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Import your existing contacts

This guide shows how to bring an existing list into SnapContact from Google, Excel/CSV, or vCard, and clean it up afterward so you don't carry over duplicates or bad data. Import lives in the Tools hub.

Before you start​

  • Decide your source: Google Contacts, an Excel/CSV export, or a .vcf vCard.
  • For Google, be ready to authorize SnapContact via OAuth (it reads your Google contacts through the People API, not your device address book).

Steps​

  1. Open Tools → Import.
  2. Choose a source:
    • Google Contacts — authorize with Google; SnapContact reads your Google address book via OAuth.
    • Excel / CSV — select the file; map columns (name, phone, email, company…) to contact fields.
    • vCard — select the .vcf file.
  3. Review duplicate matches. Import runs duplicate detection and surfaces likely-same contacts so you can merge instead of creating copies.
  4. Confirm the import. Your contacts are added to your account and sync across devices.

Clean up after a big import​

A large import is the right moment to tidy:

  1. Run the validators (Tools → Validate) to flag malformed emails or phone numbers.
  2. Run duplicate detection to merge any copies the source contained, consolidating notes and tags.
  3. Add tags or a list to the newly imported cohort so you can act on them as a segment.

Honest expectations​

Import quality mirrors the source. A clean Google export imports cleanly; a hand-built CSV with inconsistent columns needs the validators and a careful field mapping. SnapContact's duplicate detection reduces copies, but it can't fix data that was wrong before it arrived — that's what the cleanup pass is for.

Frequently asked questions​

Does Google import read my phone contacts? No — it uses Google's People API via OAuth you grant. SnapContact v1.1 requests no device-contacts permission.

Will I get duplicates? Import surfaces likely duplicates to merge, and you can run duplicate detection afterward.

What file types can I import? Excel/CSV and vCard files, plus Google Contacts via OAuth and chat exports.

Can I undo an import? Clean up with validators and duplicate-merge; you can also export your data at any time as a safety copy.