---
sidebar_label: Contact Roles
sidebar_position: 3
description: DocJacket contact roles — buyer, seller, agents, title, lending, and service providers — and how they organize transaction contacts, expected slots, portal links, templates, and communication.
---

<!-- Canonical: https://help.docjacket.com/docs/contacts/contact-roles -->
<!-- Source: docs/contacts/contact-roles.md -->

# 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](/img/contacts/transaction-contacts-tab.png)

## Role categories

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

**Primary (Clients)**
- Buyer, Seller

**Professional (Agents)**
- Listing Agent, Buyer Agent, cooperating agent roles

**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

## 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.

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.

## 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.