Importing from a CSV
Whether you're bringing contacts or notes from Notion, Airtable, or another CRM, you can also import contacts as a .CSV file.
Importing Contacts through CSV
Things to Know
- Dex tries to match generously based on header names of the file, so 'first_name,' 'First name,' and 'Name' should all be matched correctly.
- Any column you don't map is ignored, so you don't need to strip extra columns out of the file first.
- In the import from CSV function, there's a field called Group/Tags. They need to be separated either comma- or by the ':::' string (both work).
- If you're importing from a LinkedIn, Outlook, or Google Contacts CSV export, no changes are needed.
- Save the file as UTF-8. See below if your names come through as garbled characters.
Converting a spreadsheet to CSV
Renaming an .xlsx file to .csv does not convert it, and neither does a plain "CSV (Comma delimited)" save in Excel, which writes the file in a regional encoding. Either way, accented letters and non-Latin names arrive in Dex as strings of unrelated characters.
In Excel, use File → Save As and pick CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) from the format list. In Numbers and Google Sheets, exporting to CSV already gives you UTF-8.
If contacts are already in with garbled names, delete them, re-save the file as CSV UTF-8, and import again.
Getting Started
Go to the Import page
Once you're on the Import page, find the 'CSV files' section and click 'Import contacts' next to 'CSV file for contacts'.
Upload the file
Drop your CSV onto the upload area, or click it to browse for the file. Leave 'First row contains column headers' checked if your file has a header row.
Assign the headers
Dex lists every column it found in your file and pre-selects the Dex field it thinks each one belongs to. Check the matches, correct any that are wrong from the dropdowns, and leave a column unmapped if you don't want it imported. Click 'Continue' when the mapping looks right.
Complete the process
Dex confirms how many contacts were imported. From there you can view the imported contacts, use Organize with AI to sort them into groups, or open Merge & Fix to clean up duplicates.
CSV Schema/Format
If you're downloading from another tool, we recommend the following basic header format for CSV files:
- Name
- Title
- Description
- Phone
- Company
- Education
- Tags
- Group
- You can add multiple groups by separating them with a comma or ':::' string.
- Birthday
- Use common formats, like 2/20/2000 or Feb 20
- Location
- Use a plain string value, like 'New York City' or 'SF'
- Last Interaction
- Use common formats, like 2/20/2000 or Feb 20
- LinkedIn URL
- Twitter URL
- Facebook URL
- Instagram URL
- Custom Fields
- Profile Photo
Importing Notes through CSV
Things to Know
- Notes are matched to existing contacts by name or email. If no contact matches, Dex creates one.
- The note body can be written in HTML.
Getting Started
Go to the Import page
On the Import page, click 'Import notes' next to 'CSV file for notes'.
Upload the file
Click the 'Select file' button and locate the CSV file on your computer.
Assign the headers
Match each Dex field to the matching column in your file, then click 'Continue'.
Expected columns
- Full Name — the contact's full name, used to look up the contact (required)
- Email — optional, also used for contact lookup. If no contact matches, Dex creates one.
- Note — the note content (required)
- Date — when the note was created (optional)
Review and import
Dex shows how many notes it's ready to import and which contact each one will be attached to. Check the list, then click 'Import Notes' to finish.
Once the import finishes, the notes appear on each contact's timeline, dated to the 'Date' column where you provided one. If any notes landed on a newly created contact, you can tidy those up on the Merge & Fix page.