So far we’ve talked about the big picture, permissions and groups, and the welcome and workspace tabs. Next we’re going to talk about adding people to Highrise.

Adding people manually
Speed is king. We’ve taken speed into consideration every step of the way in Highrise. And there’s more to speed than just page load. Speed also involves thinking about what information you ask for and when you ask for it. It goes beyond just required and optional fields. It’s about presentation.

Add a new person

The add a person page just asks for a few key data points. First name, last name, title, and company (and only first name is required). You can add contact information (phone, email, IM, address, etc.) now or later. You can also set permissions now or later.

Adding people with vCards
Adding people manually is great for one-offs or someone you just met or a lead that just called on the phone. But sometimes you already have people’s contact information elsewhere. Sometimes you have a lot of people to get into Highrise quickly. Enter vCards.

vCard

With Highrise you can upload a vCard to create people or augment an existing person quickly. Highrise can also accept a single vCard with multiple people. For example, the Apple Address Book allows you to export all your contacts into a single vCard. Highrise can read that card and import all those people at once.

Adding people from Basecamp
Got a Basecamp account? If yes, you can pull over all the people you’ve already added to your Basecamp account right into Highrise. And everyone part of the main company in Basecamp will also have their username and password carried over from Basecamp so they can log right into Highrise without having to set up another account.

Import from Basecamp

The mystery way
There’s one more way to get new people into Highrise. We’ll be covering it in a future preview post.

Merging duplicates
It happens. You enter the same person twice or import someone that already exists or someone else adds someone without checking to see if that person is already in Highrise.

If you want to merge duplicates in Highrise, just go to the person you want to “lose” the merge. Then you click the “Merge” link. Then you see a screen like this:

Merge duplicates

Step 1 explains the rules. Step 2 shows you exact name matches. Step 2 also allows you to search for someone else that may not be an exact name match, but is the same person. Step 3 merges the winner and the loser into a single winner. Any contact information the loser had that the winner doesn’t have will be carried over to the winner. It’s simple and works beautifully.

Sign up to have a chance at a Golden Ticket
As we get closer to launch we’ll begin issuing “golden tickets.” Golden ticket holders will have access to sign-up for Highrise prior to the public launch. To sign up for a chance at a golden ticket, be sure to sign up for the Highrise announcement list.