We made OpenField to make organizing more efficient - so this guide is here to help you start door canvassing quickly.

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✏️ Please Note:

OpenField is a web-based program, so there’s no need to download an app; just send canvassers to your OpenField URL!
Reminder: make sure phones are charged and have extra chargers on hand!

If you already have an OpenField Account, enter your Email and Password to Log In and get started.

If you’re a new User, tap Sign Up to create a new account.

You can also tap Reset Your Password if you’re having trouble logging in. If you continue to have login problems, please reach out to support@openfield.ai.

You can also access our Privacy Policy from this screen.

Enter your Conversation Code

Conversation Codes are how you access a specific canvassing campaign within OpenField. Someone within your organization will provide you with the Conversation Code before you start canvassing. Enter it here, then tap Get Started.

Select Your Location

Next, you’ll select the location or address where you’ll begin canvassing. Tap Select your location and start typing your current address; the search bar will auto-populate matches. Select the correct address and tap the Find Available Doors button.

✏️ Please Note: You can tap the Location icon to the right of the search bar to grab your device’s location based on GPS.

You can also change your starting location at any point by tapping change location from the turf selection screen.

When you first log in, you’ll see your goal for the number of doors to knock today. Tap Start Knocking to begin canvassing!

Select a Turf

Turf Selection Screen Burger Bar Menu Options

Tap on the OpenField logo in the upper left-hand corner of your screen to open the menu options.

Search will allow you to search your database for specific people, notes, phone numbers, and more.

Enter a New Code will allow you to choose and work in a different Conversation Code.

Recent Turf will show you any turfs you’ve already checked out so you can return to them.

Leaderboard will show you how you’re doing amongst fellow canvassers during this phonebanking session.

Help will take you to OpenField’s help center.

Logout will log you out of OpenField.

Turf Selection Map

A map will appear, showing you all the turf near your specified location. The turf not currently being worked and available for you to claim are marked in Blue. The turf you’ve worked on recently and can return to will appear in Yellow. The turf being worked by another canvasser that isn’t available for you to claim will show up in Grey.

To claim turf, click one of the blue available turfs. You’ll see a pop-up showing the number of doors in that turf.

Tap the Doors Available pop-up to check out the turf. When asked to confirm, tap OK to be taken to the map of your turf.

Navigating The Map of Your Turf Screen

Map of Your Turf Screen Burger Bar Menu Options

Tap on the OpenField logo in the upper left-hand corner of your screen to open the menu options.

Search will allow you to search your database for specific people, notes, phone numbers, and more.

Map will return you to the map view of your turf, pictured above.

Street List will take you to a list version of all the street names in your turf.

Enter a New Code will allow you to choose and work in a different Conversation Code.

Select More Turf will return you to the turf selection screen and allow you to check out another turf.

Change Location will update your current location on the turf selection screen and display the turfs nearest to that location.

Share Turf will allow you to share your current turf with other canvassers. Read more about sharing turf here.

Go Offline will allow you to access the current turf in Offline Mode. Read more about Offline Mode here.

Leaderboard will take you to today’s Leaderboard.

Logout will log you out of OpenField completely.

Canvassing Offline

OpenField allows you to download turf to use offline in cases where you might not have the best connection. For a guide on how to use OpenField Offline, please check our guide here: Using OpenField Offline.

How to Share Turf

You can also share a turf with other canvassers and walk the turf together as a team. Select Share Turf from the Burger Bar menu while in the turf you want to share!

From here, enter the name of the first person that you would like to work on a turf with.

If they already have an OpenField account, their name and email will pop up. If you’re sharing the turf with multiple canvassers, click the plus sign to add another User.

If the canvasser you want to share turf with doesn’t have an OpenField account, click New User to add their name and email.

You can also click the plus sign to add multiple new Users.

Once you have finished adding all your team members, whether existing or new Users, they will receive an email like the one below inviting them to canvass with you.

Now you’re ready to canvass as a team!

Leaderboard

The Leaderboard screen shows your day's knocking progress, including knocks and conversations, and allows you to compare your stats with others in your organization.

Live Canvasser View

Once you have checked out a turf, you will be prompted to turn on Live Canvasser View. This feature adds a pin to the map that updates your live geolocation, making it easier to track your proximity to the houses and apartments in your turf.

✏️ Please Note: Live Canvasser View uses more battery on your mobile device. Leave it turned off to conserve battery.

If you choose to turn Live Location on, you will see a green marker indicating your current location in relation to the houses and apartments in your turf.

You can also click Settings in the top right corner of your map to turn Live Location off.

If you leave Live Location turned off, you will see a yellow marker indicating the last location you provided on the map.

You can also click Settings from this view to turn Live Location on by selecting Show Live Location, or you can Refresh Location, which will update the marker to your current location.

Selecting a Residence

The map of your turf is a visual representation of all the doors in that turf. As you progress through a neighborhood and converse with residents, the icons representing the homes and apartments will change color so you can track your progress.

Residences still needing to be contacted will appear in Blue with no symbol. Residences successfully contacted will be updated to Dark Purple with a text bubble symbol. Residences that were knocked but had no successful conversation are marked in Grey with a checkbox symbol.

Tap one of the home or apartment icons to bring up the Address for that residence, then tap the Address to pull up the Resident List.

Canvass Dispositions

If a conversation can’t take place at this address because the resident isn’t home to answer the door, they moved to a new home, they refused to speak to you, etc., you can select a reason or disposition under the Couldn’t connect with anyone drop-down on the Resident List. Then, tap Next Door to proceed to the next Address in your Turf.

Starting a Conversation

This screen will show you the names of all the residents we have information for who live at this address.

At the top is a legend that indicates if a contact is on your Target List, which means they’re the person your organization is specifically trying to talk to, a registered voter, an inactive voter, has an existing contact history, or is ill or incarcerated.

After you knock on the door and introduce yourself, ask for the resident’s name. If it matches a name on your list, click on the name to move to their contact record, which contains four tabs: GOTV, Talk, About, and History.

GOTV Tab

The GOTV tab contains the contact's Absentee and Early Vote information. It includes fields for the contact’s Early Vote Location, Ballot Drop-off Location, and Polling Location, as well as noting whether or not a contact has early voted and dates for when an Absentee Ballot was requested, mailed, and returned.

Clicking the calendar icon beside Early Vote Location or Ballot Drop-Off Location will also display the dates available for Early Voting or Ballot Drop-Off.

If a contact’s Early Voting location doesn’t display or displays incorrectly, you can click Need to look up an Early Voting Location manually? Click here.

A window to iwillvote.com will open, and you can search for a contact’s Early Voting location there.

Read more about AV/EV data in our article HERE!

Talk Tab

Under the Talk tab, follow the Script that appears by asking the Questions and recording the residents' answers in the appropriate answer fields. Once you’ve completed the Script and entered the answers, tap Save Conversation or Save + Next Door.

You’ll see a pop-up confirming the conversation was saved successfully.

Great, you just completed a conversation! Be sure to thank the resident for their time, then proceed to the next door on the map of your turf.

Using Follow-Ups

You can also add a follow-up to the contact’s record so they can be re-attempted at a specific date and time in the future. There is a space to record relevant notes, such as the reason for a follow-up or additional information about the contact.

At the specified date and time, the icon on the map will update from the purple conversation icon to a yellow icon with arrows, indicating it’s time to complete the follow-up.

Tapping the icon again will show the standard resident list, with an additional message at the top of the screen prompting you to complete the follow-up. A yellow dot will also appear beside their name, referencing the contact history.

Opening the History tab will show the details of the contact history and the content of any notes added when creating the follow-up.

About Tab

The About tab is where you will view or update a contact’s information, such as their address, phone number, emails, etc. You can also mark an individual contact as deceased, incarcerated, sick or infirm, or indicate that they have moved.

You can open or close the Update Status, Personal, Contact, and Address sections in the About tab by clicking them.

You can also make changes to these categories; tap the section that needs to be updated, then tap Edit.

Make the changes on the pop-up that opens, then tap Submit.

History Tab

If you have a record of previous conversations with a resident, you can find them by tapping the History tab. Responses are grouped by the conversation in which they took place, indicated by a date and the name of the canvasser who recorded the conversation. Tap the date to expand and see more detailed responses.

What if I mark the wrong responses or disposition and press Save?

OpenField has a 5-minute rule for recording canvass responses or dispositions. If a second response is recorded for the same contact within a 5-minute window, only the second response will be saved.

So, if you accidentally record the wrong responses to questions or accidentally mark someone as Not Home or Moved, etc., you can return to that person’s contact page and record the correct responses, which will update their contact history! You will see the message below confirming that the contact history has been updated.

Adding a New Person or Address

If you come across an address or person who isn’t on your list while knocking, it’s easy to add them.

Adding a New Address

To add a new address to OpenField that isn’t on your list, open the menu and tap Street List while in the turf where the address appears.

Select the street for the new address. Then, tap Click here to add an address.

Type in the full address and tap Save Address.

Add the information for the person living at the new address, then tap Talk to Them to begin your conversation!

✏️ Please Note: This new person and address can now be found in Street List and Maps.

Adding Another Unit to an Existing Address

To add another unit to an existing address, select the house or apartment icon you’d like to add the unit to. Tap Need to add units? Click here.

Add the number of the unit you’d like to add and click Save Unit.

You’ll be taken to the new Resident Page, which will already have this address populated. To associate a person with this new address, follow the steps below to add a new person from the Resident Page.

After finishing your conversation, an apartment icon will appear on the map indicating this new address.

✏️ Please Note: This functionality is best advised for apartments only as we are still working on adding icons for houses!

Adding a New Person

From the resident list, tap Meet someone not on the list?

Type the person’s name in the Search bar and tap the Search icon.

If you need to search on fields besides name, click the People dropdown. You’ll be able to choose to search by names (People), phone numbers (Phones), notes on the contact’s record (Notes), or a combination of all three, plus additional fields using Advanced Search.

Advanced Search allows you to search by name and/or address, phone number, email address, and/or notes.

If you have an existing record for this person in your database, it will appear in the search results. Tap the person’s name to start a conversation with them.

If the person’s name doesn’t show up in the search results, it’s easy to add a new record for them. In the search results, tap Meet someone not on the list below? Add them here.

A screen will appear for you to add the person to the database. Under Personal Info, add information about the person, including First and Last Name, Gender Identity, Pronouns, Languages, etc.

Further down, under Talk to them, the Questions in your Script appear, allowing you to continue a conversation with them.

✏️ Please Note: If you mark Yes to “Do they live at this address?”, the address you knocked on will automatically be added to this resident’s address information.

If you mark No to Do they live at this address, remember to go back and add their correct address information using the About tab. Read more below.

Finish Knocking

When you’re done knocking for the day, tap the OpenField logo to open the Burger Bar menu, then tap Logout.

Thanks for knocking with OpenField!

Have more questions? Email us at support@openfield.ai.

If you have feature requests or suggestions for how to improve OpenField, stop by our Canny page!

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