A person shows as Unknown when their record has no first or last name. Pipeline CRM needs at least one name to label the record, so it falls back to Unknown and shows the email address instead.
Why a person shows as Unknown
1\. The record was created by BCC or forwarded email logging
When you BCC or forward an email to cc@app.pipelinecrm.com and the recipient isn't in Pipeline CRM yet, Pipeline CRM creates a person record from the email address alone. If the message header doesn't include a display name, there's no name to save. See Log Emails and People by BCC or Forwarding.
2\. Name columns weren't mapped during import
Imports work by mapping your spreadsheet columns to Pipeline CRM fields. If First Name and Last Name were skipped in that step, the names never came in, even though they were in your file.
3\. Your import file had blank name cells
Rows with an email address but no name import as Unknown.
4\. The person was added manually without a name
Saving the New Person form with only an email address leaves the name blank.
Fix one person
- Search for the person's email address in the global search at the top of the page.
- Open the person record.
- Enter the First Name and Last Name.
- Click Save.
Fix several people at once
If you have a batch of Unknown records, updating them by import is faster than fixing them one at a time.
- Go to the People tab and sort or filter to gather your Unknown records.
- Export those records so you have their email addresses.
- Add the missing names to the exported file.
- Import the file back in, following Update Existing Records by Import.
Match on the email address when you import, so Pipeline CRM updates the existing records instead of creating duplicates.
Stop it from happening again
- Include First Name and Last Name columns in every import file, and confirm they're mapped before you finish the import.
- Add the person to Pipeline CRM before you BCC cc@app.pipelinecrm.com, so the email logs to a named record.
- Set a display name in your own email app. Pipeline CRM reads the name from the message header when it creates a record.
Need help? Contact support at customercare@pipelinecrm.com.