As a community user who likely belongs to one or more communities — each with dozens or even hundreds of other members — it's likely that you will "meet" people with whom you want to connect and remain in contact.

This is simplified in your community by your being able to add other community users as personal Contacts (as described in this article).

Your selected Contacts display on the Contacts page (accessible via the My Connections tab) of your personal community Profile. There, you can manage your Contacts, as described below in View & manage your Contacts.

Request contact with someone

When you want to add someone as a Contact, you have to get their permission; it is not a "click-&-done" action.

NOTE: This policy allows all community users to self-manage their connections with other community users.

There are several places throughout the community where you can initiate contact with other users; each of these is detailed in the sections below.

Send an invitation

All of the community pages described below have an Add as Contact button.

When you click this button and click Send on the popup, a "contact request" message is sent to the user's community inbox; the request is automatically placed in the Contact Requests folder.

The recipient must accept the invitation in order to be added as one of your Contacts.

Let's look at the community pages from which you can send an invitation.

User profiles

You can access user profiles a number of ways.

Typically, wherever a user's name displays in the community (e.g., content they've contributed or a network you both belong to) their name is a hyperlink to their individual community profile.

• Click the Add as Contact button to send the Contact request.

Pending requests

After you have sent a request, the Add as Contact button changes to Contact Request Pending for you. It retains this label until the user either accepts or rejects your Contact request.

• Click the button to access two options in the dropdown. Click:
  • Resend to resend your Contact request.
  • Cancel to withdraw your Contact request.

Remove Contact

After a community user has been added as a Contact, the Add as Contact button changes to Remove Contact for you.

• Click the button to remove the user from your Contacts list and sever your connection with them.

Member Directory

After performing a search of community members, the results display in a list on the page.

• Click the Add as Contact button for one or more users to send the Contact request. The "Contact request sent." confirmation message displays.

Community Members tab

Connecting with members of a specific community is easy because all of a community's members are listed on its Members tab.

• Click the Add as Contact button for one or more users to send the Contact request. The "Contact request sent." confirmation message displays.

Discussions and Libraries

Discussion threads (and replies) and Library Entries are other community features from which you can request a Contact connection.

• Click the Actions button and select Add Contact to send the Contact request.
  • "Contact Request Pending" now displays below the Actions button.
  • The Actions button dropdown now has only the Resend option.

View & manage your Contacts

You can view and manage your Contacts on your profile's My Connections > Contacts page.

On this page, you can:

• Click the Export button to download and save a list of your Contacts.
• Click the dropdowns to customize the list display alphabetically or to filter the list.
• Click a user's linked name (or right-click for new tab and new window options) to visit their profile.
• Click the Send Message button to send an internal message to their community inbox.
• Click the Remove Contact button to remove the user from your Contacts.

Suggested Contacts

Your My Connections > Contacts page might also suggest people for you to connect with.

These users are grouped under People You May Know and you can:

• Click the Request Contact button to send an invitation as discussed in this article.
• Click the Ignore button to remove the suggested user from your list.

Related articles

• Learn about the other pages that are available under the My Connections tab of your profile in View your Connections.