Prepare your contact file: import best practices
A clean file imports in one go. A messy one leaves you fixing rows by hand. This page shows how to set up a spreadsheet so Voxido reads every row the way you mean it. When the file is ready, follow Import contacts from CSV or Excel.
Quick checklist
- One row per person, and one header row at the top.
- A Name column and a Phone column.
- Phone numbers start with
+and the country code. - Dates all written the same way, best as
2026-10-24. - Picklist values spelled exactly like your options.
- A Stage column, if you want contacts to start in different stages.
- 1,000 rows or fewer. Saved as
.csvor.xlsx. - Your stages and custom fields already exist in Voxido.
- You tried it with five rows first.
Start from the sample file
On the import's first step, click Download a sample file with these columns. It has a column for name, phone, email, notes and stage, one for each of your custom fields, and two example rows. Each header shows the expected kind of value in brackets, such as Appointment date [date]. You can keep the brackets: Voxido ignores them.
Columns by business
Use these as a starting point. Everything after the first two columns needs a matching custom field.
| Business | Columns |
|---|---|
| Brightway (a service business) | Name, Phone, Email, Service, Appointment date, Stage |
| Clinic | Patient name, Mobile, Doctor, Next visit, Stage |
| School admissions | Parent's name, WhatsApp number, Student name, Grade, Stage |
| Real estate | Name, Phone, Budget, Preferred location, Stage |
| Loan recovery | Borrower name, Mobile, Amount due, Due date, Stage |
| Retail or online shop | Customer name, Phone, Last order date, Last order value, Tags |
Column names Voxido knows
You don't have to rename your headers. Voxido reads these as the built-in fields, in any capitals:
| Field | Headers it recognises |
|---|---|
| Name | name, full name, contact name, guest name, customer name |
| Phone | phone, phone number, mobile, mobile number, mobile no, phone no, contact number, contact no, whatsapp, whatsapp number |
| email, email address | |
| Notes | notes, note, remarks, comments |
| Tags | tags, tag, labels |
| Stage | stage, contact stage, state, lead stage |
Custom fields match by their name or key. Similar names come up as Close match: check it, so you can confirm them. If you have a custom field called "State" (for example, the customer's state), the "State" column goes there instead of to Stage.
Phone numbers
| In your file | What Voxido does |
|---|---|
+44 20 7946 0958 | Reads it as a UK number. Spaces, dashes and brackets are fine. |
98765 43210 | No +, so it's read as an Indian number. |
98111 20451 / 98111 37802 | Two numbers in one cell: uses the first real one. , ; & and "or" work too. |
919876543210.0 | Excel turned it into a decimal. Voxido fixes it. |
98765-ABC | Not a number. The row can't be imported. |
Best practice: format the phone column as Text in Excel, and always include + and the country code for numbers outside India.
Dates
- Best:
2026-10-24(year-month-day). It can only be read one way. - Also fine:
24/10/2026or10/24/2026. Voxido guesses the order from your dates, and you confirm it on the Columns step. - Keep one style per file. Mixing
24/10and10/24styles can't be read reliably. - Two-digit years become this century:
24/10/26is 2026. - If Excel swapped day and month in some cells, Voxido notices and puts them back.
A Date/time field also takes a time, such as 2026-10-24 3:30 pm.
Numbers, money and yes/no
Number fields understand how people type in sheets:
| You write | Saved as |
|---|---|
2 Nights | 2 |
2+1 (adults plus children) | 3 |
₹ 4,500 or 4500/- | 4500 |
Currency fields are saved as you write them. Use plain numbers, such as 4500, with no symbol or commas, so "greater than" filters work.
Checkbox fields take yes, no, true, false, 1 or 0. Anything else is left out.
Picklists, stages and tags
- Picklists: write each value exactly like the option in Voxido, such as
Deep clean. A different spelling is saved as typed, and won't match your filters. - Multi Picklist: separate choices with commas, such as
Pets,Parking. - Stage: use your stage names. Capitals don't matter. An unknown name asks you to pick a stage on the Check step. A blank cell means your default stage.
- Tags: separate with commas, such as
vip, newsletter.
Empty cells
Leave a cell empty when you don't know the value. Voxido also treats n/a, na, -, none and null as empty. An empty cell never wipes out data you already have, even when you choose Update.
Good habits
- Test with five rows. Import them, open one contact, and check every field. Then import the rest.
- One file, one workspace. The import goes into the workspace you're in. Switch first.
- Keep the matches. Leave Save these column matches for next time ticked for a file you import every week. Next time, the columns, the date order and the stage picks come back.
- Check campaigns before you import. If a campaign is running, new contacts that match it will be called or messaged. The Check step names the campaign.
- Pick the right duplicate choice. Skip keeps what you have. Update trusts the file. See Duplicates.
Common problems
My file has a title row and a blank line above the headers. That's fine. Voxido finds the header row among the first rows of the sheet.
My Excel file has several sheets. Voxido reads the first sheet that has data. Move your list to the first sheet.
Accented or Indian-language names look garbled. Save the CSV as "CSV UTF-8" and try again.