Articles in this section

See more

Import Contacts

Avatar
Evatel
  • Updated
Follow

Import Contacts from a CSV File

To import contacts from a CSV file into your Personal Contacts folder:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
    To import contacts from Outlook, ACT, Yahoo or other sources, you must first select the ones you frequently call and export them to a CSV file.
    • Instructions on how to import contacts: Click the icon to learn about the CSV contacts file format and how to import them into your Personal Contacts folder. See Contact CSV File Format for details.
    • Instructions on how to export contacts: Click the icon to learn how to export your contacts from different sources into a CSV file that can later be imported into your Personal Contacts folder. See Export Email Contacts to CSV for more information on how to export contacts from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
  • Click the Browse button and select the CSV file containing contacts that you want to upload and import into your Personal Contacts. Click Open to confirm your selection.
  • Select the groups where you want the contacts will be saved. Remember to select Voice Directory if you want to be able to call the contacts using speech commands. If the group where you want to save the imported contacts does not exist, click New Group to create it.
  • Specify how you want to treat duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import module will display the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import. Once the contacts are imported, a report is displayed.
  • Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then your imported contacts will also be added to your mail server if their group is synced.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Contact CSV File Format

The CSV file can contain the following fields. Field names must contain at least one of the following strings. Each contact must have at least one name, and either an email address or one phone number.

  • Title
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Company
  • Street
  • City
  • State
  • Postal Code or ZIP Code
  • Country
  • Fax
  • Business Phone
  • Home Phone
  • Mobile
  • Email
  • Language (en, fr)
  • Birthday
  • Salutation (Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Me)
  • Gender (M, F)
  • Phonetic1 (The phonetic pronunciation of the contact's name in English)
  • Phonetic2 (The phonetic pronunciation of the contact's name in French)
  • Preferred Phone (BusinessPhone, MobilePhone, HomePhone)

Click to download a Sample Contact Import CSV file

Export Email Contacts to CSV

Contacts can be exported in CSV files from a variety of sources: Microsoft Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Mac, etc.

Below are quick links to CSV export instructions from popular applications:

Import Contacts from Gmail or Google G Suite

If your contacts are currently hosted with Gmail or Google G Suite, you can import them directly to build your Personal Contacts folder and update it when needed. To choose this option, you must first configure your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.

The contacts in your voice directory group are the only ones that you can voice access by phone. Their number is limited (usually 500) but you may ask your account administrator to increase your quota. A smaller voice directory results in better name recognition. Limit your voice directory to the contacts with whom you most often communicate with by phone or email. Not all contacts meet this criteria.

If you have too many contacts in your Gmail or Google G Suite account, assign a group to the contacts you wish to import and synchronize with your voice directory. See the Google help file for details.

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
  • Specify how to handle duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Select Import contacts from my mail server (Exchange or Gmail).
  • Select Google G Suite then enter your username (email address) and password unless you have already configured your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.
  • Enter the name of the Google G Suite or Gmail contact folder (My Contacts by default). If you wish to import only contacts from a specific group already created in Google G Suite or Gmail, enter the name of the group to import.
  • Specify which contacts to import:
    • Import only new or modified contacts since last synchronization
    • Import all contacts
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import report will display the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import.
  • A data import report will display. Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Import Contacts from Microsoft Exchange

If your contacts are currently stored on a Microsoft Exchange mail server, you can import them directly to build your Personal Contacts folder and update it when needed. To choose this option, you must first configure your mail access connection under Settings > Mail Access. See Mail Access for instructions and details.

The contacts in your voice directory group are the only ones that you can voice access by phone. Their number is limited (usually 500) but you may ask your account administrator to increase your quota. A smaller voice directory results in better name recognition. Limit your voice directory to the contacts with whom you most often communicate with by phone or email. Not all contacts meet this criteria.

To import contacts from a Microsoft Exchange Server:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Import button to display the import page.
  • Specify how to handle duplicate contacts. You can either:
    • Keep existing contacts and ignore imported ones
    • Replace existing contacts with imported ones
  • Select Import contacts from my mail server (Exchange or Gmail).
  • Select Exchange then enter the Exchange server address (URL), your username and password.
  • Enter the name of the Exchange contact folder (usually Contacts).
  • Specify a contact folder and/or category already created in Exchange if you wish to import only contacts from a specific folder and/or category.
  • Specify which contacts to import:
    • Import only new or modified contacts since last synchronization
    • Import all contacts
  • Click the Import button to start importing your contacts.
  • A data import page will indicate the number of contacts to be added/modified, deleted, rejected, etc. Click OK to proceed with the import.
  • A data import report will display. Click Done to view the list of contacts imported into your Personal Contacts folder.

You can now fine-tune the phone numbers and phonetic pronunciation of your contacts. See Badly Formatted Phone Numbers and Phonetic Name for details.

Sync Contacts with your Mail Server

Open your Contact Sync Settings to view and select where your contacts are stored (locally or on your mail server) and how they get updated/synced if they are stored on your mail server.

  • From the main menu, click Contacts.
  • Click the Settings button to open your Contact Sync Settings.
  • Select where your contacts are stored:
    • Manage my contacts locally.
    • Manage my contacts on the mail server. If you select this option, your Personal Contacts will be connected and can be synced with your contacts on Google or Exchange mail servers either manually or automatically each time you access them on the Web Portal or by phone using your Virtual Assistant's voice commands. Check your preferred contact syncing options:
      • Assistant to refresh my contacts for each call
      • Web to sync my contacts for each acces
  • Select the Groups to sync with your Google account. Check the contact groups to sync on your Web Portal and your Google account. The Voice Directory group on your mail server is reserved for your Virtual Assistant. Do not delete it or rename it.
  • Click Save.
  • Synchronization: If your Personal Contacts are synced with your Google or Microsoft mail account, then you can select to sync your groups and contacts on both contact stores. The Voice Directory group as well as the Colleagues group if you are a company employee will automatically be created for you and synced on both contact stores. Any changes that you make to synced contacts or groups on one store (your Web Portal or mail server) will automatically be applied to the same contacts and groups on the other store.

Connect Contacts with Your CRM System

Your Personal Contacts can be linked with your contacts on the CRM system that you use. This enables you to easily access the CRM information of your contacts.

CRM Connection Settings

You can connect your CRM account to your Web Portal as follows:

  • From the main menu, click Settings > Other Apps.
  • Select the CRM system used to manage your customer accounts and which you want to connect to your Web Portal.
  • For Insightly CRM accounts, enter the following information:
    • CRM User Email: This is your user email address used for your the Insightly CRM account.
    • CRM API Key: This is the unique API Key assigned to your Insightly CRM account.
  • For Salesforce CRM accounts, enter the following information associated with the account:
    • Consumer Key
    • Consumer Secret
    • Security Token
  • Click Link to establish a link between contacts on both systems.
  • The CRM contact linking wizard will guide you through the steps to select the contacts to sync on each system: your CRM account and your Web Portal.

CRM Contact Import/Export

Once you have connected your CRM account to your Web Portal, you can link your contacts on both platforms as follows:

  • From the main menu, click Contacts. 
  • Click the CRM button (Insightly or Salesforce) to open the Contact Link page.
  • Select the operation to perform:
    • Import contacts from your CRM account
    • Export contacts to your CRM account
  • Click Next to launch the contact import or export operation. The Web Portal will check the lists of your contacts on both systems to offer the ones that can be exported or imported. Select the contacts then click Import or Export.

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.