Your workspace
When a contact changes company
Editing the card looks like the natural move, and it is exactly what erases the information you needed later.
It happens constantly: the person you have dealt with for three years moves to another company, or the email domain changes, and someone opens their card and updates it. It looks obvious. The problem shows up months later, when you need to know who something was sent to and which company they answered from.
What gets rewritten and what does not
| Element | What happens when you edit the card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Address used from now on | Changes | Which is what you wanted |
| Messages already sent | Do not change | They keep the address of the time: that is the proof of who it went to |
| Company shown on the card | Is overwritten | The card reflects now; it has no history |
| Files they took part in | Still point at that card | And start reading with the new company |
Important
The third row is the trap. **An old message keeps the real address it went to, but the card now says that person was always at the new company.** Pull a listing by company and two-year-old work will show up attributed to a firm that had nothing to do with it then. What was sent is right; what is said about it is not.
The rule, in one line
Watch out
The third case is the touchiest, and it is not about tidiness but about access: **a link sent to an address keeps working for whoever reads that mailbox**. If the leaver's mail is inherited by their replacement, that person can open things addressed to their predecessor. When a supplier changes contact, anything in flight is resent to the new address rather than trusting the internal forward.
How to leave it clean without losing the past
- 1
A new card with the new company
And the current address, which is where you will write from now on.
- 2
The old one is kept, marked inactive
It holds everything done through it and stops anyone reusing it.
- 3
A note linking the two
One line on each is enough: whoever searches a year from now will be grateful.
- 4
And anything in flight repointed to the new card
What is closed stays as it was: it reflects what happened.
Worth knowing
If the person asks you to stop writing to their previous address, that is handled like any other request about their data, and it is separate from keeping the record of what was sent.
›Should I delete the old card?
No: everything done through it hangs off it. Mark it inactive.
›What if they go back to the previous company?
Reactivate the card from then; that is why it was kept.
›Is it worth it for a contact with two messages?
Edit and move on. The rule is for those with history behind them.
A real case
The situation
A supplier's contact moves to another company and keeps dealing with you.
What you do
- Creates a new card, marks the old one inactive and links both with a note
What you get
The history still says where they answered from then, and new messages go to the right place.
The situation
A contact changes company and stays on the old record.
What you do
- Updates the contact at their new company
What you get
Notices reach the right person.
The situation
Emails keep going to their previous address.
What you do
- Checks the bounce and updates
What you get
Notices stop getting lost.
The situation
There is a wish to move their contribution history with them.
What you do
- Keeps the history at the company where it happened
What you get
The record stays true.
The situation
Nobody knows who replaces them at the old company.
What you do
- Asks for the new contact before chasing
What you get
The request reaches somebody who can act.
The situation
The contact is duplicated across two companies.
What you do
- Keeps one record per company
What you get
Each relationship has its own contact.
This article answers
- a contact has changed company what do I do
- change a contact's email
- a supplier's address no longer exists
- duplicate or edit a contact card