Import contacts from a spreadsheet

Upload your file

Drag the file onto the dashed area, or press browse to choose it from your computer. The line underneath is the contract worth reading twice: Supported formats: .csv, .xls, .xlsx · first row is treated as column headers.

Not sure what your file should look like? Press Preview a sample and a card appears headed Example — your file should look like this, with a .xlsx and a .csv download button. Take the .xlsx. Excel re-types a .csv when it opens one and eats the leading 0 on a number like 012 660 4421 and the + on +60 12-345 6789 — so the file you send back would not be the file you downloaded. The .xlsx comes back exactly as it went out, which makes it a safe first test import.

We read the file on the server, which is why Excel files need no converting: a bar reads Uploading & reading your spreadsheet… while that happens. When it finishes you get a card with your filename and a line like 7 columns · 240 rows detected · 5-row preview, a Replace button, a trash icon to remove the file, and a green line reading File uploaded — continue to map the columns to your fields.

Next only becomes available once that green line is there.

The supported formats line also tells you row 1 is always treated as column headers

Match your columns to your fields

One card appears per column in your spreadsheet, under the heading Match columns to fields, and a pill counts what we matched for you — Auto-matched 4.

Each card shows the column’s name, an example of its first two values, and a dropdown (Select field…) for the field it should fill. A card we matched carries a green Auto-matched tag; a card with nothing chosen carries an amber Pick a field or drop it.

For a column you do not want, press the drop icon beside its dropdown — the card goes dashed with its heading struck through, and the same icon puts it back. A dropped column is not imported, and dropping is the only way to say “ignore this”.

One field can take only one column. A field another live column has already claimed disappears from the other dropdowns, so you cannot point two columns at Phone by accident.

Until a column is mapped to Name, a red block sits at the top reading Name is required — map one column to the Name field before continuing.

Below the cards is the Source block, and you must satisfy it one of two ways:

• Pick one source for the whole file. The picker is searchable, and you can type a name that does not exist yet — the hint then reads Every imported contact is tagged with this source (created on import).
• Map a column to Source. Each row then uses its own value, and you resolve those values in the next step.

Preview · first 5 rows of your file at the bottom shows those rows under your field labels — fewer than five if your file is shorter. Read one row across before moving on.

Read one preview row across — it is the cheapest way to catch a swapped pair of columns

Match the spreadsheet’s values to your options

This step exists for one reason: your spreadsheet’s spelling of a dropdown value is rarely your workspace’s spelling. The heading is Match values to options.

If none of the columns you mapped are dropdown fields you will see Nothing to match — carry straight on.

Otherwise there is a card per mapped dropdown column, headed with the column’s name and the field it feeds — Lead Status → Status. Its pill reads Loading values… first, then either an amber 2 need attention or a green All matched. The distinct values are fetched from the server as you arrive, one column at a time, so a column with many different values takes a moment.

Each distinct value in your sheet gets a row: the raw value, an arrow, and a dropdown where you choose the option it means. You can type a new option name in there too. A row we filled in for you carries a green pre-filled pill; a row we could not guess is tinted and reads no suggestion.

A value left needing attention still imports the contact — that one field is blank for those rows, and you can fill it in later.

For a multi-select column there is also a Split on row of checkboxes — Comma, Semicolon, Pipe, Colon, New line — deciding how one cell becomes several values. Comma and Colon are ticked to begin with. A live example beneath shows one pill per piece, so you can see the split before you commit to it.

A column you mapped to Source gets its own card, headed Source → Source (per row), with a green All resolved or an amber 2 unresolved, plus a count of how many new sources will be created. A value your workspace does not have yet is tagged new.

A row left as needs attention still imports the contact — that field stays blank

Choose who owns them

The heading is Assign to, and there are three choices:

• Me — every imported contact is assigned to you.
• Members — search the list and tick the people who should own them. With nobody ticked you get Select at least one member, or the import will leave them unassigned.
• No one — Leave unassigned, so your assignment rules can route them later.

You can reassign afterwards, so this is not a decision to agonise over.

Review it, then import

Review your import lists File, Contacts, Columns, Source, New sources and Assignment.

Read the Columns line. “12 mapped · 3 ignored” is where you catch a column you dropped without meaning to — it is much cheaper to go Back now than to fix 240 records later.

Every row is validated as it imports: an invalid value is skipped for that cell only and reported at the end, rather than failing the row.

When it reads right, press Import contacts. That button says “contacts” on every database, including one your workspace named Landlords — it is the one label in Raion Hub that does not follow your database’s name.