---
id: KB-CC-005
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/contacts-and-channels/importing-contacts-from-your-system
idioma: en
categoria: contactos-canales
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CC-003, KB-ET-004]
citadoPor: [KB-CC-015]
---

# Bringing in the contacts you already have

_Start from the list you already have, without typing anyone in._

**Responde a:** import contacts from a spreadsheet · upload the supplier list · migrate contacts from another system · bulk load clients

Nobody starts from zero: the supplier or client list already exists somewhere, even if only in a spreadsheet. Bringing it in whole takes half an hour and avoids the slowest possible start, which is typing two hundred contacts.

## What the list needs

**En corto**

- Company name and person's name.
- Email, and mobile if you have it. The mobile is what you will be most grateful for later.
- Your own identifier, if you use one, so it can be cross-referenced with your system.

## Half an hour well spent before importing

1. **Remove duplicates: the same person twice becomes two records with split histories.**
2. **Remove people who have left: dead addresses gain you nothing.**
3. **Check the columns: an email in the phone column is spotted by your eye before the system's.**

> [!WARNING]
> Importing a dirty list does not clean it: it relocates it. From then on the bounces show up inside cases, when they get in the way.

> [!NOTE]
> If you have ten years of contacts, bring only the active ones. The rest can be imported later if needed, and meanwhile they do not clutter searches.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> That list holds personal data about people who did not choose to be in your new tool. Bring what you need to work — name, email, professional contact number — and do not drag along fields you will never use just because they were in the file.

**Can I re-import to update?**

Yes, and existing records are updated rather than duplicated.

**What if my system does not export to a spreadsheet?**

Almost all do. Failing that, it can come in through the API.

**Are contacts notified when imported?**

No. Importing sends nothing; notices go out when you launch something.

## Ejemplos

**A company has 340 suppliers in an eight-year-old spreadsheet.**

- Filters the 190 with recent activity
- Removes 24 duplicates
- Imports those 190

→ Starts working that same afternoon without typing a single contact.

**An old list is imported and half of it bounces.**

- Cleans it before importing

→ The first campaign does not start on bounces.

**Contacts are imported with no company attached.**

- Attaches each contact to their company

→ The contact is usable.

**It is imported twice and contacts duplicate.**

- Checks for duplicates after importing

→ Nobody receives the same thing twice.

**The data comes in columns that do not match.**

- Reviews the mapping before importing

→ The phone number does not end up in the job-title field.

**Everything is imported and the address book becomes unmanageable.**

- Imports only what is used

→ The address book stays useful.