# Clients

Add companies by hand or import them from a file, and keep each one's tasks, documents, messages and history in one record.


A client is a company you work for. Its record keeps everything about it in one place: tasks, recurring work, requests, documents, messages, people and history.

![The Clients page](shot:clients)

## Add one client

:::steps

1. On **Clients**, press **New client**.
2. Find the company in the registry search and its details fill in by themselves, or type them yourself. Only the name is required.
3. Say what you do for the client and who looks after it. Tags and notes are seen only by your team.
4. Answer the accounting profile questions: VAT, payroll, the accounting software. They decide which deadlines Claister tracks. "Not sure yet" is a fine answer.
5. Add the person you write to at the client. Document requests go to them.
6. Tick the recurring work you do for the client, check the summary and press **Create client**.
:::

## Import many clients

Press **Import** on **Clients**. Claister takes a CSV, Excel or XML file from a CRM, 1C or a spreadsheet, in any encoding and column order. With AI on, it can also read photos of a printed list.

Columns are matched by their names and values; where those do not say enough, AI suggests a match. You check the matches and the rows that will be skipped, then import. The rows that were not imported can be downloaded to fix and import again.


## Inside a client's record

The tabs along the top of a record are its parts. The ones you use most:

| Tab                              | What it holds                                                       |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Overview**                    | What is open for the client right now.                              |
| **Tasks** and **Recurring**    | One-off tasks and the client's cycles of recurring work.            |
| **Requests** and **Documents** | What you asked for and every file the client or your team uploaded. |
| **Messages**                    | The client's Telegram chats, email and portal conversations.        |
| **Contacts** and **Portal**    | The client's people and who can sign in to the portal.              |
| **Time**                        | Time spent on the client, month by month.                           |
| **Information**                 | Company details, the accounting profile and your own fields.        |
| **Activity**                    | Who changed what, and when.                                         |

Each person can put the tabs in their own order and fold away the ones they rarely use.

## Contacts

People at your clients live under **Clients** → **Contacts**. One person can be a contact of several companies, which is common for an owner with more than one business.