Master Records

A Master Record is a regular contact record that has been designated to contain linking fields. Once a Master Record has been created, other contact records are linked to it and can share any of the values in the linked fields.

Any field can be designated as a master field, but this designation is for all records in the database. Common master fields include company name, business address, and phone number.

Master fields allow you to easily change the value in a linked field for multiple records by modifying the field in the Master Record. When this field is modified, all linked records will automatically be updated with the new information.

Benefits of Master Records

Master Records increase efficiency and improve data quality. Let's say your firm represents a corporation that is experiencing growth through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Every time this company expands, the business address changes. Creating a Master Record ensures that all contacts at this company have the new address information. Without a Master Record, you would need to modify the address for each contact at the company (or do a Global Find and Replace).

Master Records can also be used to update company names. Using the same scenario outlined above, you could easily update the name of the newly expanded company. With Master Records, you can also share important client information linked to the record such as annual revenues, client rankings, or other data points tracked in ContactEase.

You can also link categories to Master Records. For example, you may use categories to track the industries you serve. In that case, you could have everyone linked to a master record automatically assigned to any categories you've linked to the record.

Identifying Master Records

There are two ways to identify Master Records:

Records that appear in bold in the list view are Master Records
The word Master precedes the record name in a Master Record

To identify which records are linked to a Master Record, view the Relations tab. The link symbol indicates the record is linked.

If you are looking at an individual contact record, you can determine if it is linked to a Master Record by looking for the link icon in the upper left corner by the contact name. A closed link shows that the record is linked to another record. You can click the link to display the Master Record.

In the example shown above, all records where the company name is Big Cola are linked to the Master Record except Arthur Nadler. The only difference between a Master Record and a regular record is the link. If you unlink all the records currently linked, the designator Master will disappear.

You can also see if the current record is linked to a Master Record by looking for the link symbol when displaying a linked record. In the second image above, you can see that the record for Patricia Patterson is linked to the Master Record for Big Cola.

Link to a Master Record

Any record will become a Master Record by linking another record to it. Two different symbols appear on a record display:

The first symbol (1) indicates that the record is linked to another record. Click the symbol to display the Master Record.
The second symbol (2) indicates the record is not linked. Click this symbol to establish a link for the record and initiate the "Link to Master Record" dialog (3).

Locate and highlight the record you want to use as the Master Record. You can use the Fined drop-down menu to view previous Quick Find searches.

Your options are:

All Records to display all records in the database
Company Records Only to display only records with a company name
Master Records Only to display records that already have records linked to it

Highlight a record and click OK. This will create the link making the selected record a Master Record.

Do I Need to Have a Master Record?

Master Records are not required. If you link an already completed record to a Master Record, only empty fields will be updated.

Linked Fields for Master Records

When you create a Master Record, all fields selected in the Link Options tab will be copied into the linked record if the field is blank.

You can link all address fields, for example, by checking the Address box, or expanding it, and selecting a specific address.

When a field is selected, it will appear in bold. If, as in the example above, you choose a field or a subfield, such as the business address, the Address label, and the business address will show in bold.

Master Fields

Master Fields (i.e. those fields that are linked) are identified in color. By default, linked fields matching the master are in turquoise while linked fields that do not match are in yellow.

In the example shown, the company name, business address, business phone, and website are linked fields along with the client number. The business phone and the website fields do not match the values stored in the Master Record. These are considered mismatched fields.

Unlink from Master Record

To unlink a record from the Master Record, use the Unlink Master option from the Record menu. When a record is unlinked, you may copy the linked fields into the record. If you opt not to copy these fields, they will be blanked out once the unlink function has been completed.

Delete a Master Record

While Master Records are not required, they can be created automatically when a new record i via the "New contact at this company..." option. Some firms prefer not to use Master Records and delete them when they occur. Whatever the reason, deleting a Master Record is easy. Simply locate the Master Record, highlight and delete it. When deleting a Master Record, you will receiving a warning message. To continue, click Yes.

When you click Yes, only the Master Record will be deleted. Deleting a Master Record does not delete the contact records linked to it. Any master field from the Master Record will be copied into the linked record and no information will be lost.