You will need the Full Write Connections permission to add a connection. Adding connections in bulk also needs People Mass Change and Reporting.
You can add connections one at a time for a person, or in bulk for everyone a query returns.
Adding a single connection
There are three ways to start a new connection:
From the New menu at the top of any page, click Connection.
From the Connections list, click Add New at the top.
From a person's profile, click Actions > Add Connection.
Whichever you choose, a window opens where you enter the connection's details.
If your account has more than one campus and you do not choose a campus for the connection, it takes the person's campuses or organizations, narrowed to the ones you are allowed to place records at.
General
Type - the type of connection. How do I add a connection type? explains how to manage the list of types. Important: you cannot change the type after you save.
Date - the date of the connection. This can be a past or future date. It defaults to the current date.
Person - the person this connection is for. If you add the connection from the person's profile, this field is filled in for you.
Status - the status of the connection. It defaults to Pending. Use the menu to the right of the drop-down to add, edit and delete statuses, which needs the Connections Settings permission.
Description - optional notes on why this connection was added.
Custom fields
This section holds the custom fields defined on connections, whatever the type. Any custom field added here appears on every connection type.
To add a custom field, click add new custom field. To edit or delete one, click its label and select Edit field or Delete field.
You will need the Connections Settings permission to add, edit or delete custom fields.
The Fields section of How do I design a form? explains each kind of field you can add. You cannot add a Ticket/Item or Donation field to a connection.
Custom fields on the connection type
If the connection type you chose has its own custom fields, another section appears, named after the type, with those fields.
Assignment
Person - optional. The person who should follow up on this connection. If you set one, they are emailed the details, and the email comes from the connection's organization.
Date - the date the connection must be completed by. Once that date passes, the connection is marked past due.
If the same person always handles a type of connection, you can give that type a default assignee. How do I add a connection type? covers the assignment settings on a type. Who you can assign below explains which people can be chosen.
Comments
Add and read comments in this section. Earlier comments are listed from newest to oldest.
When you are finished, click Save. The new connection opens. To add several connections in a row, tick Keep open and add another before you save.
Adding connections in bulk
Use a query and a mass change to add the same connection to many people at once.
Go to Reporting > Query Builder, choose People as the data source, and build a query that returns the people who need a connection.
Click Run Query, then choose Mass change from the Bulk Actions menu above the results.
In the sidebar, choose perform an action, then select Add Connection.
Enter the connection's details, the same ones you enter for a single connection, and click Done. You return to the Perform Mass Change window.
Click update to add the connection to every person in the query results.
People in the results who are outside your access are dropped from the mass change rather than refused.
Warning: If your account has two or more organizations and the connection has an assignee, the whole run is refused when even one person in the results is outside the assignee's reach. Narrow the query to people the assignee can reach, or choose a different assignee.
Who you can assign
If your account has more than one campus or organization, the assignee is checked when you save:
Outside the connection's campuses, same organization - you see a warning and can continue. The message says the person does not have access to those campuses, and that you can continue or choose someone else.
Outside the connection's organization - while your account has two or more organizations, the save is refused with the message This person can't be assigned this connection because their access doesn't include its organization.
Someone with no campus or organization limit can always be assigned, and so can anyone on a connection that has no organization.
This is stricter than most records. When you assign someone to other kinds of records, a campus they cannot reach only gives a warning.
The assignee always sees the connection, whatever their permissions, campus or connection type limit, and can change its status and add a comment. Editing anything else needs Full Write Connections. How can I complete an assigned connection? explains how an assignee finishes the work.
When a connection moves to another organization
Moving a connection to another organization checks its assignee again. A move can be refused because of an assignee who was fine before, so assign someone who can reach the new organization first.
When you update connections in bulk, one refused assignee fails the whole update. Connections outside your write access, or held by an archived organization, are skipped.
What staff with limited access see
Someone viewing a connection about a person they cannot read in full still sees that person's email, phone and address. The assignee's contact details are screened.
Connections assigned to you always show, even outside your campus selector, with an Overridden pill or a note saying why.
What is the campus selector? explains how the selector narrows lists.