[Extension] How to Bulk Import Contacts into Blip Using the Contact Manager Extension

1. Introduction

2. Prepare the CSV File

3. Import Contacts

4. Review Imported Contacts

5. Duplicate Contacts

6. Best Practices

7. Support

Brief description: Register large contact databases in Blip from a CSV file. The Contact Manager extension reads the spreadsheet, maps the columns, and creates or updates the bot’s contacts all at once.

Introduction

Registering contacts one by one takes time when the database is large. With bulk import in the Contact Manager, you upload a CSV file and create or update multiple contacts at once, centralizing the database in Blip. For example, when migrating 5,000 clients from another tool, you export the spreadsheet, review the preview, and import all contacts into the bot in a single operation.

The extension automatically recognizes columns such as name, phone, and email and uses this data to create or update each contact in the bot where it is installed. Contacts with the same phone number or email are merged into the same record, so re-importing a database updates existing contacts instead of duplicating them. To add one or a few contacts, use Create contact instead of importing.

Before you start

The import happens in the bot where the Contact Manager is open, and contacts are added via a channel. Check these prerequisites before starting:

• The Contact Manager extension must be installed on the bot whose contacts you want to manage. Activate the Contact Manager on Blip Store if you haven’t done so yet.

• The bot must have WhatsApp connected or the email channel active. Without either, the extension will notify that no compatible channel was found and the import will not be available.

• Your user account must have permission to create and edit the bot’s contacts.

• Contacts must be in a file formatted as CSV.

• The phone column (for WhatsApp) or the email column (for email) must be filled. This data identifies each contact, and the extension ignores records that do not have it.

Do a first test import with a few contacts before uploading the entire database.

Prepare the CSV File

Save the file as CSV, with the first line containing the column names. The extension accepts comma, semicolon, tab, or vertical bar as separators and automatically detects which one you used.

The extension recognizes some columns by header name, accepting variations in Portuguese, English, and Spanish: name (nome, name, nombre), last name (sobrenome, last name, apellido), phone (telefone, phone, celular, whatsapp, teléfono) and email (email, e-mail). City, document, and any additional fields are not recognized automatically: you associate them manually in the customization step. The extension combines name and last name into a single contact name.

Example file:

nome,sobrenome,telefone,email,cidade,documento
João,Silva,5514999999999,joao@email.com,Botucatu,12345678900
Maria,Santos,5514988888888,maria@email.com,Bauru,98765432100

Phone

Provide the number with area code and preferably the country code (international format, like 5514999999999). If you do not provide the country code, the extension interprets the number as Brazilian. The extension removes spaces, parentheses, dashes, dots, and the plus sign before validating and ignores invalid numbers. When a cell contains more than one phone number separated by a comma, semicolon, or slash, the extension considers only the first.

Email

Make sure the addresses are complete and have no spaces before or after the value. In an email import, the address identifies the contact.

Document and encoding

The Document field accepts CPF, CNPJ, or another identifier used in your operation. Format the column as text in the spreadsheet so the program does not alter the value, for example, by removing a leading zero. Save the file in UTF-8 to preserve accents, cedillas, and special characters in names and cities.

Import Contacts

The import has two steps: Upload and Customization.

1. Access Blip, open the bot whose contacts you want to import, and open the Contact Manager extension. The extension lists the contacts already registered and the available actions.

2. On the Contact Manager screen, click Import contacts. The extension opens the import window at the Upload step.

3. In Choose the channel from which your contacts will come, select WhatsApp or Email. Contacts are added as contacts of the chosen channel, identified by phone (WhatsApp) or by email (Email). If the bot has only one compatible channel, it is pre-selected. Drag the CSV file into the upload area or click it to choose the file from your computer, then click Upload. The extension reads the file and shows a Preview with Name, Phone, and Email of the first contacts (up to 100). Review the data and click Next.

4. At the Customization step, under Input file columns, select the columns you want to associate manually. For each one, use the Property field to choose the Blip field (Phone, Name, Email, City, or Document), or activate Extra and give a name to save the value as a custom contact field. Name, phone, and email columns already recognized are imported even without mapping. Use this step to import city, document, and custom fields or to correct a column associated with the wrong field.

5. Click Import. The extension processes contacts in batches and shows the progress ("Importing X of Y contacts..."). When finished, you see the total number of contacts imported. If any record cannot be imported, for example, without a valid phone number in a WhatsApp import or without an email in an email import, the extension reports the total failures.

Do not close the page while the import is in progress. Large databases may take a few minutes.

Review Imported Contacts

Use the Search contacts field to find some records from the spreadsheet by name, phone, email, or document. Open a contact and check if the data is in the correct fields. Perform this check before using the database in active messages, campaigns, automations, or integrations.

Duplicate Contacts

Each contact is identified by phone (on WhatsApp) or by email (on email). When you import a contact with the same identifier as one that already exists, the extension updates the existing contact instead of creating a duplicate. Even so, standardize phone, email, and document in the spreadsheet so records match as expected and to keep searches, segmentations, and campaigns consistent.

Best Practices

• Do a test with a small sample before importing the entire database.

• Keep a copy of the original file.

• Save the CSV in UTF-8 and remove empty lines and extra spaces.

• Standardize phones and documents.

• Keep only necessary and authorized information, following your operation’s privacy and data handling policies.

• Importing contacts does not trigger messages. Sending active messages depends on the channel’s rules and contact authorizations.

Support

If you have any questions or issues with the extension, contact us at support@wiv.com.br.

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