How to manage external contacts

Before you start

• You need an agent or agency admin account on Openn.
• External contacts are shared at the agency level — all agents in your agency can see contacts created within the agency.

What are external contacts?

External contacts are people outside the standard Openn participant roles (buyer, seller, observer, attendee) who you may need to include in contract workflows. Common examples:

• Solicitors
• Conveyancers
• Settlement agents
• Buyer's agents
• Brokers

Once created, external contacts are available when building recipient lists for any contract flow.

Accessing the Contacts page

1. Click your profile menu in the top navigation.
2. Select External contacts.

The contacts screen displays all external contacts created within your agency.

Viewing contacts

The contacts table shows:

• Name and email of each contact.
• Activity tags — showing how the contact has been used (e.g. linked to a property as a recipient, associated with a buyer, observer, or attendee).
• Modified date — when the contact or their activity was last updated.

What you can see depends on your role:

• Agents see all external contacts in their agency. Activity details are shown only for contacts on properties where the agent is the primary or co-listing agent.
• Agency admins see all contacts and all activity across the agency.

Filters available:

• Role — Filter by activity type (Buyer, Seller, Observer, Attendee, Recipient, etc.).
• Property — Filter by property (ordered by launch date, latest first).

Adding a new contact

1. Click + Add contact on the contacts page.
2. Enter the contact's first name, last name, email, and phone number.
3. Click Save.

The contact is created within your agency and is immediately available in all contract flows.

You can also create contacts on the fly when building a recipient list — click Create new contact in the Add signee or Add Cc dropdown during any contract preparation flow.

Editing a contact

1. Click the ... menu on the contact row.
2. Select Edit.
3. Update the details and click Save.

Important: If the contact is linked to a buyer, observer, or attendee (i.e. their email matches an existing participant), a warning appears when you change their name, phone, or email. This alerts you to potential data mismatches.

Deleting a contact

1. Click the ... menu on the contact row.
2. Select Delete.

Note: If the contact has an active contract (sent but not fully signed or cancelled), deletion is blocked. A message appears: "This contact has an active contract. Cancel or fully sign it before deleting." Click the link to view the active contract.

Deleting a contact does not affect any underlying buyer, observer, or attendee records on properties.

Activity tags

Activity tags show how a contact has been used across your properties:

• No tag — Contact was created but has not been used in any flow yet.
• Recipient + property address — Contact was added as a recipient in a contract for that property.
• Buyer + property address — Contact's email matches a buyer on that property.
• Observer + property address — Contact's email matches an observer.
• Attendee + property address — Contact's email matches an attendee.

A contact can have multiple tags if they are linked to multiple properties or have multiple roles.

Tips

• Create contacts before you need them — Pre-loading your regular solicitors and conveyancers saves time during contract preparation.
• Use the "Create contact" shortcut — You can create a new contact directly from the recipient list dropdown during any contract flow.
• Activity tags help you verify contacts — Check the tags to confirm you are selecting the right person, especially if you have multiple contacts with similar names.

FAQ

Q: Can buyers and sellers see my external contacts?

A: No. External contacts are only visible to agents and agency admins within your agency.

Q: Do external contacts need an Openn account?

A: No. External contacts receive documents via email. They can view and sign documents through a secure link without creating an Openn account.

Q: If I delete a contact, does it affect contracts they've already signed?

A: No. Deleting a contact only removes them from your contacts list. Previously completed contracts are unaffected.