Articles on: Contacts & counterparties

AI Contact Categories: How do I set up contact types and link contacts to contracts?

A counterparty is rarely just a name. For a supplier you care about certifications and payment terms, for a private individual about the bank details and address, for a customer about the account number. Contact types are the mechanism for that: each type has its own sections and fields. You maintain exactly the data that matters per kind of partner — and not twenty empty fields beside it.
This article covers both halves: setting up contact types, and getting those contacts onto your contracts.


What's in it for you

  • No field desert. A supplier shows supplier fields, a person shows person fields. Anything that doesn't belong to the type never appears.
  • Clean reporting. When every supplier carries the same fields, the set can be filtered, exported and analysed.
  • Set up once, use forever. The type defines the form — every new contact of that kind is structured correctly from the start.
  • One contract, several partners. When one side of a contract has more than one party, record both instead of picking one.


Before you start

  • Creating and changing contact types, sections and fields requires admin rights at organisation level.
  • Creating contacts and linking them to contracts works for anyone with write access to the contract in question.


How it works

1. Look at the contact types

Go to Settings → Field builder → Contact field builder („Einstellungen → Feldbaukasten → Kontaktfeldbaukasten"). The page has three columns:

  • Your contact types („Ihre Kontakttypen") on the left — by default Service provider („Dienstleister"), Customer („Kunde"), Supplier („Lieferant"), Person and Company („Unternehmen"), each with a colour dot.
  • Preview of your contact („Vorschau Ihres Kontaktes") in the middle — what a contact of the selected type will look like.
  • Your fields („Ihre Felder") on the right — your organisation's field library, with search and sorting.

Click a type on the left and the preview changes. The difference is easy to see: Company has the sections Generell, Standort, Ansprechpartner, Weitere Ansprechpartner and Rahmenbedingungen; Person has Generell, Standort, Finanzielles (with IBAN and VAT ID) and Rahmenbedingungen instead.


2. Create your own contact type

Click the ⊕ above the type list (Add new contact type / „Neuen Kontakttyp hinzufügen"). The "Create new contact type" („Neuen Kontakttyp erstellen") dialog asks for four things:

  • Name — required, for example Authority or Insurer.
  • Colour („Farbe") — the dot you will recognise the type by in lists.
  • Description (optional) — the hint in the dialog says what for: "helps the AI decide during analysis when a contact is of this type" („hilft der KI bei der Analyse zu entscheiden, wann ein Kontakt dieser Typ ist"). If you use AI analysis for contacts, one clear sentence pays off here.
  • Contact type template (optional) („Kontakttypvorlage") — "Select a category to copy its fields and sections into your new category." You start from an existing type instead of from scratch.

"Create" („Erstellen") adds the type; it appears in the list on the left straight away.


3. Set up sections and fields for the type

The preview in the middle is the blueprint of the type.
Header. At the very top sits the Title („Titel") area with the note "Contact header: add up to two single-line text fields here, shown at the top of the contact page, e.g. a name field." That is the line that later appears in bold above the contact.
Sections. The ⊕ next to Preview of your contact opens "Create new section" („Neuen Abschnitt erstellen") — you only give it a name. The icon on the section itself lets you rename or remove it later.
Fields. The library sits on the right under Your fields. Drag an existing field into the section you want. If one is missing, create it via the ⊕ (Add new field / „Neues Feld hinzufügen"). The "New field" dialog asks for:

  • Field name — required.
  • Field type („Feldtyp") — Date, Single-line text, Monetary amount, Link, List, Multi-line text or Number.
  • Required field — a toggle for fields that must always be filled.
  • Field description — help text for whoever fills the contact in later.

The settings icon on a field also lets you store an AI prompt, so the analysis fills that field from contracts automatically.

Don't forget: changes to the structure only take effect once you click "Save" („Speichern") in the top right.


4. Create a contact

Open Contacts and click "New contact" („Neuer Kontakt"). First pick the contact type at the top — only then does the matching form appear, with exactly the sections and fields from step 3.
On the right you will see "Save the contact first — contracts and tasks become available once you have saved this contact." („Speichern Sie zuerst den Kontakt…"). The Contracts, Tasks and Activity tabs unlock after saving.


The link is made inside the contract, through the counterparty („Vertragspartner") field:

  1. Open the contract and switch from "View" („Einsehen") to "Edit" („Bearbeiten") at the top.
  2. Hover the counterparty field — a ⊕ appears in its top right corner, labelled "Link existing contact" („Bestehenden Kontakt verknüpfen").
  3. In the dialog, start typing under "Select contact" („Kontakt auswählen") and pick the right one.
  4. Confirm with "Add" („Hinzufügen").

If the contact does not exist yet, click "New contact +" („NEUER KONTAKT +") in the same dialog. The "New contact" form opens right inside the contract — including the contact type picker. You create the contact without leaving the contract.


6. Several contacts on one contract

Simply repeat step 5. The new contact is added alongside the existing one rather than replacing it. That is the normal case for contracts with more than one party on a side — two companies of a group, or a tenant plus a guarantor.
Each contact in the field offers five actions:

Action

What it does

Expand / Collapse („Ausklappen" / „Einklappen")

Shows the contact's fields inside the contract

Go to contact („Zum Kontakt")

Opens the full contact page

Edit contact („Kontakt bearbeiten")

Opens the contact for editing

Remove from this field („Aus diesem Feld entfernen")

Removes only the link — the contact itself stays

Verify all data of this contact („Verifiziert alle Daten dieses Kontakts")

Confirms all AI values on that contact at once


7. Maintain contact data from inside the contract

"Expand" reveals the contact's sections — Generell, Standort and so on — below the name. Each field shows its value; AI-filled fields also show the "Verify" („Verifizieren") button, and each section has "Verify all" („Alle verifizieren"). You can review and confirm master data without leaving the contract.


Common questions

Can I add a second contact field to a contract, for example "Purchasing contact"?

No. When you create a new contract field the available types are Checkbox, Date, Single-line text, Formula, Monetary amount, Interval, Link, List, Multi-line text, Number and Duration — Contact is not among them. Counterparty is therefore the only field that holds real contacts on a contract. For names that do not need a link, create an ordinary text field.

Can I link an existing contract from the contact page?

No. The contact page has a search and "New contract" („Neuer Vertrag") under Contract list — the latter creates a new contract with this contact. An existing contract can only be linked through the counterparty field in the contract itself.

What happens to the contacts if I delete a contact type?

Check which contacts use the type first. A type defines the form — remove it and those contacts lose their structure. When in doubt, create the new type, move the contacts over, and delete the old one afterwards.

How do I see why a contract is attached to a contact?

On the contact page, each contract in the contract list carries the note "Linked via: Counterparty" („Verknüpft über: Vertragspartner").

Do I have to give every contact type its own fields?

No. Fields from Your fields can be used in several types — Address or Email only need creating once. Custom fields pay off for whatever is genuinely type-specific.

What is the contact type description for?

It helps the AI decide during analysis when a contact belongs to that type. Without AI analysis it is simply documentation for your team.

A contact exists twice — what now?

Use Merge duplicates („Duplikate zusammenführen") in the contact list. The related article walks through it.


Good to know

  • Type first, contact second. The contact type is one click at the start — the later you switch, the more rework it creates.
  • Start from a template. A new type that is 80 % identical to an existing one is set up in seconds via Contact type template.
  • The header holds two fields at most. Worth a moment's thought: usually the name for companies, first and last name for people.
  • Remember to save. Sections and fields only go live after "Save" in the field builder.
  • A link is not the contact. "Remove from this field" only cuts the connection to the contract. You delete the contact itself via "Delete contact" („Kontakt löschen") on the contact page.


Updated on: 09/22/2026

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