Access to Contacts Based on Ownership
There are different permission settings and configurations to determine who can access contacts. If you are the contact owner, you will have the ability to see contact; no questions asked. But if you are a manager or primary rep, your ability to see information about the contact will depend on your permission settings and relationship to the contact owner. These settings can determine who/what you can see, as well as how you can interact with the contact in the system.
A contact owner can see everything about contact and add those contacts to a list. You can update the contact owner by going to the contact page and using the perform an action. If you don't have access but want access, you can click on the people icon next to the contact owner's name to request access.
A User will have additional privileges for contacts that any of their assistants own. Assistants are assigned to a user on the user setup page. A user can see limited information about an assistant's contact, including last activities and contact info.
If you need access to all contacts, you must be given permission. Otherwise, you will be limited to contacts you own and those who are owned by your assistance.