Importing contacts from CSV

A CSV is simply a spreadsheet saved as text, and contacts are always imported from a CSV file. You have two options: export the contacts from an external tool (then save as CSV), or build the address book from scratch in Excel or Google Sheets.

If you start from scratch, use these four columns. The only required one is name; the others are optional:

name (required)

The contact’s name. It’s the only column that must always be there.

phone

The number in international format, with the prefix and the + sign (e.g. +393331234567). Optional as a column, but needed to message the contact on WhatsApp.

email

The contact’s email address. Optional.

tags

One or more labels separated by commas (e.g. customer, milan) to segment contacts. Optional.

The safest way: in the import window click “Template” to download the model that already has the right columns, fill it with your contacts and save it. Always save the file in UTF-8 (“Save as → CSV UTF-8”), so accents and emoji don’t turn into strange characters. The importer recognizes different separators anyway (comma or semicolon).

Only import contacts who gave you consent to be messaged on WhatsApp (opt-in). It’s a requirement of Meta’s rules and of the GDPR: buying or uploading non-consenting lists risks getting your number blocked. When in doubt, import those who already wrote to you or left their number willingly.

Open the Contacts section from the left menu: you’ll find two buttons, “Add Contact” to add one at a time and “Bulk upload” to import a whole CSV. Here’s the full flow, with the real screens (shown in Italian, but the steps are identical).

1. 1

   Open Contacts and click “Bulk upload”

   In the Contacts section press the “Bulk upload” button: that’s the CSV import.

   
2. 2

   Download the Template (or prepare your file)

   The “Import contacts from a file” window opens, with a 3-step mini-guide. Click “Template” at the bottom to download the model that already has the right columns, fill it and save it. The upload accepts .csv or .txt files up to 5MB.

   
3. 3

   Upload the file and set the options

   Drag the file into the window. Optionally set a “Custom unique key” to match contacts by one of your fields instead of phone/email (rows without that value, or duplicates, are skipped — you can download them). Also choose how to handle existing contacts: update their data and keep or replace their tags.

   
4. 4

   Click “Import”

   In a few seconds you get the “Bulk import completed” confirmation.

   
5. 5

   Contacts in the address book

   The new contacts are in the address book, ready for campaigns. Duplicates on the same number are merged, not recreated.

   

Instead of doing it all by hand, you can ask Sendy, the AI assistant at the top right: “Import my contacts from a CSV”. Sendy is smart and imports correctly even if the columns are in a different order or swapped: it’s very handy when you export contacts from an external tool that uses its own headers. One limit: fields other than name, phone, email and tags are only picked up if you’ve already set up the matching Custom fields (see below).

Want to import columns beyond name, phone, email and tags (e.g. City, Company, Birthday)? Create the matching fields FIRST under Contacts → Custom fields: if the field doesn’t exist, that column isn’t imported. Once created, you use them to personalize messages — e.g. a “City” column lets you write “Offer valid only in {{city}}” with the right city for each contact.

The file’s labels (the tags column) become tags in the address book. Filter contacts by tag right in the Contacts section to check everything went well and to send the right promo to the right group. Then you can create a campaign targeting that tag: see the Create a campaign guide. To organize tags and segments there’s also the Contacts and tags guide.

Numbers without an international prefix

The number must be in international format, with the prefix and the + sign (e.g. +393331234567). Without it, it may not be valid for sending on WhatsApp.

Strange characters in names (à, è, é…)

It’s a file-encoding issue: re-save the CSV as UTF-8 from your tool or Excel (“Save as → CSV UTF-8”).

An extra column isn’t imported

Columns other than name, phone, email and tags are imported only if you first created the matching Custom field under Contacts → Custom fields.

Duplicate rows

Contacts with the same number are merged, not recreated. If you still find duplicates in the address book, use the “Clean Duplicates” button at the top of the Contacts page.