> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.digifist.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contacts

> Where your contacts come from, what a contact holds, and how to merge, archive, erase and extend contacts.

A contact is a person you can message on WhatsApp. Open **Audience** → **Contacts** to see them all.

## Where contacts come from

* Added by hand with **New contact**.
* Imported from a file.
* Synced from your Shopify store. Customers arrive with the daily sync, and you can also sync them now from Contacts.
* A person who messages your WhatsApp number.
* A sign-up form, a WhatsApp Flow or a back-in-stock sign-up on your store.

The **Source** column shows where each contact came from.

## Add a contact by hand

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open New contact">
    In **Contacts**, select **New contact**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the number">
    Enter their **WhatsApp number**, the number they use WhatsApp on. Start with + and the country code, or choose their country first.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Answer the marketing question">
    Galantis asks whether they agreed to get marketing messages from you on WhatsApp. Choose **Not yet**, or **Yes, they agreed** and say how and when they agreed and what shows it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

A yes is saved with your name and the time, and you cannot change a saved answer. If they change their mind, open their contact, go to **Consent** and choose **Record consent**. See [How consent works](/galantis/marketing/consent/how-consent-works).

## The contact profile

Opening a contact shows its name, **Phone number**, **Email** and **Country**, its **Custom fields**, its **Identities** and its **Consent**. From the profile you can also **Send a template**: pick an approved template and select **Send**. Whether it may go to this contact is decided when you send it. Once it is sent, **Open the conversation** takes you to the conversation in the Inbox.

## Identities

Identities are the numbers and IDs a contact is known by, such as a WhatsApp phone number, a WhatsApp ID, an e-mail address or a Shopify customer. An identity that a connected system manages, such as Shopify, is read-only. Each identity belongs to one contact only: Galantis refuses a value that already belongs to another contact.

## Merge two contacts

When two contacts are the same person, merge them into one.

1. On the contact, select **Merge contacts**.
2. Choose the other contact and which of the two stays.
3. Check what moves, give a reason, and select **Merge contacts**.

Every number, address and field value moves to the contact that stays. Where both contacts hold a value for the same field, the value of the contact that stays stands, and the other is kept in the merge record. Conversations move too, unless the contact that stays already has one on that number. You can undo a merge with **Undo merge** until you close the window.

## Archive and restore

**Archive** takes a contact out of the contacts list. An archived contact cannot be changed until it is restored, and archived contacts cannot be searched yet.

To restore a contact, open its conversation in the Inbox and select **Restore contact**. A contact with no conversation cannot be restored yet.

## Exclude a contact from sends

**Exclude from sends** stops campaigns and automations from reaching a contact until you select **Include again**. See [How consent works](/galantis/marketing/consent/how-consent-works).

## Erase a person

**Erase person** writes over the person's data in Galantis: their profile, messages, numbers and addresses, and every record linked to them. It ends every identity they are known by, and the contact stays archived. Their consent and opt-out records are kept.

Only an owner or an admin can erase a person. You confirm by typing the person's name, and an erasure cannot be undone.

## Contact fields

Contact fields are the fields a contact can hold beside its name and number. Manage them in **Settings** → **Contact fields**, and select **New field** to add one.

* A field has a name, a key and a type: Text, Number, Yes or no, Date, Date and time, One choice, Several choices, Amount of money, Web address or Structured data.
* A field's key and type cannot be changed once it is created. Its name, its choices and whether it is in use can.
* Turn on **Can be filtered and segmented on** to use the field in filters and segments.
* A field that is not in use keeps its stored values but is no longer offered on contacts.
* Some fields are kept up to date by the store sync.


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