Contacts

Import & manage contacts

8 min readUpdated October 2026All plans
Contacts are the people you message on WhatsApp. You can add them one at a time, import them from a CSV file, or keep them in sync with a Google Sheet. Groups, tags and categories help you organise them and pick who receives a campaign.
app.tanvik.io/contacts
The Contacts page with groups, tags and your contact list
The Contacts page

Open Customers › Contacts in the sidebar. The page works like an address book with three columns:

ColumnWhat it holds
Lists (left)All contacts, Can be messaged and Opted out, then your Groups, Tags and Categories with a count on each. Click one to see only those people. The + next to a heading creates a new group, tag or category. Contact fields at the bottom manages your own fields.
People (middle)Everyone in the list you picked. Use the search box (name, phone or email) and the switch Everyone / Can message / Opted out. A red Opted out mark shows next to anyone who stopped messages.
Details (right)The person you clicked: phone, email, opt-in status, their groups, tags, categories, fields, notes and the date added. On a phone this opens as its own screen.

The buttons at the top of the details are Message (opens the chat in Inbox), Template (send an approved template), Edit and Lead (opens this person's lead, if they have one).

Adding a contact
01
Click Add contact
On the Contacts page, click Add contact in the top right.
app.tanvik.io/contacts
The Add contact form
02
Fill in the details
Phone is the only required field. You can also add a name, email, group, tags (comma separated), notes and an Opt-in status: Don't set, Opted in (can receive messages) or Opted out (blocked).
03
Save
Click Add contact. If the number is already saved, Tanvik shows This number is already saved and offers Update existing, so you don't end up with duplicates.

To change a contact later, click them in the list and then Edit in the details. You can change the name, phone, email, notes and Opt-in status there, or delete the contact. Groups, tags and categories are added from the details panel (see below).

Importing contacts from CSV
01
Click Import
Click Import at the top of the page, or the … menu above the list and Import from a CSV file.
app.tanvik.io/contacts
Import contacts from CSV
02
Upload your file
Choose a .csv file. The first row must hold your column headers. Excel files (.xlsx) are not accepted, so in Excel use Save As → CSV first.
03
Map your columns
Tanvik shows each column with a sample value and guesses what it is. For every column pick Phone *, Name, Email, one of your fields (shown as Attribute: (name)), or Ignore. One column must be mapped to Phone.
04
Optionally assign a group, tags or categories
Under Assign to everyone imported, type a group, tags or categories. They are applied to every contact in the file. New names are created for you.
05
Click Import contacts
When it finishes you'll see how many contacts were added and how many were updated.
CSV format

There is no fixed template. Use any headers you like and map them during import. Tanvik recognises common header names automatically:

Maps toRequiredHeaders recognised automaticallyExample
PhoneYesphone, phone number, mobile, mobile number, whatsapp, whatsapp number, contact number, number, cell9876543210
NameNoname, full name, customer name, contact name, client name, customer, lead nameRahul Sharma
EmailNoemail, email address, e-mail, mailrahul@example.com
A fieldNoPick it from the list when mapping25000
How phone numbers are read. Spaces, dashes and brackets are ignored. A 10-digit number, or an 11-digit one starting with 0, is treated as an Indian number and saved with +91. For numbers outside India, include the full country code (for example +971...) or they may be saved as Indian numbers. Rows with no phone number are skipped.
  • Existing contacts are not duplicated. If a phone number is already in your contacts, it is counted as updated.
  • To import a field column, create the field first under Contact fields (bottom of the left column), then open the import again.
Imported contacts are marked opted in, so only import people who agreed to hear from you. Numbers that have already opted out stay opted out, and the import message tells you how many were kept that way. See Opt-in status.
Groups, tags, categories & fields

Groups are named lists, useful for a batch you want to message together. A contact can be in several groups. Tags and categories are labels, and a contact can have many of each.

01
Create one
Click the + next to Groups, Tags or Categories in the left column and give it a name. Groups also take an optional description.
02
Put a contact in it
Click the contact, then use + Add to group, + Tag or + Category in their details. Pick an existing one or choose a new one. Click the × on a chip to take them out.
03
Rename, download or delete
With a group, tag or category open, the … menu above the list lets you rename or delete it. For a group it also has Download this group, which gives you a CSV. Deleting a group keeps the contacts.

Contact fields are your own details stored on each contact, such as Loan Amount or EMI Due Date. Click Contact fields at the bottom of the left column to see them, New field to add one (choose a name and a type, and whether to show it as a column in the contacts table) or Delete to remove one. Each field has a token such as {{contact.loan_amount}} that you can use to personalise messages and automations. To fill in a contact's fields, click Edit next to Fields in their details. Fields can also be managed under Settings › Custom fields.

Tip: Once you have set up a list you often use (say a group plus Can message), click + Save current filters as a view above the list to bring it back in one click later. You can keep up to 10 views, with names up to 30 characters, and they are saved in the browser you are using.
Sync with Google Sheets

Click the … menu above the list and choose Sync with a Google Sheet to keep your contacts in two-way sync with a Google Sheet. New rows or edits in the sheet flow into Tanvik, and changes in Tanvik are pushed back to the sheet.

01
Share your sheet
Copy the email address shown in the window and share your Google Sheet with it as Editor. You don't need to sign in to Google inside Tanvik.
02
Paste the sheet link and connect
Paste the Google Sheet URL or ID. Optionally enter the tab name (the default is "Contacts"), then click Connect. Your existing contacts sync right away.

Once connected, the same window shows Connected · two-way, the last push and pull times and any sync error. If a contact is edited in both places before the next sync, the most recent edit wins. Click Disconnect to stop syncing; rows already in the sheet stay there. Contacts added through the sheet also trigger any "Contact Created" automations you have.

Opt-in status

Every contact has an opt-in status, shown in their details:

  • Can be messaged means they opted in.
  • Opted out: don't message means they said no, or you marked them. Messages to them are blocked.
  • Opt-in not known means there is no record yet.

To see only people you can message, click Can be messaged in the left column (or Can message in the switch above the list). Opted out lists everyone who stopped messages. To change a status, click the contact, then Edit, and change Opt-in status.

Never switch an opted-out contact back to opted in unless they have asked to hear from you again. Messaging people who opted out goes against WhatsApp policy and can hurt your number's quality rating.
Delete contacts
  • Delete one contact: open them and click Delete contact at the bottom of the details.
  • Delete a few: tick the boxes in the list, then click Delete selected. The tick box at the top of the list selects everyone in the list you are viewing, on every page.
  • Delete a whole batch: in the … menu choose Delete everyone in a group or tag, pick a group, tag or category, and confirm. This can't be undone. Opt-in records are kept.

After a delete you get a short chance to click Undo. Groups, tags and categories left with no contacts after a delete are removed automatically.

Common problems
"Map one column to Phone"
No column was set to Phone in the mapping step. Pick the column that holds the numbers and choose Phone *.
"No rows with a valid phone"
The column mapped to Phone is empty or mapped to the wrong column. Check the sample value shown next to each column.
My Excel file won't upload
Only .csv files are accepted. Save the sheet as CSV and try again.
My field column isn't in the mapping list
Create the field under Contact fields first, then close and reopen the import.
International numbers were saved with +91
Numbers without a country code are treated as Indian. Edit the contact with the correct number, and include the country code in future imports.