Download
To start using Contacts Journal, you have to first download our apps:
Please note that while both iOS and Mac apps are free-to-download and use, they do require an "Unlimited Personal Plan" to unlock unlimited usage. The 'Unlimited Plan' for iOS and macOS can be bought with a combined in-app purchase, or bought separately if you plan to just use one platform.
If you want to share your Contacts Journal CRM data with other users, you can also enable the Contacts Journal for Teams plan.
Your Home screen
When you open Contacts Journal, you land on the Home tab. This is your dashboard — instead of a plain list of contacts, it shows what's coming up and gives you quick ways back to the people you deal with most:
- Up Next — tasks and follow-ups that are due or overdue
- Recent Activity — the last logs you saved, so you can pick up where you left off
- Upcoming Birthdays — so they don't slip past you
- Nearby Contacts — people close to where you are right now
- Recently Added — contacts you've just brought into the app
- Favorite Contacts — the people you come back to most
Two buttons sit at the top right of the Home tab. The + button adds new items, and the gear icon opens your settings. If you used Contacts Journal before version 7.0, the gear icon is where the old More tab now lives — everything that used to be there is still there, in the same order.
Along the bottom you'll find Contacts, Logs, ToDos and Map, which work just as they always have.
Adding Contacts
Once you have downloaded Contacts Journal, the first thing to do is bring your contacts in.
On the Home tab, press the + button at the top right, then choose Contact. You'll see three options:
- “Import from Contacts” to add people from your Apple Contacts app
- “New Contact” to create a contact from scratch; any new contacts you create will also be added to the Apple Contacts list
- “Company Contact” to create a company record, which you can then link other contacts to
Most people start with Import from Contacts, which brings across the people already on your phone. You don't have to import everyone — you can pick just the contacts you want to track.
If you'd rather bring contacts in some other way — from a CSV or Excel file, from a vCard, or by scanning a business card — go to the Contacts tab and press the add button there. That button offers the full set of import options.
Adding Data
You can then add Logs, To-Dos, Files and Fields for each of your contacts:
- a Log is a record of a meeting or conversation with the contact
- a ToDo is a great way to set a follow-up with a contact
- You can import Files in multiple ways
- a Custom Field lets you store custom data for the contact. You define your own Field first (for e.g. Age, Status, Deal etc), and attach values for these fields per contact
- You can also update the contacts information in the CJournal app, and it will automatically save the updates to Apple Contacts as well
As you add logs and set follow-ups, your Home tab starts filling in. A ToDo with a due date appears under Up Next; a saved log shows up under Recent Activity. That's the app working as intended — Home reflects the work you've put in.
Advanced Features
You can then consider some of Contacts Journal's advanced features:
- Use Contact Tags to categorize and organize your contacts list
- Call, email or SMS your contacts directly from the app, and save your conversation history
- See all your contacts and notes on a single Map view, with the option to change a contact's pin colors
- You can create and manage both Public Groups of contacts (which are the same groups as in your Contacts app), as well as Private Groups (which are visible only inside Contacts Journal)
- You can create email templates with personalization tags, to send prepared emails quickly but with a personal touch
- You can export your data for reporting by email, CSV, or even to your Contact notes field
- You can sync your Contacts Journal data between multiple devices, using either iCloud or Dropbox sync options
- If you want to share your Contacts Journal CRM data with other users, you can look into the Contacts Journal for Teams subscription plans.
If you have any questions about any functionality, you can always email us for help: support@zaal-llc.com