CSV Import Guide

Prepare your file, map columns to fields, and understand exactly which rows were skipped and why.

Preparing your file

Save as .csv (Excel: File → Save As → CSV; Sheets: File → Download → CSV).
Include a header row. Those names become your mapping options.
Maximum 5MB. Split larger exports into several files.
One column must contain email addresses.

Email Address,First Name,Last Name,Company
ada@example.com,Ada,Lovelace,Analytical Engines
grace@example.com,Grace,Hopper,US Navy

Mapping your columns

After upload, Vecta shows each column with a sample value and a best guess at the field it should become. Headers like "Email Address" or "First Name" are recognised automatically.

Exactly one column must map to Email.
Standard fields: first_name, last_name, company, title, phone.
Choose Custom field for anything else: the name you give becomes the variable, e.g. plan → {{plan}}.
Choose Ignore for columns you don't need.

Field names become template variables

Map a column to company and you can immediately write {{company}} in a template.

Choosing a destination

Option	Use when
New saved list	You'll send to this group more than once
One-off list	A single blast; keeps your saved lists uncluttered
Merge into existing	Adding people to a list you already have

How duplicates are handled

Contacts are unique per workspace by email address. If an address already exists, Vecta links the existing contact to the list rather than creating a second copy.

Example

Import a 6-row file and you might see: 3 new contacts, 0 already existed, 3 rows skipped. Re-import the same file into a different list and you'll see 0 new, 3 already existed: the same three people, now on both lists, still one contact each.

Updating people who are already in Vecta

By default an import never changes someone who already exists: their stored fields stay as they were, and only list membership is added. To change their details from a file, tick Update existing contacts in step 3 before you import.

In your file	What happens to an existing contact
A filled cell	Replaces the stored value for that field
A blank cell	Keeps the stored value. A blank never erases anything
A column that isn't in the file, or is set to Ignore	Stays exactly as it was
A brand-new address	Is added as a new contact, as usual

Example

You imported 168 people with a custom field intro, then rewrote the text. Make a file with just two columns, Email and intro, map them the same way, tick Update existing contacts and merge into the same list. The result shows 168 already existed, 168 updated, and everything else about those people (name, company, tags, history) is unchanged.

Emails already waiting use the new values

Vecta fills in {{fields}} when each email is sent, not when it is queued. Updating a field changes every email still waiting to go out to that person, including later follow-ups. Pause the campaign first if you're not sure the file is right.

"Updated" is lower than "Already existed". People whose values in the file match what's stored are counted as existing but not updated: there was nothing to change.
Nothing changed. The box wasn't ticked, or the column was mapped to a different field name than the one stored (for example Intro instead of intro). Map it to the exact name your template uses.
To empty a field, edit the person by hand: a blank cell in a file is ignored on purpose.

Rows that get skipped

Bad rows never fail the whole import, each is reported with its line number and reason:

Reason	Meaning
missing email	The mapped email column was empty
invalid email "…"	Not a valid address
duplicate in file "…"	The same address appeared earlier in this file; the first wins

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Template Variables

How {{variables}} work, where they come from, and the one variable every template must contain.

Understanding Suppression Lists

How Vecta guarantees you never email someone who asked you to stop, and why it's workspace-wide.

Bounces that arrive later

How Vecta reads the "address not found" emails that land in your inbox after sending, and which ones put someone on the do-not-email list.