# Contacts and organizations: how they work together

How contacts and organizations connect, how each one is created, and what happens when you delete them.

The people you share files with are saved as **contacts**. When several contacts belong to the same company or client, you can group them into an **organization**. This article explains how the two connect, how each one is created, and what happens when you delete them.

## What a contact and an organization are

A contact is one person, identified by their email address. Contacts are kept per workspace, so each workspace has its own list. An organization is a named group, such as a company or a client, that holds one or more contacts. A contact does not have to belong to an organization.

## Create a contact in an organization

Organizations are available on Pro and Agency. Agency includes everything in Pro, so both plans can use them. On the Free plan, the Business contact? checkbox is shown with a Pro badge and cannot be ticked, and the Organizations tab opens an upgrade window instead. See [plans and prices](/pricing) for what each plan includes.

To create a contact that belongs to an organization:

1. Open [Contacts](/dashboard/contacts) and click **Contact**.
2. Enter the **First name** and the **Email**.
3. Tick **Business contact?**
4. Enter the **Organization name**.
5. Click **Create contact**.

The organization name is matched without regard to capital letters. If an organization with that name already exists in the workspace, the contact joins it. If it does not, Tarkle creates the organization with that name. If the email already belongs to a contact in the workspace, that contact is used and added to the organization. The **Organization** column on the Contacts tab shows the organization of each contact.

## How transfers create contacts

When you send a transfer by email to an address that is not yet a contact in the workspace, Tarkle creates a plain contact for it. An address that is already a contact is reused. The email gate works the same way: a visitor who enters an email to open an [email-gated transfer](/help/access-control/email-gated-file-transfers-collect-leads-before-sharing-file) is saved as a contact.

## The Contacts area

The Contacts area has three tabs: **Contacts**, **Attendees** and **Organizations**. The **Contacts** tab lists every contact in the workspace. The **Attendees** tab lists only the contacts marked as attendees, and it has no button to add a contact. The **Organizations** tab lists the workspace's organizations, except one-person organizations that older transfers created.

Each row on the Contacts tab shows the name and email, the organization, and the portal access. Portal access shows **Active** or **Inactive**. Turning portal access on needs Pro, and Agency includes everything in Pro. Turning it off is allowed on any plan. The first time you turn it on, the invite email is sent with it. To see that first invitation step by step, follow [How to invite your first client to the client portal](/help/getting-started/how-to-invite-first-client-client-portal).

The row menu holds **Edit**, **Storage limit** and **Delete**. **Storage limit** appears only when portal access is on. See [Storage limit: set how much a contact can upload from their portal](/help/team-and-clients/storage-limit-set-how-much-a-contact-can-upload-from-their-p) for how that limit is counted. The workspace owner and team members who can add and edit contacts see **Edit** and **Delete**.

## Deleting a contact or an organization

To delete a contact, open its row menu on the Contacts tab and click **Delete**. The confirmation warns that any transfers linked to the contact will also be deleted, so check them before you confirm.

A contact that belongs to an organization cannot be deleted. The **Cannot delete contact** window tells you to remove the contact from the organization first, and it shows only **Cancel**. Remove the contact from the organization, then delete it.

Deleting an organization removes the organization itself. Its member contacts stay on the **Contacts** tab as standalone contacts. A workspace owner, or a team member allowed to delete clients, can delete an organization.

## Related articles

- [How to invite your first client to the client portal](/help/getting-started/how-to-invite-first-client-client-portal)
- [The client portal: how it works](/help/client-portal/the-client-portal-how-it-works)
- [Storage limit: set how much a contact can upload from their portal](/help/team-and-clients/storage-limit-set-how-much-a-contact-can-upload-from-their-p)
- [Email gated file transfers: how the gate works](/help/access-control/email-gated-file-transfers-collect-leads-before-sharing-file)

Source: https://tarkle.com/help/team-and-clients/contacts-and-organizations-how-they-work-together