Import and clean up contacts

Import contacts from a CSV file

Cliedesk Admins and Owners can import contacts. It needs the Import data permission.

1. Go to Contacts and select Import….
2. Under CSV file, choose your file. Commas, semicolons and tabs all work. Files exported from Cliedesk work too.
3. Cliedesk shows each column of the file with an Example and guesses what it is. Check Import as for each column: Name, Email, Phone, Language, Time zone, Country, City, Tags (separated by ;), a contact field, or Do not import.
4. Under Contacts that already exist, choose Only fill in empty details or Replace details with the file’s values.
5. Select Check file. Cliedesk shows how many contacts it will create and update, and the rows with errors, by line. Nothing is imported yet.
6. Select Import.

A row matches an existing contact by email or phone, also a contact from an earlier row of the same file. A matching row updates that contact. Other rows create new contacts.

The import runs in the background. When it ends, you see how many contacts were created and updated. If some rows failed, select Download the rows with errors to get each line with the reason. Only you can download this file. Cliedesk deletes the uploaded file when the import ends.

Import organizations

1. Go to Organizations and select Import….
2. Map the columns to the name, Domains (separated by ;), tags and organization fields.
3. Check the file, then select Import.

A row matches an organization by domain, else by the exact name. New domains are added to the organization.

Import with WP-CLI

Large files can also be imported from the command line, with the same result:

wp cliedesk import contacts customers.csv --dry-run
wp cliedesk import organizations companies.csv

--map sets the column mapping, --mode chooses fill or overwrite, and --dry-run only checks the file.

Bulk import through the Public API comes with Cliedesk Pro.

Clean up data

Agents and above can find and fix data problems in one place.

1. Go to Contacts and select Clean up data….
2. Cliedesk lists what needs care, in groups:
   • Phone numbers not in international format, with the fix Change to the international number.
   • Emails that bounced, with the fix Remove this email from the contact.
   • Organizations without members, with the fix Delete the organization.
   • Visitors not seen for 90 days who never started a conversation, with the fix Delete the visitor.
3. Tick the fixes you want. Some problems say Fix by hand: open the contact and fix it yourself.
4. Select Apply … selected. Only the ticked fixes are applied.

When nothing is left, the dialog says Nothing needs care. Fixes proposed by AI, and fixes that apply on their own, are available with Cliedesk Pro.