CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

The issue in one line: Sometimes a list of 'contacts' doesn't act like a 'contact list'
The proposed fix in one line: Add a feature which treats a list of 'contacts' as a 'contact list'

What do I mean by a list of 'contacts' and a 'contact list'?

There are lists displayed in Civi which look like lists of contacts, but they're not. Contact lists are produced when you search for contacts. They're cool because they have drop-down actions. But these lists of 'contacts' don't, and it's frustrating to have to work around this.

Here is a list of examples ...

• On the relationship tab of an organisation is a list of employees I want to invite to an event. But I can't send an email to them because it's a list of 'relationships' not contacts. To send the email I have to search for contacts who are employed by that organisation. It would be much easier on the organisation's relationship tag to have a drop-down action list which can be applied to those contacts 'at the other end' of the selected relationships. (Or have a button to convert the list of relationships to a list of contacts, and do it from there.)
• In a CiviMail report there are 50 bounce-events listed, because of a problem with my mail system. I want to send these contacts an email but not use CiviMail. It would be nice to have a drop-down action list available.
• With a list of CiviEvent participants, there is a drop down, but the actions are limited to those which are pertinent to participants (though send email is there).
• Ditto CiviContribute

In all cases where there is a list of contacts, or objects that uniquely identify contacts (other end of relationship, email event, participant, pledge, contribution, membership, case) it would be good to be able to treat that list as a list of contacts.