How to Reassign Contacts Between Team Members
Contacts sometimes need to move between team members when someone leaves, territories change, or workloads need rebalancing. This guide covers how to move contacts and what happens to related data during the process.
Before You Begin
Only Account Owners and Administrators can reassign contacts. Reassignment is permanent — there is no undo button, though you can reassign contacts again if needed.
Note that Team Players share the Owner's database. Moving contacts "to a Team Player" moves them into the shared pool, not to one specific person. To designate responsibility within a shared database, use tags or custom fields instead.
Watch & Learn
🎥 Video: Remove a Team Member
Step-by-Step Instructions
Method 1: Bulk Reassignment Using Group Actions
Use this method when reassigning multiple contacts at once.
1. Build Your Workgroup
Navigate to Contacts and use Advanced Search or category filters to find the contacts you want to reassign. For example, search for all contacts with last names starting with a specific letter, or filter by territory, source, or any other criteria.
This creates a filtered list of exactly the contacts you want to transfer.
2. Send Contacts to Group Actions
After filtering your contact list, click Send to Group Actions to move these contacts into your workgroup.
Your workgroup now contains only the contacts you want to reassign, ready for bulk editing.
3. Open Group Edit
In Group Actions, click Group Edit to access the bulk editing panel.
This allows you to change information for all contacts in your workgroup simultaneously.
4. Change the Team Database
In the Group Edit panel, locate the Team Database dropdown at the top of the page. Select the team member you want to assign these contacts to from the dropdown menu.
Remember that you can only assign contacts to Power Users, Independent Users, or the Account Owner—these are the only user types with individual databases.
5. Apply Changes
Click Apply Changes to complete the reassignment.
All contacts in your workgroup are now assigned to the selected team member's database. The transfer happens immediately.
Method 2: Individual Contact Reassignment
Use this method when reassigning a single contact.
1. Open the Contact Record
Navigate to the specific contact you want to reassign and open their contact record.
This displays all the contact's information and editing options.
2. Click Edit Contact
Click the Edit Contact button at the top of the contact record.
This opens the contact editing interface.
3. Change the Team Database
Locate the Team Database dropdown at the top of the editing page and select the new team member who should own this contact.
The contact will be transferred to the selected team member's database.
4. Save Changes
Click Save to complete the reassignment.
The contact now appears in the new team member's database and is removed from the previous owner's view.
What Moves With the Contact
Everything attached to the contact transfers completely: all contact data and custom fields, notes and activity history, deals and opportunities, and open tasks. The receiving team member will see the full history of every contact they receive.
What does not move: email templates stay with their creator, and calendar appointments typically remain on the original team member's calendar. Review any upcoming appointments manually after a large reassignment.
Questions and Answers
Q: Can I reassign contacts to Team Players or Administrators?
A: No, Team Players and Administrators share a common database rather than having individual databases. You can only reassign contacts to Power Users, Independent Users, or the Account Owner.
Q: What happens to the contact's history when I reassign them?
A: All contact history—notes, emails, appointments, tags, and custom field data—stays with the contact during reassignment. Nothing is lost in the transfer.
Q: Can the previous owner still see contacts after reassignment?
A: No, once contacts are reassigned to another team member's database, the previous owner loses access unless they have administrative privileges that allow viewing all databases.
Q: Can I reassign contacts back to the Account Owner's database?
A: Yes, the Account Owner's database is a valid reassignment destination. You can move contacts back to the Account Owner using the same process.
Q: How do I reassign contacts based on territory or region?
A: Use Advanced Search to filter contacts by location, territory, or any custom field that indicates region. Then use Group Actions to bulk reassign the filtered results to the appropriate team member.
Q: Will the new owner be notified when contacts are assigned to them?
A: No, the system doesn't send automatic notifications. It's best practice to communicate directly with team members when reassigning contacts to them so they're aware of their new responsibilities.
Q: Can I undo a contact reassignment?
A: Yes, simply repeat the reassignment process and select the original owner's database. The contact will be transferred back with all their history intact.
Guide Type: How-To Guide
Estimated Time: 20 minutes
Video Transcript
When someone leaves your team, a few quick steps make sure nothing gets lost.
First, stop them from signing in. Click your profile picture, choose My Team, and click Manage Team Settings. Click their name. Check Sign In Disabled, then click Save. They can't sign in now, but everything they did is still here. This is also handy for a leave of absence, because you can turn it back on later.
Next, if they had their own contacts, move them to the right person. You can do this any time contacts need a different owner, not only when someone leaves.
Open Contacts and click Contact List. In the Team Database list, choose Drew Patel to see only Drew's contacts. Click Send Results to Group Actions. Click Group Edit. Under Team Database, click Change to, and choose Sam Ortiz. Click Apply Changes, then click Yes, Confirm Group Edit. Drew's contacts now belong to Sam.
Now you can remove Drew. Go back to My Team, click Manage Team Settings, and click Drew's name. Click Delete.
The system spells out what will happen. Anything you didn't move goes to you, and Drew's calendar appointments are deleted for good. Check the box to say you understand, then click OK, Cancel Team Member and Re-assign Data. Drew is no longer on your team.