Communications
Keeping in touch with landowners, contractors, and other partners is a core part of land conservation work — and keeping a record of those conversations is just as important. Communications is Landscape's built-in way to log every call, email, meeting, and letter connected to your conservation efforts.
A Communication can be added almost anywhere you're working in Landscape — directly on a Portfolio Record, within a Work item, inside a Project, or from a Contact's own record page — and every entry rolls up into the same searchable history for that record or contact, regardless of where it was originally entered.
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Viewing Communications in a record
Communications may look like a small feature, but it's one of the most valuable ones for institutional memory — especially when staff or volunteers change over time. Take a few minutes to log your calls and emails as you go, and your organization will thank you the next time someone needs to know what was actually said to a landowner three years ago!
Communication fields
1 — Person Contacted. The individual or organization you communicated with. This dropdown searches your existing Contacts, and lets you create a new Contact if they aren't in Landscape yet by clicking Add New.
2 — Date. The date the communication took place.
3 — Type. The method of communication, e.g., phone call, email, in-person meeting.
The list of Communication Types can be edited in Settings > List Items > Communications > Communication Methods. You must be an Administrator to access Settings.
4 — Content. An unlimited free-text field for the substance of the communication. Paste in the body of an email, or summarize a phone call.
5 — Entered By. The user who created the communication. This can be edited to select a different user. This field is only visible after the communication has been created.
6 — Attachments. Once a Communication is saved, you can attach a document to it (like a copy of a letter you sent), so the record and the correspondence live in one place. This field is only visible after the communication has been created.
Tips:
- Use Content for anything you'd want to search for later. Since Content is free text, pasting in full email bodies (rather than just a one-line summary) makes it easier to search your communication history down the road.
- Attach the source document when you have one. Attaching the actual letter, email printout, or meeting notes to the Communication keeps your documentation complete and avoids digging through email later to verify what was said.
Adding Communications
Communications can be added from three places, and all three feed the same underlying record:
From a Portfolio Record or Project, click on the Communications tab in the left-side navigation menu, then click Add Communication.
After a Communication has been created this way, you can link it to a Work Item by selecting the checkbox next to the Communication and clicking Link To Work.
From a Contact record, scroll down to the Communications section and click the + (plus) button. This option is useful for a general note not tied to one specific property.
From within a Work item, click Add Communication under 'Add Data.' This ties the communication to that specific piece of work (e.g., a call log tied to a specific Issue or Site Visit).
"Where should I add the Communication?"
Our advice is to enter communications at the most specific level. If a conversation is about one particular property, log it from that Property record directly (or from the relevant Work item) rather than from the general Contact record. This keeps property-specific history from getting mixed in with a Contact's unrelated communications on other records.
Viewing Communications in a Portfolio or Project record
There are four built-in filters you can use to browse the Communications tab in a Portfolio or Project record.
- All Communications — everything tied to the record, from any entry point.
- Recent Communications — anything entered on the record in the last two weeks.
- Record Contact Communications — every communication with any Contact tied to the record, even ones entered on a completely different record. For example, if Leafy Greens Land Trust is a Contact on five different Properties, this view surfaces every communication with them across all five.
- Your Communications — communications you personally entered.
Use Data Viewer to view, edit, or delete Communications in bulk.