Articles on: Contacts & counterparties

Contacts: create and manage counterparties cleanly

The screenshots in this article show the German interface. The English label is given first, with the German label in square brackets.

Your benefit

Instead of typing the same address into ten contracts one by one, you maintain it once as a contact — and every linked contract stays consistent. When the counterparty moves, you change the address in a single place. That saves maintenance effort, cuts down on data clutter, and makes reporting (which contracts hang off which partner?) answerable straight away.

A lot of this now happens by itself. When a contract is analysed, the AI reads the counterparty's master data along with it and creates the contact if it does not exist yet. Details in AI analysis for contacts.

How it works

1. Open the contact overview

In the left-hand navigation, click Contacts [Kontakte].

You will see the table of all counterparties with the default columns Name, Number of contracts [Anzahl Verträge], Main contact person [Hauptansprechpartner], Email [E-Mail], Phone number [Rufnummer], Address [Adresse], City [Stadt], Postcode [Postleitzahl], Country [Land], Website, Notes [Anmerkungen], VAT ID [USt-IdNr.], Number of employees [Anzahl der Mitarbeiter] and Contact type [Kontakttyp]. Use the "Search contacts" [„Kontakte suchen"] box to find a specific partner quickly; the counter "Count: X" [„Anzahl: X"] at the bottom left shows the total.

2. Create a new contact

At the top right, click "+ New contact" [„+ Neuer Kontakt"].

A form opens in which you choose between Company [Unternehmen] and Person [Person] and record all the relevant master data — General [Generell] (main contact person, email, phone number), Location [Standort] (address, postcode, city, country) and company master data [Firmenstammdaten] (legal form, VAT ID, industry, website, number of employees, …).

3. Save your own views

Once you have the columns and filters you need regularly, open the "View: Default view" [„Ansicht: Standardansicht"] dropdown at the top and choose "Save new view" [„Neue Ansicht speichern"]. In the dialogue you give it a name (e.g. "Customers DACH 2026") and decide on two optional switches — "Set as default view" [„Als Standardansicht festlegen"] and "Share view with the whole team" [„Ansicht mit dem gesamten Team teilen"]. Your own views are then found again under "My views" [„Meine Ansichten"] in the same dropdown.

4. Edit a contact

Clicking a contact name opens the detail view with the three areas General [Generell], Location [Standort] and Company master data [Firmenstammdaten]. Use "Edit contact" [„Kontakt bearbeiten"] at the top to adjust fields, and "Merge contacts" [„Kontakte zusammenführen"] to merge duplicates (see Related articles). On the right, the Contracts [Verträge] and Tasks [Aufgaben] tabs show which records are already linked to this contact — including a direct "+ New contract" [„+ Neuer Vertrag"] button for this partner.

5. Export the view

The "View: …" [„Ansicht: …"] dropdown also contains "Export view" [„Ansicht exportieren"] — the contacts currently visible are downloaded as a file, with your columns and filters applied.

Frequently asked questions

Do I still need to create contacts myself?

Often not. When a contract is analysed, ContractHero creates the counterparty automatically if needed and fills in its standard fields. Creating one yourself is worth it for partners you do not have a contract with yet, or when you want to maintain master data in advance.

How does ContractHero tell a company from a person?

Via the contact type [Kontakttyp]. When creating the contact you choose whether it is a Company [Unternehmen] or a Person [Person] — the type appears in the detail view as a coloured badge next to the name and governs which fields are shown as relevant (legal form and VAT ID, for example, only make sense for a company).

What is the difference between the main contact person and further contact people?

The main contact person [Hauptansprechpartner] is the one used by default in lists, templates and signature requests. Further contact people round out the picture — a second accounting email, say, or a CC address for contract matters — and can be shown via the column picker.

How do I merge duplicate contacts?

Click "Merge duplicates" [„Duplikate zusammenführen"] at the top of the contact list. ContractHero shows potential duplicates and you decide per pair which data is carried over into the final contact — linked contracts stay with the merged record.

Can I import contacts?

At the moment you create contacts either straight from the contract list (while creating a contract) or individually via "+ New contact" [„+ Neuer Kontakt"]. A bulk import today runs through the contracts XLS import — the counterparties are created along with the contracts.

What does the number in the "Number of contracts" column mean?

It shows how many active and archived contracts are linked to this contact. Click the contact to see the individual contracts on the right in the Contracts [Verträge] tab.

Good to know

Master data comes out of the contract. A contact's standard fields are filled in automatically during contract analysis — no extra module, no setup. AI values carry a "Verify" [„Verifizieren"] marker until somebody confirms them.
Contact Field Builder [Kontaktfeldbaukasten]: you create your own fields (e.g. "Credit rating", "Relationship note") under Settings → Field builder → Contact field builder [Einstellungen → Feldbaukasten → Kontaktfeldbaukasten]. Those fields appear automatically in the column picker and in the detail view. The module is enabled on request.
Linking to contracts: when creating a contract you can either pick an existing contact or create a new one on the spot — both end up in the same contact list.
"Number of contracts: 0": contacts with no linked contracts are often leftovers from test imports. Sorting by the "Number of contracts" column finds them quickly.
Shared views: as with the contract list, views can be shared across the team — everyone sees the same state. Only the person who created a shared view can edit it.
Maintain master data centrally: an address change on the contact takes effect immediately on all linked contracts — the contracts pull the data dynamically.

Updated on: 10/28/2026

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