When importing contacts from a spreadsheet, you have the ability to skip any duplicate contacts. This allows you to keep your contacts as up-to-date as possible and prevent any undesired routing. In order to use this feature, your spreadsheet must have at least 1 matching unique field to what is listed within your VanillaSoft database (i.e. phone number, email address, address, etc.). Also, if more than one contact in your spreadsheet has the same information in that field, then only the first contact will be imported.

Note: The unique field must be information that only the 1 contact has. If you use something like 'Last Name', there is a chance that 2 contacts have the same last name. If that is the case, you may lose information from one of those contacts, or need to run through the import process again. Phone Number or Email Address are often unique per contact but this may differ from company to company. 

Skip Duplicate Contacts Upon Import

1. Log in to VanillaSoft as an Admin.
2. Select the desired project.
3. Open the Contacts & Reports tab from the top and select Import Contacts.
4. Click the Choose File button and browse to your import spreadsheet.
5. If desired, open the Import Mapping drop-down and select any saved mapping (optional).
6. Open the Import Method drop-down and select Add Contacts / Skip Duplicates.
7. Click Next to open the De-Dupe Key.
8. Open the Import File Field drop-down and select a unique field from your spreadsheet.
9. Open the VanillaSoft Field drop-down and select the corresponding unique field from VanillaSoft.
10. Click Next to open the Field Mapping.
11. Map the fields as you would a normal import.
12. Once done, click Start Import.

Your import will now begin. Any contacts that have matching information will not be added or updated. 

Related articles

•  How to Import Contacts
• Update Contacts Upon Import 
• How to Delete an Import 
• How to Save an Import Mapping