Use Lockers
Import contacts from a CSV
Save people you already have permission to keep, without creating accounts, adding members, or sending email.
The short version
- Owners and admins import up to 500 contacts per CSV under Admin, then People, then Contacts.
- Each import records where the contacts came from and confirms you have permission to store them. Purchased, rented, or scraped lists are not allowed.
- Imported contacts are not members. Lockers creates no accounts, sends no email, and marks every contact Not subscribed to email.
What an import does and does not do
Contact import is for keeping a record of people you already know, such as members who agreed to follow you from a previous community. The Contacts tab says it plainly: Importing does not create accounts, add members, or send email.
Permission to store someone's details is separate from permission to email them. Every imported contact stays Not subscribed to email, and Lockers has no campaign tool that sends to this list. When you want someone inside the Locker, invite them from People, then Invitations.
Prepare the file
- Save a CSV smaller than 500 KB with no more than 500 contacts. Split a longer list into several files.
- Include a column named email. Add name, or first_name and last_name, if you have them.
- Select Download CSV template on the Contacts tab for a file with the right headings.
- Give every column a unique name, and give every row the same number of columns.
Import the contacts
- 1
Open Contacts
Select Admin, then People, then Contacts.
- 2
Choose the file
Under CSV file, choose your CSV. Lockers shows how many unique contacts are ready, how many duplicate rows it skipped, and a preview of the first five.
- 3
Say where they came from
Answer Where did these contacts come from, and how did they give permission? For example: members who agreed to move from our previous community.
- 4
Confirm permission
Check the box that reads: I have permission to store these contacts in this Locker, and they know their details are being imported. This is not a purchased, rented, or scraped list.
- 5
Import
Select Import contacts.
Review or delete contacts
Imported contacts lists each person with Not subscribed to email, the import date, and the Permission source you entered. Select Delete on a contact and confirm to remove it. Load more contacts shows older entries.
Contacts stay on this tab until you delete them. They are not added to the community export.
If the import stops
- Choose a CSV file smaller than 500 KB.
- Import up to 500 contacts at a time.
- The CSV needs an email column. You can also include name, or first_name and last_name.
- A message naming a CSV row: fix that row, save the file, and choose it again.
- The Import contacts button stays unavailable until you describe the source in at least three characters and check the permission box.
- Lockers allows ten imports per Locker in an hour. Wait before starting the next one.
- If Lockers asks you to confirm your identity, confirm with your authenticator and try again.
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