Managing Users and Contacts
How to add, edit, convert, deactivate, and bulk-import users and contacts.
If your user type includes user administration access, you manage people from the Users & Contacts page. This page covers the day-to-day operations; for what a user or contact is, see the Users & Contacts overview.
Adding a person
Use Add user or Add contact. The difference matters:
- A user gets login access. If they'll sign in with a password, FMX emails them a link to create their password when the account is created — you don't set one for them.
- A contact is a record only — no login, no password, no email preferences.
Either way you'll fill in a name and, for users, an email address (entered twice to confirm), a user type, and whatever other fields your organization uses — accessible buildings, phone, time zone, and so on.
Editing a person
Editing an existing user or contact is called Administer in FMX — you'll see it as the action on a person's record. You can also select multiple people and administer them in bulk, or apply changes from a spreadsheet using the User Administer template (see below).
Converting between user and contact
People change roles: a contractor gets hired, a staff member leaves but stays a reference on old records. Rather than recreating them, use Convert to User or Convert to Contact on the person's record. Converting a contact into a user requires an email address, since users need one to log in.
Deactivating and reinstating
Deleting a user or contact in FMX doesn't erase them — their history on requests and other records stays intact. A deleted person can be brought back later with Reinstate. There's also a bulk delete for cleaning up many records at once.
Bulk import
If your organization enables bulk imports, you can create many users and contacts at once from the Bulk Imports area: download the User Import Excel template, fill in one row per person, and upload it. A "validate only" option checks the file without importing, and any problems come back annotated by row and column. The same area offers a User Administer template for bulk updates to existing people.
A worked example
A school district hires a new HVAC contractor, Dana. The facilities director adds Dana as a contact so work requests can reference her. Six months later the district hires Dana full-time: the director opens her record, clicks Convert to User, enters her district email, and picks the "Maintenance staff" user type. Dana receives an email with a link to create her password, and her old history as a contact stays attached to the same record.