What a contact import leaves out on purpose
A CSV import is four steps, and the summary is the part that matters. Duplicates, DNC numbers, failed numbers, and rows without a usable phone never become a second contact.
Contacts, Import takes a spreadsheet through upload, column mapping, review, and import. CSV, XLS, and XLSX files work. Large CSVs run in the background. If Google is connected under Settings, Integrations, you can load a sheet tab instead of a file. Download Template is there when you are not sure about the headers.
One column has to be the phone
Statxt reads the header and a sample value and suggests a field, with a confidence percentage. The import will not start until a column is mapped to Phone Number. A single name column should be Full Name so it can be split into first and last. Custom Field 1 and 2 hold extra data. Skip this column drops the rest. Auto-Map Fields reruns the suggestions after you change a header.
Extra numbers can be Phone Number 2, Phone Number 3, Alternate Phone, or several numbers in one cell separated by commas or semicolons. A column mapped to Subscription Status treats values such as "unsubscribed", "opt-out", or "stop" as unsubscribed contacts. Groups/Tags turns comma-separated values into tags. It does not put people in a group. Assign to Group does that.
The defaults skip the numbers you should not text
Skip Duplicates, Check DNC List, and Skip same-name DNC siblings start on. A phone that already exists is not copied. If you picked a group, that existing contact is still added to the group. DNC Excluded and FND Excluded in the summary are numbers on your do-not-contact list or in the Failed Number Directory. Invalid Records are missing or unusable phones, and the row errors are listed under the summary.
Send Welcome Message and Validate phone numbers after import stay off until you turn them on. Validation spends credits, and you see an estimate first.
Five thousand is a group, not a file
Review shows how many rows have a phone, how many do not, and which merge fields the file will support, such as {first_name}. Groups hold 5,000 contacts. A larger import into one group asks how to name the extra groups and splits the list, often as a numbered name. The import cannot be undone, so the mapping summary is the moment to stop.
If you forgot a group, Forgot to add to a group? can attach the batch afterward. View Contacts, or the Import batch filter on All Contacts, is how you find those rows later. Text Blaster's Upload leads runs this same import without leaving the campaign.
The click-by-click version lives in the Import Contacts guide.
Walk through it in the product
The guides cover these same workflows step by step, with the screens you will actually use.