How to Optimize Contact Management in Planfix
Contact management in Planfix gets easier once a few lesser-known settings are in place: who can open which contact, where the message history with a client lives, and how calls reach the right card. This short video covers four of them, and the steps below follow the same order, starting with the single contact database in Planfix.
What you’ll learn: how to optimize contact management in Planfix
- Set flexible access to contact data, down to a single field (0:06).
- Keep the message history with a client in one place (0:21).
- Run reports on contacts and calls (0:45).
- Connect a virtual PBX so calls land in the contact card (1:07).
- Decide where call records are attached and who can open them.
How to optimize contact management in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Set flexible access to contact data
Open a contact and click Permissions in the right-hand menu. The panel lists every user with access to the contact or company and the type of access they have; access can also be granted when the contact is created. Permissions decide whether the contact appears in tasks, reports and planners at all. For finer control, set access to contacts field by field in the contact template, which is also where new contacts get their default permissions. To change many cards at once, select contacts with a filter in the Contacts section and apply a bulk update. One rule works in the background: an employee who takes a call from a contact is granted access to that contact automatically.
Step 2. Keep the message history in one place
Client messages arrive as tasks, not as card comments. When a client writes to your company account in a messenger, Planfix creates a task, and your comments in that task are sent back through the same channel, so the thread stays whole. The card holds the context: its main panel shows basic details and a comment feed, and the Tasks panel lists every task the contact takes part in.
Comments in the contact’s own feed are internal and never reach the client, because communicating with clients from Planfix happens in tasks. And when the same person wrote from several channels, merge the duplicate cards: the channel is set on the task, not the contact, so every conversation stays reachable from the merged card.
Step 3. Report on contacts without building a report
The contact card has a Reports panel that launches any report in one click, already filtered by that contact or company. Standard call reports live under Reports / Call reports: Report: Weekly calls grouped by contacts sums the number and duration of calls per contact for a period, with a missed-calls report next to it. Both become available only after a virtual PBX is connected.
Step 4. Connect a virtual PBX
Only an account administrator or the primary account admin can connect telephony: go to Account management — Integrations — Virtual PBX, pick your provider and enter its data. Planfix works with one virtual PBX at a time, and the supported list includes Zadarma, CallGear, Binotel and FreePBX. Enter each employee’s extension number exactly as it is set on the PBX side; calls to extensions Planfix does not recognize are not recorded, which keeps drivers or security staff out of your call log. After that, virtual PBX integration opens the caller’s card on an incoming call, creates a card for a first-time caller, and lets you add data or a comment during the call.
Calls and call reports in the contact card
Where a call record ends up is a setting, not a given. Missed calls are attached permanently to the contact card. For successful calls, the destination is set in the account’s telephony settings: with Attach call to the contact’s last active task, the record is linked to the contact and to their most recent task. Records can also go to the last task that meets your conditions, or to a new task per call.
The gain is access control: because the record lives on a task, you decide who can open a call separately from who can see the contact. One limitation is worth knowing: an outgoing call nobody picks up is logged as a Missed Call with an outgoing type, not as a Call data tag.
Who it’s for
- Sales managers: see a client’s conversations and calls in one card.
- Support teams: answer in the task the client wrote to, in their channel.
- Team leads: read weekly call reports per contact.
- Finance and management: keep sensitive contact fields visible only to the people who need them.
- Account admins: connect the PBX, map extension numbers and decide where call records are stored.
FAQ
Can I limit who sees a contact in Planfix?
Yes. Set access in the Permissions panel of the contact card, restrict individual fields in the contact template, and change many cards at once with a bulk update from a contact filter.
Where is the call history with a client stored?
Missed calls stay attached to the contact card. For successful calls, the telephony settings decide: the record can go to the contact’s last active task, to the last task matching your conditions, or to a new task per call.
Which virtual PBX systems does Planfix support?
Zadarma, CallGear, Binotel and FreePBX, one at a time. Only an account administrator or the primary account admin can connect it, and other providers can be added through the Planfix telephony API.
Start with access and the call log
Pick one thing from the video: open a client card, check its Permissions panel, then look at where your last call was attached. Calls arrive through CRM with built-in telephony, and messenger conversations follow the same logic as omnichannel customer communication. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
