in Omnichannel.

What happens if I delete a contact?

The contact is removed from the address book, but their existing conversations stay in the inbox under the bare number or address.

Where do I learn more about the rest of the inbox?

See The omnichannel inbox.