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Contacts

The Virtual Assistant uses the contacts in your voice directory group to call them, send them emails and text messages, invite them to meetings, and recognize them when they call you.

The contact voice access is available only to users whose subscription includes this feature. To add it to your subscription, see Subscriptions or contact your company account administrator.

If you are an employee in a company, you automatically get access to your company's corporate directory. You will be able to call them and send them voice emails as if they were in your own contact list. Optionally, you may also access the company's shared contacts (permission controlled by your company account administrator).

The number of contacts in your voice directory group is limited (default is 500) but you can ask your service administrator to increase your quota. A smaller voice directory group results in better name recognition. Limit the contacts in your voice directory to people with whom you most often communicate by phone, text or email. Not all contacts meet this criteria.

For information on contact voice commands, see Contacts Voice Commands.

From the Contacts page on the Web Portal, you can:

Overview of the Interface

The Contacts page includes 3 tabs:

  • Personal Contacts: Lists all your personal contacts that you have added manually or imported from a CSV file, your Google G Suite or Microsoft Exchange account.
  • Shared Contacts: This tab is visible to you only if you are a company employee and the administrator has authorized you to access the company shared contacts.
  • Colleagues: This tab is visible to you only if you are a company employee. These contacts include all employees in the company telephone directory.

The main headings display the following information (some headings are context-specific):

COLUMN HEADING

DESCRIPTION

Checkbox

 Check the box next to one or several items in order to apply certain actions (ex: export contact lists)

Name / User

 Full name of the contact with its color-coded group initials. Clicking this link will open the contact details of personal contacts.

Mobile

 Mobile phone number of the contact. Clicking this link will dial the phone number using WebPhone.

Home

 Home phone number of the contact. Clicking this link will dial the phone number using WebPhone.

Business

 Business phone number of the contact. Clicking this link will dial the phone number using WebPhone.

Email

 Email address of the contact.

Ext

 Office extension of the employee on the company's telephone system.

Phone Number

 Smart Number of the employee.

Lang

 Preferred language of the employee.

Contact Communications

Click the Communications icon to view the recent communications with this contact (calls, voice mail, text messages, faxes, recorded conversations). See View Contact Communications for details.

Link Contact

Click the Link icon in the CRM column to add, link or view the contact in your CRM account. If the contact is already linked, clicking here opens the contact in the CRM. See Connect Contact to CRM for details.

View Contact Details

You can only view full details of personal contacts. Only the Company Administrator can access the details of shared contacts and colleagues.

To view contact details:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts and select the tab corresponding to the type of contact you want to view: Personal Contacts, Shared Contacts, Colleagues.
  • To view the details of a personal contact, click the contact name.

Link Contacts to CRM

This feature is available only to users who have connected their Personal Contacts with their CRM account. If you use a Salesforce or Insightly CRM then you can link your Personal Contacts to your CRM account. See Connect Contacts with a CRM for details.

  • From the main menu, click Contacts and select the Personal Contacts tab.
  • The icon displayed in the CRM column indicates the contact's link status with your CRM account:
    • A  Add icon indicates that the contact does not exist on the CRM. Click the icon to add it.
    • A Unlinked icon indicates that the contact exists on the CRM but it is not linked to a contact on the CRM. Click the icon to link it and access it on the CRM.
    • A Linked icon indicates that the contact is already linked to a contact on the CRM. Click the icon to access it on the CRM.

View Communications with Contact

To view all recent communications between you and your Personal Contacts:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts and select the Personal Contacts tab.
  • Click the Communications icon corresponding to the contact for whom you want to view any recent interactions.
  • A new page displays the communication logs between you and the selected contact. The communications include the following information:
    • Voice Messages: Click to view the list of voice messages left to you by the contact.
    • Texts: Click to open the text exchange between you and the contact.
    • Faxes: Click to view the list of faxes sent to you by the contact.
    • Conversations: Click to view the list of recorded conversations with the contact.
    • Call History: Click to view the list of calls that you made to the contact or received from the contact.
    • CRM logo: An Insightly or Salesforce logo is displayed if the selected contact is linked with your CRM account. Click the logo to open the contact in your CRM.

Ways to Add Contacts

There are 3 ways to add contacts into your Personal Contacts folder. In company accounts, the shared contacts and colleagues are managed by the Company Administrator:

  • Add contacts manually.
  • Import contacts from a CSV file.
  • Connect to your contacts on Google G Suite or Microsoft Exchange. Google G Suite and Microsoft Exchange mail servers make their contacts remotely accessible to your Virtual Assistant.

Add Contacts Manually

You can manually add contacts into your Personal Contacts folder as follows:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the New button. The contact entry form will display.
  • Fill in the various contact fields. See Contact Details for details.
  • Click Save to add the contact to your personal contacts.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your new contact will also be added to your mail server if its group is synced.

Import Contacts

Import Contacts from a CSV File

To import contacts from a CSV file into your Personal Contacts folder:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
    To import contacts from Outlook, ACT, Yahoo or other sources, you must first select the ones you frequently call and export them to a CSV file.
    • Instructions on how to import contacts: Click the    icon to learn about the CSV contacts file format and how to import them into your Personal Contacts folder. See Contact CSV File Format for details.
    • Instructions on how to export contacts: Click the    icon to learn how to export your contacts from different sources into a CSV file that can later be imported into your Personal Contacts folder. See Export Email Contacts to CSV for more information on how to export contacts from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
  • Click the Browse button and select the CSV file containing contacts that you want to upload and import into your Personal Contacts. Click Open to confirm your selection.
  • Select the groups where you want the contacts will be saved. Remember to select Voice Directory if you want to be able to call the contacts using speech commands. If the group where you want to save the imported contacts does not exist, click New Group to create it.
  • Specify how you want to treat duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import module will display the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import. Once the contacts are imported, a report is displayed.
  • Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your imported contacts will also be added to your mail server if their group is synced.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Contact CSV File Format

The CSV file can contain the following fields. Field names must contain at least one of the following strings. Each contact must have at least one name, and either an email address or one phone number.

  • Title
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Company
  • Street
  • City
  • State
  • Postal Code or ZIP Code
  • Country
  • Fax
  • Business Phone
  • Home Phone
  • Mobile
  • Email
  • Language (en, fr)
  • Birthday
  • Salutation (Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Me)
  • Gender (M, F)
  • Phonetic1 (The phonetic pronunciation of the contact's name in English)
  • Phonetic2 (The phonetic pronunciation of the contact's name in French)
  • Preferred Phone (BusinessPhone, MobilePhone, HomePhone)

Click to download a Sample Contact Import CSV file

Export Email Contacts to CSV

Contacts can be exported in CSV files from a variety of sources: Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Mac, etc.

Below are quick links to CSV export instructions from popular applications:

Import Contacts from Gmail or Google G Suite

If your contacts are currently hosted with Gmail or Google G Suite, you can import them directly to build your Personal Contacts folder and update it when needed. To choose this option, you must first configure your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.

The contacts in your voice directory group are the only ones that you can voice access by phone. Their number is limited (usually 500) but you may ask your account administrator to increase your quota. A smaller voice directory results in better name recognition. Limit your voice directory to the contacts with whom you most often communicate with by phone or email. Not all contacts meet this criteria.

If you have too many contacts in your Gmail or Google G Suite account, assign a group to the contacts you wish to import and synchronize with your voice directory. See the Google help file for details.

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
  • Specify how to handle duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Select Import contacts from my mail server (Exchange or Gmail).
  • Select Google G Suite then enter your username (email address) and password unless you have already configured your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.
  • Enter the name of the Google G Suite or Gmail contact folder (My Contacts by default). If you wish to import only contacts from a specific group already created in Google G Suite or Gmail, enter the name of the group to import.
  • Specify which contacts to import:
    • Import only new or modified contacts since last synchronization
    • Import all contacts
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import report will display the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import.
  • A data import report will display. Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Import Contacts from Microsoft Exchange

If your contacts are currently stored on a Microsoft Exchange mail server, you can import them directly to build your Personal Contacts folder and update it when needed. To choose this option, you must first configure your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.

The contacts in your voice directory group are the only ones that you can voice access by phone. Their number is limited (usually 500) but you may ask your account administrator to increase your quota. A smaller voice directory results in better name recognition. Limit your voice directory to the contacts with whom you most often communicate with by phone or email. Not all contacts meet this criteria.

To import contacts from a Microsoft Exchange Server:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
  • Specify how to handle duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Select Import contacts from my mail server (Exchange or Gmail).
  • Select Exchange then enter the Exchange server address (URL), your username and password.
  • Enter the name of the Exchange contact folder (usually Contacts).
  • Specify a contact folder and/or category already created in Exchange if you wish to import only contacts from a specific folder and/or category.
  • Specify which contacts to import:
    • Import only new or modified contacts since last synchronization
    • Import all contacts
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import page will indicate the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import.
  • A data import report will display. Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Sync Contacts with your Mail Server

Open your Contact Sync Settings to view and select where your contacts are stored (locally or on your mail server) and how they get updated/synced if they are stored on your mail server.

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Settings button to open your Contact Sync Settings.
  • Select where your contacts are stored:
    • Manage my contacts locally.
    • Manage my contacts on the mail server. If you select this option, your Personal Contacts will be connected and can be synced with your contacts on Google or Exchange mail servers either manually or automatically each time you access them on the Web Portal or by phone using your Virtual Assistant's voice commands. Check your preferred contact syncing options:
      • Assistant to refresh my contacts for each call
      • Web to sync my contacts for each acces
  • Select the Groups to sync with your Google account. Check the contact groups to sync on your Web Portal and your Google account. The Voice Directory group on your mail server is reserved for your Virtual Assistant. Do not delete it or rename it.
  • Click Save.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then you can select to sync your groups and contacts on both contact stores. The Voice Directory group as well as the Colleagues group if you are a company employee will automatically be created for you and synced on both contact stores. Any changes that you make to synced contacts or groups on one store (your Web Portal or mail server) will automatically be applied to the same contacts and groups on the other store.

Connect Contacts with CRM System

Your Personal Contacts can be linked with your contacts on the CRM system that you use. This enables you to easily access the CRM information of your contacts.

CRM Connection Settings

You can connect your CRM account to your Web Portal as follows:

  • From the main menu, click Settings > Other Apps.
  • Select the CRM system used to manage your customer accounts and which you want to connect to your Web Portal.
  • For Insightly CRM accounts, enter the following information:
    • CRM User Email: This is your user email address used for your the Insightly CRM account.
    • CRM API Key: This is the unique API Key assigned to your Insightly CRM account.
  • For Salesforce CRM accounts, enter the following information associated with the account:
    • Consumer Key
    • Consumer Secret
    • Security Token
  • Click Link to establish a link between contacts on both systems.
  • The CRM contact linking wizard will guide you through the steps to select the contacts to sync on each system: your CRM account and your Web Portal.

CRM Contact Import/Export

Once you have connected your CRM account to your Web Portal, you can link your contacts on both platforms as follows:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts. 
  • Click the CRM button (Insightly or Salesforce) to open the Contact Link page.
  • Select the operation to perform:
    • Import contacts from your CRM account
    • Export contacts to your CRM account
  • Click Next to launch the contact import or export operation. The Web Portal will check the lists of your contacts on both systems to offer the ones that can be exported or imported. Select the contacts then click Import or Export.

Delete Contacts

Important: Deleting a personal contact from the Web Portal may also delete it from your Google G Suite, Gmail or Microsoft Exchange if you have opted to synchronize changes on the mail server. See Contact Synchronization for details.

To delete a contact from your Personal Contacts:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Check the box next to the name of the contact to delete. You can check several boxes to delete multiple contacts at once.
  • Click the Delete button.
  • A popup window will ask you to confirm the deletion. Click OK to delete the contact.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then the contact will also be deleted on your mail server.

Edit Contacts

Important: Changing contact information on the Web Portal may also change it on Google G Suite, Gmail or Microsoft Exchange if you have opted to synchronize changes on the mail server. See Contact Synchronization for details.

To edit a contact in your Personal Contacts:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the name of the contact to modify. The contact details will display.
  • Edit the contact fields as needed. See Contact Details for information on various fields.
  • Click Save when finished.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your contact changes will also be applied to the same contact on your mail server.

Contact Groups

You can create and manage groups on your Web Portal and use them to tag contacts. Groups can be used to filter callers when you are in a certain status. For example, when your status is in meeting, you can decide to take calls only from contacts in your Customers and Colleagues groups. Other calls go to voice mail.

Group tags can only be assigned to personal contacts. A special system group called "Voice Directory" is automatically created for you to tag all the contacts that will be accessible to you by phone using speech commands. If you are a company employee, your Voice Directory group also includes your colleagues (special group created for colleagues).

Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your groups and contacts will automatically be synced on both contact stores. The Voice Directory group as well as the Colleagues group if you are a company employee will automatically be created and synced on both contact stores.

Create Contact Groups

To create a new group:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the > plus icon next to the Group displayed dropdown list.
  • Fill in the Group Name field.
  • Check the box next to the name of contacts to include in the new group.
  • Click Save when finished.​
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your new contact group will automatically be created on your mail server contact groups.

Assign Contacts to Groups

To assign a personal contact to a group:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Select the desired group from the Group displayed dropdown list.
  • Click the   Add icon next to the Group displayed dropdown list.
  • Check the box next to the name of contacts to include in the new group.
  • Click Save when finished.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then the modified contacts will automatically be assigned to same contact group on your mail server.

Unassign Contacts from Groups

To unassign a personal contact from a group:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Select the desired group from the Group displayed dropdown list.
  • Click the  Add icon next to the Group displayed dropdown lis
  • Uncheck the box next to the name of all contacts to remove from the group.
  • Click Save when finished.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then the modified contacts will automatically be unassigned from the same contact group on your mail server.

Detect Badly Formatted Phone Numbers

Badly formatted phone numbers are displayed in red in the list of contacts.

To display only badly formatted numbers:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Show badly formatted numbers in red box at the end of the contacts table.

For every badly formatted number:

  • Click the contact name to modify the phone number.
  • In the phone number field that requires modifications, enter the country, area code and local number in TAPI format or click the  Edit icon to help you format the telephone numbers correctly.
  • Click Save.

Dial Numbers Using WebPhone

The system includes a WebPhone to dial phone numbers directly from the Web Portal interface. You may configure WebPhone to call you back before dialing the number or use your computer's headset or microphone & speakers to handle the call.

Click any phone number listed in the table to dial it using WebPhone.

Contact Details

Contact details include 5 sections:

  1. General information
  2. Telephone numbers
  3. Groups
  4. Address
  5. Attributes such as language, birthday, etc.

General Contact Fields

In the Information section, enter the general contact details in the appropriate fields. You must enter at least the first and last name to enable the Virtual Assistant to identify the contact.

  • Gender: Select Male or Female in the gender dropdown field.
  • Salutation: Select the Salutation from the dropdown list.
  • First and Last Name: Enter the first and last name of the contact. Make sure the name is correctly spelled.
  • Phonetic Name: Phonetics are what your Virtual Assistant understands when you say the name of the contact or colleague to call. Basic first name and last name phonetics are created automatically for each name in your voice directory group. However, the proper pronunciation of some names may require phonetic adjustments for better speech recognition, especially foreign names. This field is generally left blank.

Phonetic Name

To adjust the pronunciation of a contat that the Virtual Assistant has trouble recognizing:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the contact name requiring phonetics configuration.
  • Under Phonetic Name, enter the proper pronunciation of the contact as you would say it. For help on phonetic spelling, click How to adjust phonetics for a proper name. You will be offered a link to several tools to help you choose the phonetic spelling.
  • Click Save to apply the changes

Telephone Numbers

Enter the phone numbers of the contact (business, mobile, home, fax). Make sure that the telephone numbers are formatted correctly in TAPI format. Click on the pencil icon to help you format the number.

The numbers must be formatted according to the universal TAPI convention as follows:

  • Country/Region
  • City/Area Code
  • Local Number
  • Extension

The following are all TAPI-compliant formats:

  • +1 (514) 555 1212
  • +1 (514) 555 1212 x201
  • +33 (1) 4331 1212
  • +44 (3456) 6789

Groups

The Web Portal enables you to create groups and use them to tag contacts. Groups can be used to filter callers when you are in a certain status. For example, when your status is in meeting, you can decide to take calls only from contacts in your Customers and Colleagues groups. Other calls go to voice mail.

Check the box next to a group name to assign the contact to the group. Uncheck the box to unassign the contact from the group. You can also click New group to create a new group and assign the contact to it.

Address

Enter the contact's address, city, state/province, zip/postal code and country. These fields are not mandatory.

Attributes

This section enables to enter additional contact information such as language, birthday, job title and company. Your Virtual Assistant uses the birthday to play a special birthday music when greeting the contact calling on his/her birthday week.

  • Language: Select the communication language of the contact. Your Virtual Assistant will use this language when interacting with this contact.
  • Birthday: Your contact will hear a short happy birthday message when interacting with the Virtual Assistant 3 days before and after this date. The Virtual Assistant may also use this field to remind you of a contact's birthday.
  • Job Title: Enter the contact's job title. You can also leave this field blank.
  • Company: Enter the name of the company where this contact is employed. You can also leave this field blank.

Export Contacts

You can export lists of contacts to a CSV or PDF file.

Export Contacts to CSV File

To export contacts to a CSV file:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Select the contacts to export:
    • One or several contacts: Check the box next to the name of the contacts to export.
    • All contacts: Check the box at the top of the table next to the Full Name header. All contacts will automatically be selected.
  • Click the CSV button to open the export window.
  • By default the file is named contacts.csv.
    • Change the file name if needed but keep the CSV extension. Example: rename contacts.csv to mycontacts.csv.
    • Make sure that you are saving the file to the desired directory on your computer.
  • Click Save.

Export Contacts to a PDF Document

To export contacts to a PDF document:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Select the contacts to export:
    • One or several contacts: Check the box next to the name of the contacts to export.
    • All contacts: Check the box at the top of the table next to the Full Name header. All contacts will automatically be selected.
  • Click the  PDF button to open the export window.
  • The PDF document will automatically open in a new window and be saved to the default directory on your computer.

Sort, Search and Filter Contacts

You can quickly find contacts either by searching for a keyword or by filtering the list based on the type of field.

Sort Contacts

The contacts are displayed by name in alphabetical order.

You can sort the contacts alphabetically or numerically (based on the type of information in the columns) by clicking on any of the column headings in the contacts page.

Search

At the top of the table, click the tab corresponding to the type of contacts you are looking for: Personal Contacts, Shared Contacts or Colleagues.

  • The first row of the table contains blank fields in which you can type a keyword to search for a specific contact. For example, type "John" in the Full Name column and press enter to view all contacts containing the word "John".
  • To remove the search filter, delete the keywords typed in the first row of the table and press enter.

Filter by Group

You can filter the list of personal contacts by group. See Contact Groups for details.

  1. At the top of the table, click the Personal Contacts tab.
  2. Select a group from the Group displayed dropdown list at the top left of the table.
  3. Select All Contacts to view the full list of contacts.