# Linking meeting participants to people

A participant who is not a member is only a name in a meeting at first. For the meeting to
appear with the right person in the [people directory](https://lalabase.com/docs/en/guides/people/directory), link the name to that
person. The meeting then shows up under the person's **Meetings** and counts for the
**Last** column.

Members need no linking. If you pick them from the suggestions when you record the meeting,
the meeting is already tied to their account.

## What you see at the participants

The participants are listed at the top of the meeting, also in the meeting area next to a
ticket.

- A participant whose person you may see is a **link**: a click opens the person in the
  directory.
- A free name without a link stays plain text.
- Next to a free name there is a small chain icon: **Link to a person**. Next to a contact
  that is already linked there is a pencil: **Change the link**.

You only see the two icons if you may edit the meeting and have the **View people**
permission. Without that permission you see no links to people either.

## Linking a participant

1. Click the chain icon next to the name. **Link to a person** opens, with the participant
   at the top.
2. The top of the list shows **Suggestions**: first people with exactly the same name, then
   people with the same surname. For “J. Weber (Hoster)”, Lalabase suggests “Jonas Weber”,
   for example. The search field finds any other person, by name, company or email.
3. Pick the person and click **Link**.

A suggestion is only a suggestion. Lalabase never links anything without your click.

The list shows contacts and members. If you pick a member, the participant becomes that
member, as if you had chosen them in the meeting form.

### Creating a new person

If the person is not in the directory yet, choose **Create a new person**. The name is filled
in already, without the note in brackets: “J. Weber (Hoster)” becomes “J. Weber”. You can
change it before linking. Lalabase creates the person and links it in one step. This needs
the **Edit people** permission.

### When Lalabase refuses

The dialog tells you why a link is not possible, and then changes nothing:

- The chosen member already takes part in this meeting.
- Another participant already carries the name of this member. Remove them from the meeting
  first, otherwise the name would show twice.
- The chosen person is already linked to another participant of the same meeting.

## Changing or removing a link

Click the pencil next to a linked contact. The top of the dialog says who the participant is
linked to. You can pick another person, or remove the link with **Unlink**. The name stays as
a participant.

## What a link survives

- **Editing the meeting**: The link stays as long as the participant stays, also in other
  upper and lower case or with “ue” instead of “ü”. If you remove the name and enter another
  one, that is a new participant without a link.
- **Deleting the person**: The name stays as a participant; the link goes.
- **A member leaving the organisation**: Once the membership is removed entirely, the
  participant is a free name again. You can then link it to that person's row in the
  directory, so their meetings stay listed there.

A participant is always either a member or a contact, never both. That is why a name that is
already linked to a contact is no longer offered under
[Linking external participants to members](https://lalabase.com/docs/en/guides/meetings/external-participants).