Immediate Value
After this tutorial, you’ll navigate profiles confidently, understand the field color system, edit your first field, and use the activity timeline for meeting prep.Prerequisites
- Tutorial 1: Your First List
Quick-Start Roadmap
- Open and navigate a profile
- Recognize the core fields on a profile
- Understand field colors (the most important concept)
- Edit your first field
- Verify edits propagate across lists
- Explore the activity timeline
- Add your first note from a profile
What Profiles Show You
A profile is the single page that aggregates everything Affinity knows about a person or company — emails, meetings, notes, relationship connections from your team, and enriched data from Crunchbase / Dealroom. Whenever you need context on someone, you start at their profile.Task 1: Open and Navigate a Profile
Context
Profiles are the canonical record for any person or company. The fastest way to open one is global search.🎬 Watch
Action
- Press Cmd+K (Mac) or Alt+K (Windows/Linux) to open global search.
- Type a company or person name → click the result to open the profile.
- The profile loads with several tabs. The most commonly used during onboarding:
- Overview — summary fields + activity feed
- Connections — who on your team knows this entity
- Notes — notes linked to this entity
- Reminders — follow-up tasks
- Files — attached documents Additional tabs (Introductions, News & Insights, embedded apps) appear depending on your plan and integrations.
Expected Outcome
You’re viewing a profile with auto-populated data from email sync and enrichment sources.📚 Help Center
Task 2: Recognize the Core Fields
Context
Profiles can show 50+ fields. When you’re starting out, the ones you’ll reference most are:Action
On any profile, locate:- Name (Company or Person)
- Industry (enriched, see Task 3 about colors)
- Last Contact (auto-populated from email sync)
- Owner (the team member who owns this relationship)
- Notes (linked notes from the Notes tab and in the activity feed) Other fields are useful as your work deepens — formulas, custom dropdowns, list-specific overrides are covered in Tier 2–3 tutorials.
Expected Outcome
You can quickly locate the core fields on any profile.Task 3: Understand Field Colors (Most Important)
Context
Field colors tell you the scope and source of every data point on a profile. The same color system applies in lists (Tutorial 1, Task 3).Action
On any profile, identify:| Color | Source | Edit impact |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 GREEN | Auto-filled from Crunchbase / Dealroom | Editing stops auto-updates for that field on that entity (permanent) |
| 🔵 BLUE | Your team’s global shared data | Edits appear in every list that contains this entity |
| ⚫ BLACK | List-specific field | Edits are scoped to one list only |
Expected Outcome
You can identify field colors on any profile and know the consequences of editing each type.📚 Help Center
Task 4: Edit Your First Field
Context
Dropdown fields are the easiest type to edit — they have a defined list of options, no free-text formatting concerns.Action
- Open any profile.
- Find a 🔵 blue dropdown field (e.g., Industry).
- Double-click the field value.
- Select an option from the dropdown.
- Click outside the field or press Enter to save. Affinity auto-saves; no separate Save button. For multi-select fields, keep clicking options to add more.
Expected Outcome
The field updates immediately and the change is saved.📚 Help Center
Task 5: Verify Edits Propagate
Context
🔵 Blue (global) fields update everywhere. This task is a quick check to confirm the data model in practice.Action
- Remember the field you just edited (e.g., Industry on TechCorp).
- Open a different list that contains the same entity.
- Find the same field — your change is reflected.
Expected Outcome
You confirm that a 🔵 blue field edit appears across every list and view that contains the entity.Task 6: Explore the Activity Timeline
Context
The activity timeline shows the entity’s full interaction history with your team — emails, meetings, notes, field changes — automatically captured from email and calendar sync.Action
- On any profile, scroll to the Activity Timeline.
- The feed shows emails, meetings, notes, and field changes in chronological order.
- Use the filter controls to narrow by type (emails only, meetings only, etc.). What’s filtered out of the timeline by default:
- Calendar reply confirmations (subject lines starting with “Accepted:”, “Declined:”, “Tentative:”) are filtered to reduce noise.
- Emails sent to 5+ recipients (mass-distribution / newsletters) are filtered out. These reduce the timeline to direct, meaningful interactions.
Expected Outcome
You see a chronological feed of interactions for the entity, with noise filtered.📚 Help Center
Task 7: Add Your First Note from a Profile
Context
Adding a note from a profile pre-links the entity, so you don’t need to search for it during note creation.Action
- While viewing a profile, click “Add Note”.
- The entity is pre-selected.
- Type your note.
- Click “Publish”.
Expected Outcome
Your note appears in the profile’s Notes tab and in the Activity Timeline.📚 Help Center
Common Questions
Why does this profile show so many fields I don't recognize?
Why does this profile show so many fields I don't recognize?
Affinity pre-populates profiles with enriched data from Crunchbase, Dealroom, and email/calendar sync. Many fields are auto-generated. Focus on the core fields (Task 2) and explore the rest as you get comfortable.
Can I hide fields I don't need?
Can I hide fields I don't need?
Yes. Click “Customize” on the profile to show/hide specific fields. This only affects your view — it doesn’t delete data or affect teammates.
What if I accidentally edit a 🟢 green (enriched) field?
What if I accidentally edit a 🟢 green (enriched) field?
There’s no self-serve reset. Contact support to restore auto-updating for that field on that entity.
See It In Action
Where to Go Next
- Next tutorial: Tutorial 3: Search and Discovery
- Learning Paths: Fundraising & IR, Portfolio Management