How to Check an Import's Results and Fix a Failed Import

After you press the Import button, the panel changes to Importing your contacts. A progress bar shows how many contacts have been processed out of the total, and a running count shows how many have been added so far.

The import runs in the background, so you can leave the page and it carries on. Contacts appear in the contact book as they are written.

Only one import can run on an account at a time. If you try to start another while one is running, you will see: An import is already running for this account. Wait for it to finish.

When the import completes, the heading shows how many contacts were imported and names the contact book they are in. Below it are three numbers:

• Imported: contacts added to the book, plus any existing contacts you chose to update.
• Skipped: contacts that were not written. These are duplicates, meaning contacts already in your account, matched on phone number or email address, or numbers repeated within the same file or source. Anyone you unticked in the preview is counted here too.
• Could not import: rows with no usable WhatsApp number, or with another problem the preview flagged.

When anything was skipped, the screen adds that skipped contacts were already in your account, so nothing was duplicated. From here, View contacts takes you to the list and Import more starts a new run.

Together, the three numbers account for every row the preview found, so you can check the result against what you saw before importing.

If the import fails once it has started, the result screen shows That import did not finish, with the reason underneath. Some problems are caught earlier, when you press the Import button, and appear as a message above the preview instead. Either way, the message says what went wrong. The most common ones are below.

Symptom: a message starting Contact import limit reached, telling you how many more contacts your plan allows and how many new ones you selected.

Cause: your plan holds a set number of contacts, and this import would go over it. The check happens before anything is written, so no contacts were imported. SmartEngage does not import only the first part of a list.

Fix: untick contacts in the preview until the number fits, remove contacts you no longer need, or upgrade your plan. Updating contacts you already hold does not count towards the limit.

Plan limits are listed on the pricing page.

Symptom: a message saying the import has expired and asking you to start again.

Cause: the preview is held for an hour. If you leave it open longer before pressing Import, it is discarded.

Fix: go back, upload the file or fetch from the source again, and import straight after checking the preview.

Symptom: when fetching from a connected source, a message asking you to reconnect your Google, Shopify or WooCommerce account, or a Reconnect badge on the source's card.

Cause: the stored authorisation expired or was withdrawn on the provider's side, or the stored details could no longer be read.

Fix: select the source, connect again, then fetch. Reconnecting replaces the old authorisation, and contacts you already imported are unaffected.

A related message says the source returned no contacts to import. That means the account or store was reached but holds no contacts, so check you connected the right one.

The best time to fix a mapping is in the preview, before anything is written. The Column Mapping box sits above the preview. It either confirms that the columns were matched automatically or, if SmartEngage could not tell which column holds the number, asks you to pick it. Without a number column nothing can be imported.

• Press "Change Columns".
• For each field, such as WhatsApp Number, Name or Email, choose the right column from the list. A sample of each column's values is shown underneath, so you can see which one really holds the numbers.
• Press "Apply Mapping". SmartEngage re-reads the rows with the new columns and refreshes the counts.
• Check the counts again before pressing Import.

Changing the mapping resets your selection, so re-tick anyone you had excluded. For an Excel workbook, also check the right sheet is chosen, because each sheet has its own columns.

An import cannot be undone in one step, but most mistakes can be put right. For a handful of contacts, edit them; for a whole list, import again:

• To fix one contact's name, email, book or consent, press the pencil Edit button on its row on the Contacts page, correct the detail and press "Save Changes". Clearing the name or email and saving removes it.
• If a detail such as the name or company went into the wrong field across many contacts, import the same list again with the correct mapping and tick the option to update the contacts you already have. Their details are refreshed from the source. Blank values in the source never overwrite what you have, so use Edit to clear a name or email that should be empty.
• If the wrong column was used as the WhatsApp number, those contacts hold the wrong numbers, and a number cannot be edited. Delete them, then import again with the right column.

For the edit form and what it can change, see How to Add and Edit a Contact.

This is why it is worth searching a few names in the preview before importing a large list.

Before you import, the Cannot import tab of the preview lists each held-back row with its reason:

• No WhatsApp number: the row has no number. Add one in the source, or leave the row out.
• Number not usable: the number could not be read as a valid phone number. Check it, and check the country chosen for numbers without a country code.
• Number damaged by Excel: the number was saved as a value like 9.19877E+11, which has already lost its digits. Re-export the file, or format the phone column as Text in Excel before saving.
• Opt-in value not understood: the Opt-in column holds something other than yes or no, true or false, 1 or 0, or subscribed or unsubscribed. Usually the wrong column was mapped.

Rows repeated within the same file are listed under Duplicates rather than Cannot import. The first copy is imported and the repeats are skipped.

For more on skipped rows, read Duplicates, Invalid Numbers and Opt-outs Explained.

Still stuck? See Fixing Contact Import Problems.

If a failure keeps coming back, contact our teamwith the message you saw.