---
title: Contacts and companies
description: Add contacts and companies by hand, from a file or from a web form, read their records, merge two into one, and see who can open them.
url: https://salexhub.com/docs/platform/contacts-and-companies
type: how-to
area: platform
section: Platform
last_updated: 2026-11-14
prerequisites: []
related:
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/data/activities
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/data/relationships
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/data/import-export
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/developers/forms
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/control/access
  - https://salexhub.com/docs/agent/autonomy
  - https://salexhub.com/product/crm/contacts
tools:
  - record.create
  - record.update
  - record.merge
  - record.unmerge
plans:
  - free
  - pro
  - business
  - enterprise
who: Anyone whose role lets them create and edit contacts and companies. A merge also needs the right to delete the record that goes.
---

# Contacts and companies

Add contacts and companies by hand, from a file or from a web form, read their records, merge two into one, and see who can open them.

> **Availability**: Available on every plan. Undoing a merge is on Business and Enterprise. [Plans](https://salexhub.com/pricing#compare)
>
> **Who can do this**: Anyone whose role lets them create and edit contacts and companies. A merge also needs the right to delete the record that goes.

Contacts are the people you deal with and companies are the businesses they work for. Every organization has both from the start, and every other part of SalexHub, from deals to quotes, links to them.

## Add one

By hand:

### Open the list

Open **Contacts** or **Companies** in the menu and choose **New record**.

### Fill it in

The sheet is titled **New contact** or **New company**. A contact needs a first name and a company needs a name. Email, phone and job title for a contact, domain and industry for a company, and the rest can wait.

### Save it

Choose **Save**, or **Save and add another** to go on with the next.

The other ways in:

| From | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| A file | [Import](https://salexhub.com/docs/data/import-export) makes the records. A row whose email (contacts) or domain (companies) is already here is never added as a second one: you choose to keep or update it. |
| A web form | The [form endpoint](https://salexhub.com/docs/developers/forms) finds the contact by email, then phone, and makes one with **Source** "Website" when there is none. Pro and above. |

> [!NOTE]
> A connected mailbox adds no contacts. It files each email on the contact whose address matches. Mail from an address you have no record for, or one two contacts share, is filed on no one.

## A record's page

Open a contact or company from its list.

- **Overview**: its properties, with **Show all properties** for the rest, and a **Recent activity** section.
- **Related**: the records linked to it, such as a company's contacts and deals. Links are made with relationships: see [Relationships](https://salexhub.com/docs/data/relationships). On a phone, Related is a tab.
- **Activity**: its [timeline](https://salexhub.com/docs/data/activities), where you also log a call, a meeting or a note.

## Merge two records

Merging turns two contacts, two companies or two deals into one. Nothing else can be merged.

### Open one of the two

Choose **More actions**, then **Merge with another record**, and pick the other record.

### Check what changes

**Merge two records** shows **Which record stays**, **Where the two differ** and how many items move. Where both records hold addresses or domains, **Kept from both records** keeps all of them. Nothing changes until you confirm.

### Merge

Choose **Merge**. The record that stays keeps its address and its history. The other moves into it, with its links, timeline, comments, files and references, and goes to the recycle bin.

You need the right to edit both records and to delete the one that goes. A merge is its own act and never runs inside an import.

To take one back, open the record that stayed and choose **More actions**, then **Undo a merge**, then **Unmerge**. The merged record returns with its own values, and a property you changed since keeps your value. This is on Business and Enterprise.

## Who sees them

Contacts and companies start **Private**: a person sees the records they own, those their teams own and those shared with them, and Owners and Admins see all. [Access](https://salexhub.com/docs/control/access) shows how to open them wider.

## What the Agent does

It works with the contacts and companies you can open. Creating and updating them follows your [autonomy mode](https://salexhub.com/docs/agent/autonomy): a card in **Ask every time**, done on its own from **Edit records**. A change to an email address is always a card, and so is deleting a record unless the mode is Full autonomy.

The Agent never merges or undoes a merge. Only a person does.

## Questions

**Why is an email not on the contact?** Its address matched no contact, or two contacts held it. Give the address to one contact, and mail that arrives afterwards is filed there.

---

The same page for people: https://salexhub.com/docs/platform/contacts-and-companies. Index of this site for agents: https://salexhub.com/llms.txt