Import your contacts

There are two ways to bring contacts into Broadcaster. Which one to use depends on where your contacts are kept now.

• Your contacts are in job software or a CRM: use the Auto-Uploader. It reads the export your software already makes, as it is, and keeps Broadcaster up to date every time you export.
• You want to change a lot of contacts at once: export them from Broadcaster, change them in a spreadsheet, and import the file back.

Your contacts are in job software or a CRM: the Auto-Uploader

The Auto-Uploader is a small app for your Windows PC or Mac. You point it at the folder your software exports to, and it sends each new export to Broadcaster for you: new contacts, changed details and upcoming appointments.

• No renaming columns. It reads your software’s own file, so you export as you always do.
• Ready-made setups for Real Green and Jobber, added with one click. For other software, contact support: a setup for it can be built.
• A practice run first. It tells you exactly what an upload would do, and sends nothing until you press Go live.
• Runs by itself after that. Export from your software weekly or daily, and Broadcaster stays up to date.

Setup takes about ten minutes. See Download, install and set up the Auto-Uploader.

Changing many contacts at once: export, edit, import

The spreadsheet import is deliberately simple. Its columns are fixed, so it is built for a file that came out of Broadcaster in the first place.

1. Open Contacts and press Export. Save the file.
2. Open it in a spreadsheet and make your changes: add tags, correct numbers, change a Status from Prospect to Contact. Keep the Broadcaster Contact ID column as it is: it is how each row finds its contact.
3. Save it as CSV. In Excel, choose CSV UTF-8.
4. Open Contacts, press Import, then under CSV Import press Import a CSV.
5. Choose the file, press Import, and stay on the page while it says Importing….

The result says how many contacts were created and updated, for example “Contacts: 0 created, 120 updated.” Rows with a problem are listed by row number underneath. View activity, on the CSV Import card, keeps a record of every import, including notes not shown on the page.

Only the Owner and Admins can import and export.

What happens to each row

• A blank cell changes nothing. An empty cell never wipes a detail.
• A filled Tags cell replaces that contact’s tags. Tags are separated by commas; new ones are created.
• A phone number already on another contact is not saved; View activity says so.
• Agreement to messages is yes or no. A “yes” does not switch messages back on for someone who turned them off, unless the row gives a reason of at least 12 characters under Consent Override Reason.

Adding a small list by hand

To add a few people who are not in any other software, start from the sample: on the import page, press Download a sample spreadsheet. Every row needs a First Name (or a Last Name), a Phone, a Status of Contact or Prospect, and a Contact External ID, your own reference for that person. If you have none, number the rows 1, 2, 3. Headings must be exactly as in the sample. For anything more than a short list, or anything you will do again, use the Auto-Uploader.

If a row is refused

If the whole file is refused with “Missing required headers”, a heading has been renamed or removed. Export again and start from that file.

Going over your contact tier

An import never stops halfway, whichever way it comes in. If it takes you over your contact tier, Broadcaster tells you afterwards how many contacts it added over the limit. See What happens if I go over my contact tier? in the Broadcaster FAQ.