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Insightly CRM Glossary
Updated
A list of common Insightly terms with short descriptions or definitions. Use search to find fuller articles on many of these topics.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Account Owner | The person who manages the billing and receives the invoices for your Insightly subscription. An administrator can change the account owner. |
| Activity Sets | A set of instructions to create tasks and/or events (“activities”) based on parameters you define. A set may contain one or more activities, and they will be automatically linked to the record the set is applied to. Think of activity sets as task & event factories. |
| Administrator | Insightly administrators (or “admins”) are the users on your account who can change high-level settings. The person who first creates the Insightly account will be an administrator and can grant admin privileges to others. |
| Advanced Permissions | A permissions system available on higher-level subscription plans. Allows for setting user access to objects and records based on hierarchical roles, sharing rules, and profiles that determine what users can see and do in Insightly. |
| Billing & Account Page | The page where subscription plan, billing information, and invoice information can be accessed by Insightly administrators. |
| Bulk Editing | A way to update multiple records at once. This mass maintenance is performed by clicking the checkboxes next to records in a list and choosing from the bulk editing options. |
| Calendar | The Insightly calendar displays your own events, tasks with due dates, and milestones. You can also view other users’ events, if they’ve made them public. The calendar is an Insightly page to display these items, not a full calendar application. |
| Calendar Feed | The calendar feed is a way to view your Insightly calendar items in an external calendar application. This method is read-only, so items cannot be changed in the external calendar. |
| Calendar Sync | Calendar sync connects your Google or Microsoft Exchange-based calendar to the Insightly calendar, allowing you to view items from one calendar system in the other with a two-way sync. Sync is available with a paid Insightly subscription plan. |
| Categories | A way to label or group opportunities, projects, tasks, or files. Categories and category colors can be customized by the Insightly admin. |
| Color Theme | An option to change your Insightly background color. Accessible from the profile menu. |
| Comments | Comments can be added to tasks or notes. Anyone who has access to a task or note can add a comment to it. |
| Contact Sync | Contact sync copies new and updated contact information to your Google Contacts. It is a one-way sync. Sync is available with a paid Insightly subscription plan. |
| Contacts | People. Sales contacts, vendors, suppliers, employees, and anyone who is connected to your business. Connect them to each other using relationships and linking, because people need people. |
| CSV | Comma separated values. A file used to import and export data which can be opened with a spreadsheet program or text editor. Each record in the file is represented in a row, and each field is separated by a comma. The fields are translated into columns when importing a CSV file in a spreadsheet program. |
| Custom Fields | Administrators can create custom fields to hold information that doesn’t fit into Insightly’s default fields. |
| Default Linked Organization | The “main” organization that’s linked to a contact. This is set when first creating the contact or editing the contact after organizations have been linked to it. |
| Email Signature | A setting on the User Settings page where paid customers customize the signature on emails sent from Insightly. On unpaid plans the signature reads “Sent using Insightly: Love your CRM.” |
| Email Template | A customized template that can be set up and used to mail contacts and leads from within Insightly. |
| Emails Page | Accessible from the Emails tab in the navigation bar. On this page, you can view: emails saved to Insightly, email templates, and emails sent from Insightly. |
| Events | Calendar items, like meetings or conferences, to be displayed in your Insightly calendar and on records they are linked to. It is not possible to invite others to events or schedule events for others in Insightly; you’d use your main calendar application for those functions. |
| Exporting | Creating a file containing your Insightly records for reference, backup, or migration purposes. Exports can be CSV files for your main records, which can also be imported into another Insightly account. Administrators may also export to an XML file on the System Settings page. An XML file cannot be imported into an Insightly account. |
| Fields | The spaces where you enter or edit information. Lead and contact records include fields like First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number. Tasks include fields like Task Name, Priority, and Due Date. |
| Files | Uploaded or linked documents, images, spreadsheets, etc. Displayed on the Files subtab. Files can be uploaded directly to Insightly records or saved to an integrated storage application and linked to Insightly records. |
| Follow/Following | The Follow/Following button appears at the top of each record. Following a record sends you email notifications when it is updated, according to your selections on the User Settings > Notifications page. |
| Global Search Field | The search field at the top of Insightly that searches through all records. |
| Importing | A method of moving data into Insightly via a file, typically a CSV file. Import links are available in the right sidebar on most list views. |
| Inline Editing | Clicking a field when viewing a record to adjust the value. |
| Insightly Assistant | Insightly’s chatbot. Used to communicate with Insightly in natural language via chat programs. |
| Insightly for Google Workspace | An Insightly account integrated with a Google Workspace domain. These accounts are created from the Google Workspace admin console or during the Insightly registration process. Non-Google Workspace accounts cannot be connected to Google Workspace after they have been created. |
| Insightly URL | A custom URL set up by Insightly administrators on the System Settings > Insightly URL page. |
| Integrations | Connections between different software so the systems can share information or features. |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | Keyboard combinations that are used to quickly initiate an action or navigation on a page without use of a mouse. A list of shortcuts is accessible from the profile menu. |
| Lead Assignment Rule | A system setting that administrators can use to set up rules and criteria to distribute and assign leads automatically as they are added to Insightly. Available on higher-level subscription plans. |
| Lead Source | A field indicating how a lead was obtained. Administrators can customize this list from the System Settings page. |
| Lead Status | An “Open” or “Closed” status that defines the current state of a lead. Administrators can customize this list from the System Settings page. |
| Leads | People. Your prospects. Potential customers, clients, or donors. When you determine a lead is “qualified” (a definite sales possibility), you can convert it to create a contact, opportunity, and organization, all in one step. (Leads must be enabled by your Insightly administrator.) |
| Link Email Address | A mailbox address provided with every project or opportunity record. Forward or CC messages to this address to save a copy of an email to Insightly. |
| Linking | Creating a connection between two records to navigate and describe a relationship between them. |
| Mailbox | An address to forward or CC email messages to Insightly. This will save a copy of the email on the Emails tab. |
| MailChimp Auto-Importer | A setting to schedule a regular import of subscribers from a MailChimp list on a regular basis. Available on Plus, Professional, or Enterprise subscription plans. |
| Milestones | Project dates that can contain related tasks. May only be used if a project pipeline is not used. |
| Navigation Bar | The bar along the left side of Insightly which contains the tabs to access different objects. |
| Notes | Records with titles and dates that are linked to leads, contacts, organizations, projects, or opportunities. They are created on the Notes subtab in these other records. |
| Notifications | Email messages sent when a task is assigned or when an update occurs to an item you’re following. User Settings include options for notifications. |
| Opportunities | Object type used to track potential sales. It’s a good idea to link your opportunities to the contacts and organizations they are related to. |
| Opportunity State Reasons | A list of short descriptions for the opportunity state field. Administrators can customize this list from the System Settings page. |
| Opportunity States | The status of an opportunity. Options include: Open, Won, Abandoned, Lost, and Suspended. Cannot be customized. |
| Organizations | Groups of people, such as companies, foundations, or educational institutions. In some CRMs, these are labeled as “Accounts.” |
| Pipeline Stages | Sequential steps performed in the process of working on an opportunity or a project. May contain tasks and events. Administrators customize these from the System Settings page. |
| Pipelines | A series of sequential stages applied to an opportunity or project. Administrators customize these from the System Settings page. |
| Profile Menu | The menu that appears when clicking your profile icon in the top right corner of Insightly. |
| Project Status | The status of the opportunity. Options include: In Progress, Completed, Deferred, Cancelled, and Abandoned. Cannot be customized. |
| Projects | Objects used to track work projects that are to be completed. |
| Quick-Add | A button to the left of the Global Search field for adding a new record without going to a specific object tab. |
| Recent Items | A button to the right of the Global Search field listing the items you’ve recently viewed. |
| Record ID | A unique record number displayed in each record in the URL. Administrators can display the ID on the records themselves from the Record ID setting on System Settings page. |
| Record Owner | Initially, the record owner is the person who created the record, but record owners can be changed by editing the record. For records that can be assigned, the record owner field gives another person access to the records without assigning it to them. |
| Records | The objects you keep in Insightly. Records include contacts, leads, organizations, opportunities, projects, emails saved to Insightly, files, tasks, events, notes, comments, and saved reports. Records can be connected with links. |
| Recycle Bin | Holds deleted items for 30 days so you can restore them. The Recycle Bin link is in the right sidebar on the main list views. |
| Relationships | Defined links between two contacts or two organizations. Administrators can customize the list from the System Settings page. |
| Responsible User | The person to whom an item is assigned. |
| Round robin | A method of distributing leads to team members sequentially and one at a time. Used when lead assignment rule criteria are assigned to multiple individuals or a team. |
| Sidebar | The Insightly Sidebar is a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that lets you view, edit, and create Insightly records from your Gmail page. |
| Simple Permissions | The basic permissions system available on all Insightly plans. Allows for users to be administrators or not, and viewing permissions can be set on each individual object. |
| Smart Alerts | A report tool that runs a report on a set schedule, checks if the summary fields meets a threshold you set, and emails you a copy of the report if the threshold is met. |
| SmartMerge | Finds and merges duplicate organizations, contacts, or leads. |
| SMTP | An email protocol used for sending messages. Insightly includes a feature to send emails from Insightly by connecting to your own server. This is different from POP or IMAP servers, which are used for downloading messages. |
| Subtabs | Sections in each main record displaying items linked to or related to the viewed record. Includes: History, Emails, Files, and more. |
| System Settings | Settings that affect all users on an account. Administrators see the System Settings link when they click their profile icon. |
| Tabs | The selections down the left side of the screen on the navigation bar (Home, Tasks, Contacts, etc.). Clicking a tab opens its corresponding page. |
| Tags | A method of labeling contacts, organizations, projects, opportunities, and emails saved in Insightly. An index of tags appear in the right sidebar when viewing a list of these objects. |
| Task Priority | A field to set the task as High, Medium, or Low priority. This will affect how the task is ranked on the task list. Cannot be customized. |
| Task Status | The status field for tasks. Includes: Not Started, In Progress, Complete, Deferred, or Waiting On Someone Else. Cannot be customized. |
| Tasks | Records indicating To Do items. May be linked to other records and assigned to other users. |
| Teams | Groups of users set up by an administrator for task assignment and lead assignment rules (and viewing permissions, when using Simple Permissions). |
| User | Any person added to the System Settings > Users page by an administrator. |
| User Settings | A menu option on the profile menu. Settings for timezone, language, notifications, and other personal preferences. May only be set by each individual user. |
| Viewing Permissions | The permission setting at the bottom of each record when viewing Simple Permissions. Administrators can view all records, no matter what the permission setting. |
| Web to Lead/ Web to Contact | A webform building tool on the System Settings page. Allows visitors to your site to enter their information, which automatically creates contact or lead records in Insightly. |
| Webhook | Webhooks are a method of sending information from Insightly to an application outside of Insightly through workflow automation. |
| XML Export | An export option in the System Settings. Exports Insightly records in an XML format. XML files cannot be imported back into Insightly. |
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