The CONTACT_ID attribute is automatically created by Brevo when you import your contacts. It is a fixed number that cannot be changed. You can only retrieve the contact ID of your contacts by exporting them from Brevo.

To import the first name and last name of your contacts, use the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME contact attributes.

To import the email address of your contacts, use the EMAIL contact attribute.
Each contact can only have one email address, and it must be unique to that contact.

Do not include any special characters.

Ensure that the email addresses in your file are valid and that they aren't missing any part.
In our wrong example below, the email address is missing the domain suffix and contains a special character:

To import the phone number of a contact, use the following default contact attributes as your column headers:

• SMS for the phone number used for SMS messages and calls through the Phone app.
• WHATSAPP for the phone number used for WhatsApp messages and calls through the Phone app.
• LANDLINE_NUMBER for the phone number used for calls through the Phone app.

Do not separate the digits with special characters.

Ensure that the phone numbers in your file include the + sign and the country code and that the digits are not separated by any special character.
In our wrong example below, the phone number is missing the + sign and the country code, and the digits are separated by special characters:

To import the external ID of a contact created outside of Brevo, use the EXT_ID contact attribute.

Text-type attributes store a string of alphanumeric characters, such as a word, a phrase, or a sentence. You can use a text type attribute to import additional data about your contacts. When imported, text type attributes have no limit of characters.

Number-type attributes store a string of numerals or numbers written in decimal format. You can use a number type attribute to import numbers or currency values to your contacts.

Date-type attributes are used to store a date value. Keep the format of the value under this attribute similar to the format selected under your account settings (DD-MM-YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY).

Category-type attributes store a set of possible values. For instance, you can create a contact attribute named LEVEL and define the possible values as BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, and EXPERT. The attribute of each contact will then only contain one value among those three.

Multi-choice-type attributes store a set of possible values. For instance, you can create a contact attribute named SPORTS and define the possible values as BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, and YOGA. The attribute of each contact will then contain one or more values among those three.

Multiple-choice-type contact attributes should follow the format: ['Option1'|'Option2'|'Option3'].

Ensure that the multiple-choice-type contact attributes in your file follow the format: ['Option1'|'Option2'|'Option3'].
In our wrong example below, the options are separated by a comma instead of a vertical bar, and each option is missing the single quotation marks.

Boolean-type attributes can only store Yes or No as a value. 

1. Open your file in Microsoft Excel.
2. Click File > Save As.
3. Name your file.
4. Select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv) as the file format.
   
5. Click Save.

1. Open your file in Google Spreadsheet.
2. Click File > Download.
3. Select Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet) as the file format.
   

1. Open your file in Notepad.
2. Click File > Save as.
3. Name your file and add the .csv extension at the end.
4. From the Save as type dropdown, select All files.
5. From the Encoding dropdown, choose UTF-8.
   
6. Click Save.

1. Open your file in LibreOffice.
2. Click File > Save as.
3. Name your file.
4. From the Save as type dropdown, select Text CSV (.csv).
5. Enable the Edit filter settings option.
   
6. Click Save.
7. In the Export Text File dialog box, select the Unicode (UTF-8) option from the Character set dropdown.
8. Set the Field delimiter and String delimiter.
9. Click OK.

1. Open your file in Numbers.
2. Click File.
3. Select Export to... > CSV....
   
4. Click Advanced options.
5. Click the Text Encoding dropdown.
6. Select Unicode (UTF-8).
   
7. Click Next.
8. Name your file and choose a location.
9. Click Save.
   

You can associate your contacts with deals and companies by adding specific fields to your file and importing it into Brevo. To learn more, check our dedicated article Associate your companies, deals, and contacts.

If the "+" sign disappears when you add it to a phone number in your file, add an apostrophe before it. This will help your spreadsheet program recognize the number as a phone number.

Yes, you can import a file that contains empty fields. The results will depend on what type of contacts you are importing and on the options you enable while finalizing your import:

• If you are importing new contacts, the empty fields from your file will also be empty in Brevo.
• If you are importing existing contacts and removed some of their data from the file, there are two cases:
  • If you enabled the Import empty fields to erase existing attribute data option when finalizing the import, the empty fields will erase the existing data in Brevo.
  • If you disabled the Import empty fields to erase existing attribute data option when finalizing the import, the empty fields will not affect the existing data.

If your contact data contains the UTF-8 replacement character "�", it will be skipped and the corresponding contact attribute won't be imported into Brevo. This character can appear when exporting data from certain tools as it is used to replace unknown, unrecognized, or unrepresentable characters.

The system does not support Excel (.xls), ACT!, .vcf (Apple vCard), or other file types, so you need to convert your file to one of the supported formats (.CSV, .XLSX, or .TXT).

You can use free online tools to convert your file. Before uploading to Brevo, make sure the converted file follows the recommendations for setting up an import file explained in this article.