If you’ve ever tried wrangling a giant spreadsheet of contacts—maybe from old CRMs, marketing lists, or five years of exported emails—you know it gets messy, fast. Names are misspelled, emails are out of date, duplicates are everywhere, and you’re one import away from chaos. This guide is for anyone who needs to import a big pile of contacts into Keycontacts without ending up with a useless mess.
Let’s break it down step by step, cut through the fluff, and get your contacts organized the right way.
Step 1: Get Your Contact List Ready
Reality check: The cleaner your data is before import, the less pain you’ll have later. Keycontacts can handle a lot, but it’s not magic. Garbage in, garbage out.
What you should do:
- Stick to CSV: Export your contacts to CSV if they aren’t already. Keycontacts plays nicest with CSV files.
- One row = One contact: Make sure each contact is on its own row. Don’t mash multiple people into one cell.
- Columns matter: At minimum, you’ll want separate columns for First Name, Last Name, and Email. If you’ve got more data (Company, Phone, Notes, etc.), add those as columns.
- Consistent headers: Use clear, consistent header names. “Email Address” in one column and “E-mail” in another? That’s just asking for trouble.
- No weird formatting: Get rid of formulas, merged cells, or dropdowns. Keycontacts wants basic data.
Pro tip: If your list is huge (think 10,000+), consider splitting it into chunks under 5,000 rows each. This makes uploads faster and errors easier to spot.
Step 2: Clean Up Duplicates Before Import (If You Can)
Keycontacts has deduplication built in, but it’s not foolproof—especially if your data is really messy. A quick cleanup before import goes a long way.
What’s worth doing:
- Sort by email: Most duplicates have the same email. Sort your spreadsheet by email and scan for repeats.
- Look for empty emails: Rows without emails are trouble. Decide if you want to keep these.
- Remove obvious junk: Blanks, rows with just a first name, test data (“Mickey Mouse”), or contacts you know you don’t need.
What to skip:
Don’t waste hours manually checking for every single duplicate. The point is to catch the big, obvious stuff so Keycontacts isn’t overwhelmed.
Step 3: Start the Import in Keycontacts
Now for the actual import. Here’s how to do it without drama:
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Log in and find “Import”
Usually, there’s an “Import” button or menu item in your Keycontacts dashboard. If it’s buried, check under “Contacts” or “Settings”. -
Upload your CSV
Select your CSV file. If you’re importing multiple chunks, do one at a time. -
Map your columns
Keycontacts will ask you to match your CSV columns to its contact fields. Double check these—don’t let “Company” end up as “Notes” by accident. -
If Keycontacts doesn’t recognize a column, you can skip it or map it to a custom field.
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Watch for swapped columns (especially First Name / Last Name).
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Set deduplication rules (if prompted)
Most versions of Keycontacts let you pick how duplicates are found. Usually, this is based on email address. Sometimes you can pick phone number or a combination. -
Stick with email as your primary key unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.
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If you have contacts with shared emails (like “info@company.com”), be aware this may cause unwanted merges.
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Choose how to handle duplicates
You’ll usually get a choice: - Skip duplicates: Existing contacts are kept; new ones with the same email are ignored.
- Update existing: New info from your file will update existing contacts.
- Create all: Adds every row, even if it’s a duplicate (not recommended for big lists).
If you’re not sure, “Skip duplicates” is the safest bet for a first import.
- Run the import
Hit “Go” (or whatever they call it). Large lists may take a while. Don’t refresh the page.
Heads up:
Some Keycontacts installations limit how many contacts you can import at once. If you get an error, just break your file into smaller pieces.
Step 4: Review and Fix Deduplication Issues
Once the import is done, don’t assume everything is perfect. Take a few minutes to spot-check your contacts.
What to look for:
- Unmerged duplicates: Search for a few people you know had duplicate entries. Did Keycontacts catch them?
- Over-merged contacts: Sometimes, contacts with the same email but different names get smushed together. This can happen with shared emails.
- Missing data: Make sure important info (like phone numbers) made it into the right fields.
How to fix:
- Manual merge: Most Keycontacts versions let you manually merge contacts. It’s tedious, but worth it for important people.
- Bulk actions: For large batches, use Keycontacts’ bulk edit or merge tools—if available.
- Export and re-import: In rare cases where things are really messed up, export your contacts, fix the file, and re-import with better rules.
Pro tip:
Don’t obsess over making everything perfect on the first try. The goal is “good enough to use” — you can always tidy up more later.
Step 5: Ongoing Deduplication (and What to Ignore)
Importing your list is just the start. If you regularly add contacts from different sources (like new signups, trade shows, or other CRMs), duplicates will creep back in.
Set up a routine:
- Schedule regular imports: Batch new contacts and import them weekly or monthly, not every day.
- Use deduplication each time: Always double-check deduplication rules during import.
- Spot check: Every so often, search for “test” or common emails to see if junk is slipping in.
What to ignore:
Don’t get bogged down chasing every last duplicate. Some overlap is inevitable, especially if people use multiple emails. Focus on preventing big problems, not achieving perfection.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
- Keycontacts’ deduplication is decent—especially if your data is clean and emails are unique. It struggles with nicknames, typos, or contacts with shared emails.
- Don’t expect miracles: If your original data is a disaster, no tool will fix it entirely. Spend an hour cleaning before you import, and you’ll save yourself days.
- Import errors happen: Sometimes files just won’t upload, or columns get mapped wrong. Keep backups of your original files so you can try again without panic.
- Ignore fancy features: Unless you’re managing a massive sales team, you don’t need to mess with advanced import settings or custom scripts.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Importing and cleaning up a huge contact list in Keycontacts isn’t glamorous, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Prep your CSV, do a basic cleanup, let Keycontacts handle the heavy lifting, and fix what you see after the fact. It’s never perfect, but it’s almost always good enough.
Start with a small batch if you’re nervous, and remember: you can always improve things as you go. Don’t let the quest for a “perfect” contact list slow you down. Just get started, and keep it simple.