> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.withallo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Shared contacts

> How contacts are shared with your team, and how to import a directory

## How contact sharing works

**Contacts are shared at the workspace level by default.** When a contact exists in your Allo workspace, every team member sees it, whether it was:

* Created manually in the app
* Synced from a connected CRM
* Synced from your phone's contacts on mobile
* Created via the [Allo API](/en/v2/api-reference/crm/people-overview) or an automation (Zapier, Make)

<Note>
  On mobile, if you allow Allo to access your device contacts, the contacts won't be imported into Allo right away, but it's still useful to activate it, it allows Allo to display more information when someone calls you.

  You can then choose to import your phone's contacts into Allo or not. Keep in mind, all contacts will be imported.
</Note>

## Share a directory with your team

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="From a CRM (recommended)">
    As an admin, go to **Settings > Integrations** and connect your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Attio, and more). All CRM contacts appear as shared contacts for the whole team, and stay in sync.

    [See all integrations](/en/integrations/overview)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="From Google Contacts">
    Connect the [Google Contacts integration](/en/integrations/google-contacts): your Google directory becomes available to the team.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="From a spreadsheet or homemade CRM">
    There's no direct CSV import in the app yet. The simplest path:

    1. Export your contacts as CSV
    2. Import them into Google Contacts
    3. Connect the Google Contacts integration in Allo

    For an automated flow, use [Zapier](/en/integrations/zapier), [Make](/en/integrations/make), or the [API](/en/v2/api-reference/crm/create-person).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Duplicates

When you create a contact in Allo, it is **not** duplicated in your connected CRM if it already exists: we match by email and phone number first.

## Current limits

* No per-user contact permissions yet: a workspace contact is visible to the whole team. If your access rules live in your CRM, connect the CRM: contacts follow the CRM's access
* No direct CSV import in-app (use the Google Contacts path above)

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Contacts created via API aren't visible to the team">
    They should be. If your team can't see API-created contacts, [contact support](/en/support/contact): a workspace setting adjustment on our side fixes it quickly.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A colleague can't see a contact I just added">
    Ask them to refresh (pull down on mobile, reload on web). First syncs from a CRM can take a few minutes for large directories.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>