Creating a Custom Contact List View (Admin)

In this article:

• Preparing to Create a Custom List
• Setting Up a Custom List
• Adding Columns to a Custom List
• Editing, Deleting, or Copying a List
• Understanding Data Sources

When accessing the different areas of Actionstep, you may want to customize your view to show you only those items you are most interested in. For example, you may want to organize your contacts into logical groups and then display those groups in the Contacts menu. To do this, you create a customized contact list. When you select that item or group from the menu, you will see only those clients that qualify to be in the list. 

For example, say you want to organize your matters into four groups: Clients, Employees, Third Parties, and Associates. You can create these groups and then create lists of contacts that will appear within them. You can choose which specific properties of a contact determine which list the contact is included in. 

You can access custom contact lists from the Matters menu.

Preparing to Create a Custom List

Before creating a custom contact list view, it helps to consider the following:

• What specific contact details do you want included in the list? (These represent the columns in a list.)
• Is this list part of a larger group of related lists? If so, how should all of these lists be grouped together (i.e., in what order should these lists appear)? How should this group be labeled in the menu?
• What conditions (locked filters) should trigger a specific contact being included in this list? 

Setting Up a Custom List

To set up a custom list: 

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Custom list views. The Custom List Views page appears.
2. Click Manage in the Contact list views section. The Custom Participants Lists page appears. 
3. Click Create New List. The Edit Custom List page appears.
4. In the List Setup section, provide the following information: 
   • List Name: Enter a name for the list of contacts you want displayed. This should be meaningful since it can be viewed by others in your system. 
   • Description: Enter details about the types of contacts that will be included in the list (e.g., "Lists all contacts associated with a given matter"). 
   • Sort Order: If you will be adding multiple lists to a menu group, indicate where in the list you want this list to appear. For example, if you plan to set up two lists under Visa Expiries—Expires in 6 Months and Expires in 1 Month—those lists with a lower sort order number will be listed first. If you do not specify an order, multiple lists will appear in alphabetical order.
   • Menu Group Name: Enter the name for the group you want to assign the list to. If you plan to include multiple lists in a group, note the spelling and case you use for the name so that you can reuse it for all lists. If you do not enter a group name, the list will appear in the main level of the Contacts menu. 
   • In the System Role Permissions section, select at least one role you want the custom list to be available to. 
   • In the System Roles Default List, choose whether the custom list view is a default view for the associated role. 
   • In the Locked Filters section, choose the data that will "trigger" whether the contact will be included in the list. For example, if you want your contact to be shown if they're part of an active matter, select Active in the Participant of Matter with Status list. Select as many filters as you need. 
5. When finished setting up your list, click Save. The Column Definitions page appears, showing the default data that will be included in the list.
6. Review what columnar data will be shown in the list view. You can either add columns to this list or delete columns:
   • To add a column, click Add Column and then provide the required information in the window. Click Save when you are finished. (See Adding Columns to a Custom List below for more help with this.)
   • To remove a column, select the checkbox for the column and click Delete Column.
7. Once your custom list is created, click Preview (while on the Column Definitions page) to see how your list looks. If needed, you can continue to make changes to fine-tune it.
   
8. When finished reviewing and optionally updating the column definitions, close the Column Definition window.

Adding Columns to a Custom List

By choosing your columns, you indicate what data you want included about the contact in the list view.

To choose your columns:

1. Access the Column Definitions page for your custom list by doing one of the following:
   • Create a new custom list (as described in the previous section), save it, and click Add Column on the Column Definitions page. 
   • On the Custom Actions Lists page, select the checkbox for an existing custom list and click Edit Columns. Then click Add Column.
2. In the Column Setup section, provide the following information:
   • Enter a Label for the column. 
   • Select a Data Source. A new section of options appears below the Column Setup section. This is where you will select the specific data you want displayed. (See Understanding Data Sources below for more information.)
   • Click Use Related Matter to use data from a similar matter.
   • Enter a Default Position for the column.
     NOTE:  Columns are automatically created with default positions spaced 100 "positions" apart. This allows you to insert columns between these columns by selecting position numbers between these values. So, for example, if you want a new column to be shown between the columns with Default Positions of 100 and 200, you would enter a number like 150.
   • Select your Participant Data from the drop-down list. 
3. Click Save to save your changes.

Editing, Deleting, or Copying a List

While working with your custom contact lists, you can perform additional tasks, like editing or deleting a list. 

To do this: 

1. In Actionstep, go to Admin > Custom list views. The Custom List Views page appears.
2. Click Manage in the Contact list views section. The Custom Participants Lists page appears.
3. Select the checkbox for the list you want to work with and complete any of the following tasks:
   
   • To edit the list (i.e., change sort orders, permissions, etc.), select Edit List Properties.
   • To delete a custom list, select Delete.
   • To edit the columns you're currently showing for a custom list, select Edit Columns.  
   • To make a copy of a list view, select Create Copy. (This option is useful if the new list you want to create has a lot of similar properties to an existing list. This way, you can create the list and then just make a few small adjustments.)

Understanding Data Sources

Data Sources allow you to "pull" data from contact details within your Actionstep system and display that information in the list view. When you're choosing which columns to include in the list, you can choose a data source and have all of the data associated with that source available to choose from. The data sources shown below have the following meanings: 

Data Source	Contains	What Gets Displayed in the List
Participant	Information relating to any contact for a matter (e.g., Client)	Shows the name (remember to search for display name), phone, email, etc. of the contact.
Participant default custom data	Custom participant types and their related data fields as well as as any custom fields you've added to a participant type. Click the drop-down icon below the main list to access a list of possible options. You can add multiple options.	Shows any participant custom data fields that you have created for any participant.

Related Articles:

• About List Views in Actionstep
• Getting to Know the List View Feature
• Customizing the Appearance of Custom List Views (Admin)
• Setting Up a Heads Up Rule
• Creating a Custom Matter List View (Admin)
• Creating a Custom Time Entry List View (Admin)
• Creating a Custom Task List View (Admin)
• Creating a Custom Disbursement List View (Admin)
• Creating a Custom Appointment List View (Admin)