Introduction

The Contacts section is your centralized hub for efficiently managing all your contacts.

You can add unlimited contacts, organize them intuitively using tags and lists, and enrich their profiles with details, photos, documents, and files — ensuring you always have a complete and up-to-date overview.

This article outlines the key elements of the Contacts section, includes a guide to the main icons, shows an example contact card, and links to helpful resources.

Main elements of the Contacts section

	The Contacts heading in the top left corner displays the total number of contacts uploaded.
	Using the search lens, you can look for keywords within the contact cards or perform a more complex search using operators.
	The sorting function lets you organize contacts by name, date modified, date created, etc. More information is provided in the next section.
	The select function enables you to select contacts. See more in the next section below in this article.
	The  allows you to add new contacts.

Sort and Select functions

Sorting

By default, contacts are sorted alphabetically by last name. If a last name isn't available, the sorting falls back to the Company field.

You can change how the contacts are ordered by clicking  and choosing from the options provided:

• Last Name (or Company)
• Edited Date
• Creation Date

Each sorting option can be viewed in Ascending (A–Z) or Descending (Z–A) order.

Select

The select function is particularly important if you want to export contacts to Excel or assign lists and tags in bulk.

In Artshell, you can select individual contacts using the  icon, or select all with the  icon, which appears after clicking the  icon.

You can choose to view only the selected contacts, change their order, or deselect them.

Here is a brief summary demonstration:

Import or add contacts

Artshell offers several ways to populate your Contacts section, depending on the size of your address book.

If your address book contains only a few items, you can read the article Add, edit, or delete a contact and begin uploading your contacts manually. 

However, For a large number of contacts, we recommend choosing one of these two options:

• • Concierge Service: Ideal if your contacts are extensive and not yet digitalized. Our team will handle the import for you. Click here to find out more about the Concierge Service.
  • Data Migration Service: If your contacts are already digital (e.g., stored in a newsletter platform or CRM), contact our Sales team to learn more.
  • Use advanced import: A tool that lets you independently import contacts via Excel upload. Click here to read the dedicated article on advanced import.

The contact card

Here is an example of a contact card with some completed fields.

For an explanation of all fields, refer to the article Add, edit, or delete a contact.

	The Details drop-down menu includes additional content associated with your contact card, such as: Media Documents Files Artworks
	This icon allows you to enter edit mode and modify the contact card.
	Click this icon to delete the contact card.
	Use this icon to close the contact card.
	Send an email to the selected contact.

Relationships between contact cards and other sections

Artshell’s contact cards are dynamic, meaning they automatically reflect real-time interactions and links with other areas of the platform. The card updates based on the contact's activities and connections, such as:

1. Email address status: each email address is assigned a status that updates based on recipient behavior (e.g., email opened, bounced, etc.). When you add a new email address, it is initially set to active. This is because, initially, the contact is considered ready to receive your emails. Click here to learn more about contact status.
   
   

   

   
   
   
2. Purple indicator: a purple dot next to a contact’s initials indicates that the contact is linked to other Artshell sections, such as: Artworks (if, for example, they carried out a restoration of a specific artwork) or Events (if, for example, if they acted as a promoter). Details about these connections are always displayed in the contact card. 

Conclusions

You now have a clear understanding of the Contacts section.
To begin building your mailing list, continue reading:

• Add, edit, or delete a contact
• Organise contacts with Tags and Lists