Importing & Exporting Contacts

Export your contacts to CSV for use in external tools, or import an existing contact list to migrate into Leenkies.

Exporting Contacts

Exporting creates a CSV file containing all your contacts. You can open it in any spreadsheet app (Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers) or import it into other tools.

How to Export

1. Navigate to Contacts in the sidebar.
2. Click Export at the top of the page.
3. A CSV file downloads to your computer automatically.

The export includes all contacts regardless of source.

CSV Columns

Each row represents one contact, exported exactly as it appears in your Contacts list.

Common Use Cases for Exporting

• Email marketing -- Import into Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Beehiiv, etc. for newsletters and campaigns.
• Backup -- Keep a periodic offline copy of your contacts.
• Analysis -- Open in a spreadsheet to analyze growth, filter by source, or count contacts by date range.
• Sharing -- Share the file with a colleague or assistant who needs access.

Pro Tip: Set a monthly reminder to export your contacts as a backup. Having an offline copy gives you peace of mind and ensures you always have access to your list.

Importing Contacts

Importing lets you bulk-add contacts from a CSV file. This is especially useful when migrating from another platform.

How to Import

1. Navigate to Contacts in the sidebar.
2. Click Import at the top of the page.
3. Select a CSV file from your computer.
4. Leenkies validates the data and adds the contacts.
5. The new contacts appear in your list once the import completes.

CSV Format Requirements

Your CSV must follow these rules for the import to succeed:

Header Row

The first row must be a header row labeling each column. Leenkies uses these headers to identify the data:

• name -- Required
• email -- Required
• phone -- Optional

Headers are case-insensitive (Name, name, and NAME all work).

Required Fields

• Name -- Every row must include a name. Rows without one are skipped.
• Email -- Every row must include a valid email address. Rows without an email or with an invalid format are skipped.

Optional Fields

• Phone -- If your CSV doesn't have a phone column, contacts are imported without phone numbers. If the column exists but a row is blank, the contact is imported with an empty phone field.

Example CSV Format

name,email,phone
Jane Smith,[email protected],+1-555-0101
Alex Johnson,[email protected],
Maria Garcia,[email protected],+44-20-7946-0958

Jane and Maria have phone numbers; Alex's is blank. All three import successfully because they have the required name and email fields.

Deduplication During Import

Leenkies applies the same email-based deduplication it uses for all contact sources. If your CSV contains an email that already exists in your database, that row is skipped -- the existing record is preserved. You can safely import a list that overlaps with your current contacts without creating duplicates.

Pro Tip: Before importing, open your CSV in a spreadsheet and clean it up -- remove rows with missing emails, fix typos, and standardize phone formats. A clean file means no skipped rows.

Migrating From Another Platform

If you're moving to Leenkies from another tool, the import feature is your migration path:

1. Export from your current platform -- Most tools offer a CSV export. Download it.
2. Reformat if needed -- Ensure the file has the correct headers (name, email, phone). Rename columns and remove any extras Leenkies doesn't use.
3. Import into Leenkies -- Upload your reformatted CSV.
4. Verify -- Browse your contacts list to confirm everything imported correctly.

Pro Tip: If your previous platform uses separate first and last name columns, combine them before importing. In Google Sheets, use =A2 & " " & B2 to merge them into a single "name" column.