---
id: KB-CC-006
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/contacts-and-channels/what-a-contact-is-and-what-it-does
idioma: en
categoria: contactos-canales
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CC-002, KB-CC-003]
citadoPor: [KB-CC-008, KB-ET-012]
---

# What a contact is

_The record of someone outside, and why it pays to keep it right._

**Responde a:** what is a contact on the platform · why create a contact · difference between a contact and a user · how do i add a supplier

A contact is someone outside your organisation that you deal with: a supplier, a client, a subcontractor's worker, a signer. They have no account, do not enter the platform, and see nothing beyond what you ask them for.

**En corto**

- A contact is not a user: they do not sign in, do not use a licence and do not see your work.
- It stores how to reach that person and what has happened with them.
- Kept right, it is what makes a notice land first time.

## Contact and user, which get confused

| How they differ | Contact | User |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who they are | Someone outside | Someone on your team |
| Signs in | No | Yes |
| Sees your cases | Only their own part, by link | Whatever their permissions allow |
| Needs an invitation | No | Yes |

## What is worth storing

- The person's name and their company's. A notice addressed to a person gets opened more than one addressed to "info".
- Email, and their mobile if you have it. The mobile is what saves you when email bounces.
- The language you will write to them in, if it is not yours.

> [!NOTE]
> Asking for the mobile at first contact costs one line and saves weeks later. By the time you need it — because email bounces or there is a rush — there is nobody to ask.

**Do contacts cost anything?**

No. Only what you send them consumes, not storing them.

**Can I have several contacts at the same company?**

Yes, and you should: one for paperwork, another for invoicing.

**Do they know I created them?**

No. Creating a contact sends nothing.

## Ejemplos

**A company stores only each supplier's generic email address.**

- Adds the specific person and their mobile at first contact

→ Notices stop dying in an inbox nobody reads and delivery rises without changing anything else.

**The contact is confused with the company.**

- Records the company and the people separately

→ Each relationship has its own contact.

**One contact serves two companies.**

- Keeps one record per company

→ The history does not mix.

**A generic mailbox is stored as the contact.**

- Asks for a specific person

→ The request reaches somebody who can act.

**Nobody knows what role each contact has.**

- Records their function at the company

→ You write to the right person.

**The contact is stored with no phone number.**

- Completes the record at first dealings

→ Changing channel is possible when needed.