Adding a Contact

In this article:

• Create a contact manually

3:39

Add Contact

A Contact is an individual or business you are providing a service for. (We use contacts and clients interchangeably in this training!)

Add a contact by:

1. Click on the Global + Button.
2. Select Add Contact. 

You can do this action anytime and on any page within Canopy!

You’ll see the Add Contact window next and this is where you’ll customize the information for your client: 

• First off, you can create a contact based on if you are working with an Individual or a Business. You are required to fill in:
  • For individuals, a First and Last Name. 
  • For Businesses, a Company Name.
    
    
• You can also designate a Display Name, which is useful if you want to differentiate the names of individuals or companies in your contact list.
  
  
• You can also decide if the contact is a client you are currently working with, a prospect, or something else. 
  
  
• You can also indicate a Client Since date - it defaults to the date you are creating this client record, but you can edit it if you want a more accurate date.

Understanding Active vs Inactive Contacts

By default, the client record you are creating is Active - a client you are currently working with and you can send requests via the Client Portal. 

If you turn this off, the client is Inactive which means they will not have any active Client Portals until they are activated again. But don’t worry, you can still access their records in the Contact List.

Inputting Emails, Addresses, and Tax Information

Further down, you’ll find more options to fill out - such as email and physical address. Make sure to get that email address accurately as this is a crucial piece of communicating. There are also spots for information fields that may be relevant to your use case - such as SSN/ITIN numbers (for individuals) or EINs (or businesses) securely stored in Canopy. 

You can also add your Custom Fields or objects. This could be for routing or accounting numbers. We’ll show you how to do that in later training.

Using Additional Information

The last option is the Additional Information box. You can add anything here that may help you remember who this client is, maybe a description. However, we recommend not putting confidential information here.

Once you are satisfied with all the information:

• Click Create and Manage to view your newly created contact record. 
• Or click Create and Close which creates the record and allows you to move on to your next task.