Importing contacts from a file

Importing a file

1. 1Open Contacts and press Import
2. 2Choose a CSV file (export it from Excel or Google Sheets as CSV). The screen shows how many rows a file may have
3. 3Match each column of your file to a contact field. Only the phone is required
4. 4Answer the consent question: Have these contacts agreed to receive WhatsApp messages from you?
5. 5Press Import

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The consent question

You must answer it before importing. It decides marketing messages for the new contacts in the file:

• Yes, they have agreed: new contacts can receive your marketing broadcasts. We record that you confirmed this, and when.
• No, or I'm not sure: new contacts won't receive marketing broadcasts. Order updates and replies to them still work.

Contacts who are already in your list keep their own settings. If your file has its own consent column, that column decides for its rows.

People already in your contacts

• They are updated, not added twice. The same number is the same person.
• Only filled-in cells change anything. An empty cell never clears what you already have.
• Tags are added to the ones they already have, never replaced.

The import tag

Every person in the file gets a tag such as Import: diwali-list · 29 Sep 14:05, including people who were already in your contacts. You can change the name before importing, or untick Tag these contacts.

Use the tag to find the people from that file, or to send them a broadcast: choose the tag in the broadcast's audience.

Import history

Contacts → Import history lists every import: the file, when, who ran it, how many were added, updated, unchanged and skipped, and the answer to the consent question. Imports made through the API are listed too, marked via API.

• Press an import's tag to see exactly those contacts.
• Press Rename to change the tag's name on every contact that has it.

Fix names

If an import left many contacts with the same placeholder name, like "There" or "Customer", fix them all at once. Fix names is for the business owner and admins.

1. 1Open Contacts → Fix names
2. 2Pick a name shared by 5 or more contacts, or search for any exact name
3. 3Choose what to do: Clear the name, or Replace with another name
4. 4Check the count of contacts that will change, then confirm

• Every contact with exactly that name changes (capitals don't matter). Other names, like "Theresa" for "There", are never touched.
• A cleared contact shows its phone number until a WhatsApp message from them brings their real name. Broadcasts greet them as "there".

Undo is available for 30 days under Recent changes. It puts back every name that is still as the fix left it; a contact that has been named since keeps its new name.