# Adding a New Contact

Contacts are the people you message through the platform. Before you can send someone a message or have your AI bot reply to them, they need to be in your contact list. Here is how to add a new contact manually.

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## The Contacts Page

When you open the Contacts page, you will see your lists on the left and a table of contacts on the right. The table has 8 columns:

| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| **Contact Info** | The contact's name and email address. |
| **Phone Number** | Their phone number with country code. |
| **Channel** | The messaging channel associated with the contact (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS). |
| **Status** | A colored badge indicating where the contact is in their journey. |
| **Tags** | Tags displayed as chips next to each contact. Tags are pre-loaded so they appear instantly without any delay. |
| **Last Active** | When the contact was last active or last messaged. |
| **Bot Active** | Whether the AI bot is currently active for this contact. |
| **Actions** | Quick action buttons for the contact. |

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## How to Add a Contact

1. Click **Contacts** in the left sidebar.
2. Click the **New Contact** button in the top-right area.
3. Fill in the contact's details:
   * **First name** (required)
   * **Last name**
   * **Phone number** - make sure to include the country code (for example, +1 for the US, +44 for the UK, +31 for the Netherlands)
4. Choose whether you want the **AI bot to be active** for this contact right away. If you turn this on, the bot will automatically respond when this contact messages you.
5. Add the contact to one or more **lists** to keep things organized (for example, "Leads" or "VIP Customers").
6. Click **Save**.

Your new contact is now in the app and ready to receive messages.

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## Next Steps

- [Organizing Lists & Contacts](list-and-contact-management.md) - Learn how to group and manage your contacts.
- [Importing Contacts from a File](importing-contacts.md) - Add many contacts at once using a spreadsheet.
- [Creating a Campaign](creating-campaigns.md) - Start messaging your contacts.