Help310:Components Contacts Contacts

Description

Provides an overview of the Contacts available on a Joomla site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete Contacts. There must be at least one Contact Category before a Contact can be created.

How to Access

• Select Components → Contacts from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel.

Screenshot

Column Headers

In the table containing contacts these are the different columns as shown below. Click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

• Ordering. Up-Down Arrows. User specified ordering, default is order of contacts creation. When active, drag and drop ordering by 'click and hold' on the bars icon then 'release' in desired position.

• Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more contacts. To select all contacts, check the box in the column heading.
  Note: Many toolbar actions can work with multiple contacts.

• Status. Published or Unpublished contacts are shown. Click on the green check mark or the red circle in the Status column to toggle between Published and Unpublished.

• Title. The name of the contact. You can open the contact for editing by clicking on the Title.

• Linked User. The username this contact is linked to (if applicable).

• Access. The viewing Access Level for this contact.

• Language. Contact's language. If you are not using the multi-language feature of Joomla, default is 'All'.

• ID. This is a unique identification number for this contact assigned automatically by Joomla. It is used to identify the contact internally, and you cannot change this number.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 2 dropdown input fields, Sort Table By: (preset to 'Title ascending') and a number (preset to '20') to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the dropdown field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon (up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

• Title ascending (default). Shows ordering of selected column, ascending or descending.

• Number of contacts to display. Shows the number of contacts to display on one page, default is 20 contacts. If there are more contacts than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons to navigate between pages.

List Filters

The List Filters are a series of controls that let you limit what contacts show in the screen. More than one filter may be entered. In this case, only contacts that meet all of the filter conditions will show on the list.

Filter by Partial Title or ID

In the upper left is a search field and 2 buttons.

• To filter by partial title, enter part of the title and click 'Search'
• To filter by ID number, enter "id:xx", where "xx" is the ID number (for example, "id:29").
• Click 'Clear' to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.

Search Tools

Above the column headings, there are 6 dropdown list boxes.

Filter by Status

Lets you show only contacts with the selected published status.

• - Select Status -: Show only contacts that are Published and Unpublished.
• Trashed: Show only contacts that are Trashed. Quick Tip: Permanently delete contacts
• Unpublished: Show only contacts that are Unpublished.
• Published: Show only contacts that are Published.
• Archived: Show only contacts that are Archived.
• All: Show all contacts regardless of published status.

Filter by Category

Lets you show only contacts assigned to a specific category. The list box will show the categories defined for your site.

• - Select Category -: Show contacts assigned to any category.
• Uncategorised: Show only contacts assigned to this category.

Filter by Access

Lets you show only contacts that have a specified viewing access level. The list box will show the access levels defined for your site.

• - Select Access -: Show contacts with any viewing access level.
• Public: Show only contacts with this viewing access level.
• Guest: Show only contacts with this viewing access level.
• Registered: Show only contacts with this viewing access level.
• Special: Show only contacts with this viewing access level.
• Super Users: Show only contacts with this viewing access level.

Filter by Language

Lets you show only contacts that have a specific language assigned. The list box will show the languages defined for your site.

• - Select Language -: Show contacts for any language.
• All: Show contacts set for 'All' languages.
• English (en-GB): Show contacts only for this language.

Filter by Tag

Lets you show only contacts that have a specified tag. The list box will show the tags created for your site.

• - Select Tag -: Show contacts with any (or no) tag(s).
• Joomla: Show only contacts with this tag.

Filter by Max Levels (Contacts Level)

Lets you show only contacts at or above the specified level in the hierarchy.

• - Select Max Levels -: Show all contacts.
• 1: Show only contacts at the top level in the hierarchy (in other words, whose parent is '- No Parent -').
• 2: Show only contacts in the top and 2nd levels in the hierarchy.
• 3: Show only contacts in the top, 2nd and 3rd levels in the hierarchy.
• 4 … 8
• 9: Show only contacts in the top, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 levels in the hierarchy.
• 10: Show only contacts in 10 levels in the hierarchy.

Automatic Pagination

Page Controls. When the number of contacts is more than one page, you will see a page control bar as shown below. The current page number being viewed is shaded.

• Start: Click to go to the first page.
• Prev: Click to go to the previous page.
• Page numbers: Click to go to the desired page.
• Next: Click to go to the next page.
• End: Click to go to the last page.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar.

The functions are:

• New. Opens the editing screen to create a new contact.

• Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected contact. If more than one contact is selected (where applicable), only the first contact will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Name of the contact.

• Publish. Makes the selected contact available to visitors to your website.

• Unpublish. Makes the selected contact unavailable to visitors to your website.

• Feature. Marks selected contact as featured. Works with one or multiple contact selected.

• Unfeature. Changes the status of featured contact to unfeatured. Works with one or multiple contact selected.

• Archive. Changes the status of the selected contact to indicate that they are archived. Archived contact can be moved back to the published or unpublished state by selecting "Archived" in the Select Status filter and changing the status of the contact to Published or Unpublished as preferred.

• Check-in. Checks-in the selected contact. Works with one or multiple contact selected.

• Batch. Batch processes the selected contact. Works with one or multiple items selected.

• Trash. Changes the status of the selected contact to indicate that they are trashed. Trashed contact can still be recovered by selecting 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter and changing the status of the contact to Published or Unpublished as preferred. To permanently delete trashed contact, select 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter, select the contact to be permanently deleted, then click the 'Empty Trash' toolbar icon.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

• Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited.

Batch Process

The Batch Process allows a change in settings for a group of selected contacts marked with a check-mark in the corresponding check-mark boxes. To use: select one or more contacts form the table of contacts being viewed and click on the 'Batch' Toolbar button. This will open a pop up window as shown below.

You can change one value or all values at one time.

How to Batch Process a group of contacts:

1. Select one or more contacts on the list by selecting the desired checkbox(es).
2. Click the 'Batch' Toolbar button.
3. Set one or more of the following values:

• To change the Language, select the desired language from the Set Language list box.

• To change the Access Levels, select the desired new access level from the Set Access Level list box.

• To change the Category, select a category.
  • To copy the contacts to a different category, select the desired category from the category list box and check the Copy option.
    In this case, the original contacts are unchanged and the copies are assigned to the new category and, if selected, the new language, access level, tag and linked user.
    Note: Changes you have selected from language, access level, tag and linked user will be applied to the copies, not the original.
  • To move the contacts to a different category, select the desired category from the category list box and check the Move option.
    In this case, the original contacts will be moved to a new category and, if selected, be assigned the new language, access level, tag and linked user.

• To add a Tag, select the desired tag from the Add Tag list box.

• To change a linked User, select the desired user from the Set Linked user list box. Not making a selection will keep the original user when processing.

When all of the settings are entered, click on Process to perform the changes. A message "Batch process completed successfully." will show. Note: Nothing will happen if you don't have any contacts selected.

If you wish to clear your entered selections, click on the 'Cancel' button. Note: This does not uncheck the check boxes for the contacts.

Quick Tips

• To permanently delete contacts:
  1. Change the status of the contacts to Trashed.
  2. Change the Status filter to Trashed. At this point the trashed contacts will show and the Empty trash button will show in the toolbar.
  3. Select the desired trashed contacts and click on Empty trash in the toolbar. The contacts will be permanently deleted.
• You can enter information such as name, address, phone and e-mail. You can also link contacts to registered users. Afterwards, you can use the Menu Manager to create Frontend links to the contacts.

• You need to add at least one Category for your Contacts before you can add your first Contact.

Related Information

Help Screens

Component	Description
Contacts (this screen)	Provides an overview of the Contacts available on a Joomla site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete Contacts.
Contacts Edit	This is where you can Add a new Contact. Edit an existing Contact.
Categories	Provides an overview of the Contact Categories available on a Joomla site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete Contact Categories.
Categories Edit	This is where you can Add a new Contact Category. Edit an existing Contact Category.
Options	Contact Options configuration allows setting of parameters used globally for all contacts.

Menu Items	Description
Categories	Used to show a list of all Contact Categories. Categories are shown in a hierarchical list.
Category	Used to show all Contacts belonging to a specific Category in a list layout.
Featured	Used to show all Contacts that have been tagged as Featured.
Single Contact	Used to show one Contact in the Frontend of the site.