Import contacts from a CSV file

Upload a CSV file to add many contacts at once, then check what was imported and what was skipped.

Before you start: make sure the first row of your file holds the column names, such as Name, Email and Phone.

Import the file

1. On Contacts, select Import CSV. You can also select Import on Today, or press ⌘K (Ctrl K if you're not on a Mac) and choose Import contacts.
2. Select the upload area and choose your .csv file, or drag the file onto it.
3. In the Maps to column, check the field Ostira picked for each of your columns. Change any that are wrong, and choose Skip for columns you don't need.
4. Select Next: Preview.
5. Check the preview of your first 5 rows.
6. Select I have permission to text and email the people in this file.
7. Select Import contacts.

You need a name for every contact. Map one column to Full name, or map columns to First name and Last name. Until you do, Next: Preview stays turned off.

The fields you can map

What happens next

When the import finishes, you see "Import complete" with these counts:

• Imported: new contacts added.
• Skipped (duplicates): rows whose email or phone already belongs to a contact, including an earlier row in the same file.
• Over plan limit: rows left out because the free plan's 25-contact limit was reached. This only shows when it happens.
• Errors: rows that couldn't be saved. They're listed under "Rows not imported" as "Row N: …". Row numbers count data rows, not the header row.

Ostira doesn't start conversations with imported contacts. To have Ostira reach out to someone, use Add a lead instead.

Select View contacts to see them, or Import another file.

If something goes wrong

Rows with no name, a badly formed email or a phone number Ostira can't read aren't imported. See CSV import errors for each message and how to fix it.