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Contact Roles

When you add a contact to a transaction, you assign a role that describes their part in that deal. The same contact can have different roles on different transactions.

Transaction Contacts tab grouped by role category with primary role labels and contact actions

Role categories​

Transaction contacts are grouped by role category on the transaction Contacts tab.

Primary (Clients)

  • Buyer, Seller
  • Buyer's Representative (POA / Trustee), Seller's Representative (POA / Trustee) — someone acting for the buyer or seller under a power of attorney, or as trustee, executor, or guardian. This is not the buyer's agent or listing agent; add agents under Buyer Agent or Listing Agent. See Buyer's Representative is not the buyer's agent.

Professional (Agents)

  • Listing Agent, Buyer Agent, cooperating agent roles
  • Transaction Coordinator, and Coop TC (the co-op transaction coordinator on the other side)

Legal & Title

  • Title Company, Closing Attorney, Escrow Officer

Lending

  • Lender, Loan Officer

Service Providers

  • Home Inspector, Appraiser, Surveyor, Contractor, Insurance Agent

Other

  • Property Manager, HOA Contact, and custom roles

Show yourself as the TC on a deal​

Transaction Coordinator and Coop TC are built-in roles, so you don't need to create them.

  1. Open the deal and go to the Contacts tab.
  2. Add yourself (or your coordinator) as a contact and give them the Transaction Coordinator role.
  3. Use Coop TC for the other side's coordinator.

To label a buyer-side or listing-side coordinator separately, add custom roles in Settings > Transactions > Roles. A custom role has a Party group (Buyer side or Listing side, among others) that sets where the role appears in the Assign Contacts dropdown. The built-in roles are marked System and can't be edited, so their party group stays as it is.

Your team role (Owner, Admin, and so on) is separate from deal roles and doesn't appear on deals.

Why roles matter​

Roles do more than label contacts:

  • Transaction organization — The Contacts tab groups contacts by role category, such as primary parties, professional services, and service providers.
  • Expected roles — If a transaction expects certain roles, empty role slots appear until you assign a contact.
  • Communication — Email compose and templates can target recipients by role.
  • Reports — Transaction reports can show participants with their role labels.
  • Merge display names — Each transaction contact can have a merge name for emails, such as "Celia and Bill."
  • Portal links — Transaction contacts can receive portal links by email or SMS. Portal access is managed per transaction contact.

Transaction Contacts tab​

Open a transaction and go to Contacts to manage the contacts for that deal.

Add a contact to a transaction​

To add another contact — for example an escrow, title, or lender contact — to an existing deal:

  1. Open the transaction and click the Contacts tab in the row of tabs across the top.
  2. Click the Add Contact button in the top-right corner of the tab. (This is the "add another contact" button — it is labeled Add Contact.)
  3. In the drawer that slides out, search for the person or company. If they are already in your contacts they appear as you type; if not, click Create New Contact to add them.
  4. Choose their role (such as Escrow Officer, Title Company, or Lender) from the party-grouped list.
  5. Click Add Contact to save them onto the transaction.

You can also add a contact from an empty expected role slot by clicking Assign on that role card, which opens the same drawer with the role pre-selected.

Search results show the email address each contact record will use - that is how you tell two similar records apart. Once added, the person appears under the Contacts pill in the deal's email composer, and role-based template emails include them automatically.

Don't see the Contacts tab or the Add Contact button?

The Add Contact button lives only on the transaction's Contacts tab, not on the Overview. If the Contacts tab itself is missing, it has likely been hidden for your view — open the transaction's Overview, click Customize View, and turn Contacts back on. The tab (and the Add Contact button) will reappear.

From this tab you can:

  • Fill expected role slots
  • Add an existing contact or quick-create a new one
  • Filter the contact picker by organization
  • Choose a role from party-grouped role lists
  • Mark a transaction contact as primary
  • Edit the merge display name used in email templates
  • Send email or SMS from a contact card when the contact has the needed details
  • Create, copy, regenerate, or revoke a portal link for that transaction contact
  • Remove the contact from the transaction without deleting the contact from the directory

The same person can appear on multiple transactions with different roles. The transaction role and merge display name live on the transaction relationship, not on the global contact record.

Removing someone from a transaction, and putting them back​

To take a person off a transaction, expand their card on the Contacts tab and click the trash icon. DocJacket asks you to confirm, then:

  • They stop getting that transaction's emails and texts.
  • Their own portal link for that transaction stops working.
  • Their contact record stays in your directory, and nothing is deleted.

Can I undo removing a contact?​

Yes, for 7 days. Right after you remove someone, the confirmation message has an Undo link. If you miss it, scroll to the bottom of the Contacts tab, open Removed in the last 7 days, and click Restore next to their name. The list shows who removed them and when.

When you put someone back:

  • They return in the same role, and their own portal link for that transaction works again.
  • If another contact in that role was marked Primary in the meantime, they come back as not primary. The message says so.
  • If someone else was added to a role that only holds a set number of people, DocJacket tells you the role is full instead of adding one too many. Remove the other person or change their role first.

After 7 days, add the person to the transaction again with Add Contact.

Removing an agent does not change the Buyer Agent or Listing Agent field on the transaction itself. If that field still names them, change it with Edit on the transaction.

Can the assistant remove or move someone for me?​

Yes. In Ask DocJacket, on the transaction, say who should come off the deal, which role they should hold, or who the primary contact is. The assistant shows a card describing the change. Nothing happens until you click Approve. After it is done, the same card has an Undo button for 7 days. The assistant will not remove anyone you did not name.

Custom roles​

If the built-in roles do not cover your workflow, create or edit roles in Settings > Transaction Roles. Roles can be grouped by party so the Add Contact drawer stays organized.

Primary contacts​

A transaction contact can also be marked Primary. Use this when one buyer, seller, agent, or service contact should be treated as the main contact for that role. Marking one contact Primary un-marks any other primary contact in the same role on that transaction.

Changing someone's role on a deal​

On a contact's card on the Contacts tab, use the Role dropdown to move them to another role on that deal. If they were the primary contact and the new role already has a primary, the existing primary stays primary and the person you moved comes in as not primary. The confirmation says so, for example "Alex is now Seller, not primary. Seller already had a primary." Mark them Primary afterward if you want to switch.

The deal's Activity feed records these changes as Removed Contact, Restored Contact, and Changed Contact Role, each naming the person and role (for a role change, "name: old role → new role").