> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Linked contacts

> Link two contacts as family (parent, child, spouse, guardian or sibling) and see the relationship from each person's own profile.

Some of the people in your Contacts list belong to the same family or household: a parent
who books appointments for a child, a couple who both message you, a guardian who handles
a dependant's account. **Family & linked contacts** lets you connect two of these as separate
contacts while recording how they relate, without merging their conversations, tags or
billing history into one profile.

<Note>
  **Linking is not merging.** [Merge](/contacts/client-profile#merge-duplicates) is for two
  contact records that are actually the same person; it combines their channels, messages
  and history into one profile and deletes the duplicate. Linking is for two contact records
  that are correctly separate people who happen to be related. Both stay independent: their
  own conversations, tags, invoices and appointments.
</Note>

## Where to find it

Open a contact and select their **Linked** tab. Every contact has one, lead or client.

The contact page is a set of tabs: **Overview**, **Activity**, **Notes**, **Files & letters**
and **Linked**, plus a **Finance** tab that appears once someone is a client with commercial
records behind them.

## Add a link

<Steps>
  <Step title="Search for the other contact">
    Under **Link a contact**, type a name, phone number or email into the search box, the
    same contact search used when booking an appointment. Matching contacts appear as you
    type.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick them from the results">
    Select the contact you meant. The search box fills with their name.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the relationship type">
    Pick how the *other* contact relates to the one you're on: **Parent**, **Child**,
    **Spouse**, **Guardian**, **Sibling** or **Other**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Link">
    The card lists the new entry immediately, showing the other contact's name and the
    relationship.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  A contact can't be linked to itself, and DMLY blocks linking the same two contacts twice
  (*These contacts are already linked*), even if you pick a different relationship type the
  second time. To correct a wrong type, unlink the pair and add it again with the right one.
</Note>

## How the relationship reads from each side

DMLY stores one link per pair but labels it differently depending on whose profile you're
looking at:

| You add, on this contact's profile | The other contact's profile shows |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| **Parent**                         | **Child**                         |
| **Child**                          | **Parent**                        |
| **Spouse**                         | **Spouse**                        |
| **Guardian**                       | **Guardian**                      |
| **Sibling**                        | **Sibling**                       |
| **Other**                          | **Other**                         |

Only **Parent** and **Child** flip into each other. Every other type reads the same on both
profiles: linking someone as a **Guardian** shows **Guardian** on their profile too, not a
reciprocal label.

For example, adding **Mia** to **Jordan**'s profile as **Parent** shows *Mia · Parent* on
Jordan's Family card. Open Mia's own profile and Jordan appears there automatically as
*Jordan · Child*; you never add the reverse link yourself.

## Remove a link

Select the trash icon next to a linked contact and confirm **Unlink contact**. This deletes
just that one pairing: it doesn't touch either contact's messages, tags, appointments or
anything else, and it doesn't need to be removed from both sides; unlinking from either
profile removes it from both.

## What happens on delete

Deleting a contact removes every link it was part of, on both sides, as part of the delete.
The other family member's profile simply stops listing them; nothing is left dangling, and
nothing else about the surviving contact changes.

## What happens on merge

[Merging](/contacts/client-profile#merge-duplicates) two contacts carries their family links
over to the surviving profile, reconciled so nothing breaks:

* A link the loser had to a third person moves to the winner, and now shows on that third
  person's profile as linked to the winner instead.
* If the winner was **already** linked to that same third person, the loser's copy is
  dropped rather than creating a second link to the same person.
* If the two contacts being merged were linked **to each other**, that link simply
  disappears; they're now one profile, and a contact can't be linked to itself.

<Accordion title="The person I want to link isn't in the search results">
  The search box only finds contacts who already exist in your workspace; it doesn't create
  a new one from here. Add them first from **Contacts → Add contact** (or wait for them to
  message you, which creates one automatically), then come back and link.
</Accordion>

## Next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="The client profile" icon="user-tie" href="/contacts/client-profile">
    Everything else on a contact's page, and how merging duplicates works.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contacts overview" icon="address-book" href="/contacts/overview">
    How contacts, leads and clients fit together.
  </Card>
</Columns>