Contacts Excel Import and Export

Contacts Excel Import and Export

Overview

Contacts and Groups can be added one at a time or in bulk from Excel. Bulk work uses four workflows, each on the page where its records live:

Every upload is checked and previewed first. Nothing is saved until you confirm the preview, and the server checks every row again when you confirm.

Adding Records One at a Time

• Add One Contact on Add Contacts / Employees: only Email is required. Tick the Contact's Groups, if any, and fill any Custom Fields.
• Add one Group on Add Groups: only Name is required. Leave Code blank to generate one from the name.

Recommended Order

1. Create your Groups, one at a time or with Import Groups.
2. Download a fresh Contact template. It lists the Groups that exist when it is generated.
3. Fill and upload it through Import / Update Contacts, review the preview, and confirm.

A Contact workbook never creates a Group it does not know, so create missing Groups first. Only Paste a list can create them, when you choose Create the Group.

Import Groups

The Group workbook is one sheet in your interface language with two columns: Group name (required) and Description. Codes are never typed: each new Group gets one automatically, and confirming saves exactly what you reviewed. When a row has the name of an existing Group (capital letters ignored), choose Keep existing (Skip), Update it or Report it as a problem. Updating saves the row's name and description only.

To create Groups by name only, use Paste a list on Add Groups instead of a file: one name per line, up to 1,000 lines. It is checked and confirmed like a workbook, offers only Keep existing (Skip) or Report it as a problem, and its review names each problem by line number.

Import / Update Contacts

To add Contacts by email only, use Paste a list on Add Contacts / Employees: one email per line, optionally followed by a comma, semicolon, Arabic comma or tab and one Group name, up to 1,000 lines. Before checking it you choose what happens when a named Group does not exist: create it, add the Contact without a Group, or reject the line. A list never changes an existing Contact, so it offers only Keep existing (Skip) or Report it as a problem.

Email identifies a Contact: a new Email creates one, and an existing Email is updated when Update it is selected. The workbook is one sheet in your interface language with one row per Contact: Email (required, marked with a red asterisk), the five other built-in fields, Status, one column per active Custom Field headed with its name, and Groups. Status, Yes / No and choice values come from dropdowns; no codes are needed. The Groups cell lists the Contact's Groups by name, one per line, and they become its final active Groups; memberships of inactive Groups are kept.

Worked examples:

If one of the Groups in a Contact's cell is invalid, that Contact keeps its current Groups rather than being partly changed, and its valid field changes can still be saved.

Add Contacts to Group

Select the target Group on the page, then download its template and upload the list. The template is one sheet in your interface language with the six Contact columns (only Email is required); the Group is named in its instructions. Contacts are added to that Group, and no other membership is removed: Ahmed in HR plus the selected Sales Group gives HR and Sales. Existing members are reported as already in the Group, and new Emails become new active Contacts.

Export and Re-Upload

Export Current Contacts downloads the Contacts with their Custom Fields and Groups, optionally narrowed by a search or a Group. It needs View directory and Export responses. Edit the file and upload it through Import / Update Contacts. Because the Groups listed become final, removing a name from a Groups cell removes that membership; review the preview before confirming bulk updates.

Import Modes

• All-or-Nothing: any problem means nothing is imported.
• Partial: only the affected unit is rejected and the rest continue.
  • Import Groups: only the rows with a problem are rejected.
  • Import / Update Contacts: an invalid Contact row rejects that Contact and its Group changes; an invalid Group set keeps the current Groups while valid field changes still save; unrelated Contacts continue.
  • Add Contacts to Group: one invalid row does not block the others.

Limits During Import

Imports check the same limits as manual entry before anything is written. Rows that would exceed Contacts / Employees, Contact Groups or the 100 Contacts per Group are reported in the preview, and under All-or-Nothing they stop the whole file. Groups include up to 100 Contacts per Group at no extra charge.

Error Workbooks

When there are problems, download the error workbook. In every workflow it is the same one-sheet workbook in your interface language with a Corrections needed column (after Status for Contacts, after Notes when adding to a Group, after Description for Groups); All-or-Nothing keeps every row and Partial only the rows with problems. Correct it and upload it again. Only the person who uploaded the file can download it, and it expires after a short time.

File Rules

• .xlsx only, up to 10 MB and 50,000 data rows.
• No macros, cell formulas or external references; such files are refused.
• Downloaded workbooks write every value as text or a typed value, never as a formula.

Related Topics

• Contacts / Employees
• Contacts & Communications Limits