# Import contacts Import brings contacts in from a CSV file — any spreadsheet saved as `.csv`. The import runs in the background, so a file of tens of thousands of rows is fine. Go to **Contacts → Import**, or choose **Import** on the contacts screen. The import moves through four steps: **Source**, **Map columns**, **Review** and **Import**. ## Where contacts can come from **CSV file** is the source that works today. The **This site** and **Another service** tiles list WordPress users, WooCommerce customers, FluentCRM, Groundhogg, Jetpack CRM, Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign, each marked **Soon** — they cannot be chosen yet. To bring those contacts in now, export them from the other tool as a CSV. :::tip[New WordPress users] To make every new site registration a contact as it happens, turn on **Create a contact when somebody registers** under **Settings → General**. ::: ## 1. Upload the file Drop the file on the upload area, or choose **Browse files**. The upload area then shows the file name and how many rows it has. - **The first row must be column headings.** - Commas, semicolons, tabs and pipes are all recognised as separators. - Files saved as UTF-8, UTF-16 or Latin-1 are converted for you. - Only CSV is accepted. A spreadsheet (`.xlsx`), PDF or zip is refused even if renamed — open it in your spreadsheet program and save it as CSV first. **Download a sample file** gives you a CSV with the usual columns to copy. ![The Import screen's Source step: a CSV file tile selected and a file dropped in, showing its name and row count](/images/placeholder.svg) ## 2. Map columns Each column in your file is listed with a sample value. Beside it, choose the contact field it fills, or leave it as **Not imported**. Columns with familiar headings — *E-mail*, *Surname*, *Zip*, *Phone* — are matched for you; check them. - **Email** must be mapped. It is how contacts are matched and deduplicated, and **Continue** stays disabled until it is. - **SMS** takes a phone number. - **Tags** and **Lists** take one or more names in a cell, separated by `|`, `;` or `,`. Names that do not exist yet are created. - **Company** (when [Companies](/contacts/companies/) is on) links each contact to the company of that name, creating the company if there is none. - Any [custom field](/contacts/custom-fields/) can be a target. Each field can be chosen for only one column. The options for the whole import sit beside the mapping. ## Import options ### Status for new contacts The email status every **new** contact is given: **Subscribed**, **Pending**, **Unsubscribed** or **Transactional**. :::caution[Consent is yours to prove] Only import as **Subscribed** if these people agreed to receive your email. Customers who bought from you, or people from a list you were given, should come in as **Transactional** — they can still be sent account and direct emails, but no campaigns or automations. ::: If you choose **Pending**, tick **Email them a confirmation link** to send each one the double opt-in email. They become Subscribed when they click it; the emails go out at your sending speed. Leave it unticked and they stay Pending, unemailed, until something asks them to confirm. If double opt-in is off for the site, nothing is sent and they stay Pending. ### Existing contacts What to do when a row's email address already belongs to a contact: - **Skip them** — contacts already here are left alone. The tags and lists you choose below are not applied to them either. - **Update them** — every mapped column is written over what is there. - **Only fill empty fields** — only fields that are empty are filled in. When updating, **Update their status too** is off by default, so existing contacts keep the status they have. Turn it on only if the file's status is the one you want — otherwise the ### Add tags and Add to lists Tags and lists here are added to every new contact, and to every updated one. You can type a new name to create it. ### Let these contacts enter automations Off by default. While it is off, imported contacts do not start any automation — no welcome series fires for a list they were added to, no follow-up for a tag. Turn it on only when you want that to happen; otherwise a large import would email everybody in it. ## 3. Review Check the numbers — **Rows in file**, **Columns mapped**, **Columns skipped** — and the **First rows, as they will be imported**. Choose **Back** to change anything, or **Start import**. ## 4. Import A progress bar shows how many rows are done and how many were created, updated, skipped or failed so far. **You can leave this page — the import continues in the background.** It works through 500 rows at a time on the CRM's background queue, which runs every minute. If an import seems stuck, check that WordPress cron is running; see [Installation](/getting-started/installation/#background-work). **Stop the import** cancels it. Rows already imported stay; the rest are not read. When it finishes you see four totals: - **Created** — new contacts. - **Updated** — existing contacts changed. - **Skipped** — existing contacts left alone because of **Skip them**. - **Failed** — rows that could not be saved, such as a missing or invalid email address. If any rows failed, **Download failed rows** gives you a CSV of them with the reason for each. Fix them and import that file. ![A finished import showing Created, Updated, Skipped and Failed totals, with a Download failed rows button](/images/placeholder.svg) ## Your uploaded file The uploaded file is kept only as long as **Settings → Privacy and data → Uploaded files** says — 24 hours unless you change it — and then deleted.