Why contacts are skipped during a CSV import

When you import contacts from a CSV file, some rows can end up as Skipped in the import results. A skipped row isn't an error: Reply decided not to create or update a contact from it, usually to avoid a duplicate. Here are the most common reasons and what to do about each one.

How to see which rows were skipped

Open the import notification in the Notification Center.
Download the skipped rows file (your file name ending in _skipped.csv) to see only the skipped rows, or the full result file (ending in _full_result.csv) to see every row.

The full result file adds two columns to your original file: ImportStatus (Created, Updated, Skipped or Failed) and ImportDetails. For some skip reasons, ImportDetails explains what happened, for example "Contact [email protected] already exists. Owner - [email protected]."

💡 Import reports are kept for 45 days.

The same contact appears twice in your file

If two or more rows have the same email address, Reply imports only the first one and skips the rest. When you use Contact ID as the unique identifier, rows with the same ID are handled the same way.

What to do: remove the duplicate rows, or merge their data into one row before you import.

The contact already exists and you chose Skip for matched records

In the import options, Matched records decides what happens to contacts that already exist in Reply:

Update Missing Fields - fills in the empty fields of the existing contact with data from your file;
Skip - leaves the existing contact as it is, and the row is counted as Skipped.

What to do: if you want the existing contacts updated, import the file again with Update Missing Fields.

The contact belongs to a teammate

If the contact already exists and belongs to another user on your team, and your role only lets you edit your own contacts, the row is not imported. The full result file shows the owner in the ImportDetails column. Depending on how the contact was matched, the row shows as Skipped or as an import error.

What to do: ask the contact's owner to import the row, or ask your admin to change your role permissions in Roles & Permissions to allow updating Team contacts.

The email already belongs to another contact

This happens when your unique identifier is LinkedIn Profile URL, Contact ID or a custom field. If a row doesn't match an existing contact by that identifier, but its email address is already used by another contact on your team, Reply skips the row instead of creating a second contact with the same email. ImportDetails says: "The email already belongs to another contact in your team, so this row was not imported."

What to do: check whether the existing contact is the same person. If it is, update its LinkedIn URL or ID, or import the file with Email as the unique identifier.

One row matches several existing contacts

If the unique identifier you chose (for example Full Name or Phone) matches more than one existing contact, Reply can't tell which one to update, so it skips the row. These rows are listed separately as Duplicated in the import results.

What to do: choose an identifier that is unique for each contact, such as Email or LinkedIn Profile URL.

Your plan doesn't allow adding new contacts

If your plan doesn't include adding contacts in the app, new contacts in your file are skipped. Contacts that already exist are still updated.

What to do: check your plan on the Plans & Billing page, or contact your account admin.

Other reasons a contact doesn't show up after the import

Rows without an email address - if you chose Skip for Records without emails, these rows aren't imported and aren't counted as Skipped or in any other number, so the total in the results can be lower than the number of rows in your file. Choose Add Generated Emails to import them for LinkedIn, calls, SMS or WhatsApp steps.
Contact limit - if your plan's contact limit is reached, the import stops with the message "You have reached your contact limit, so the import stopped." Remove some contacts or upgrade your plan, then try again.
Contacts already in other sequences - if you import into a sequence and choose Skip for contacts that are enrolled in other sequences, those contacts aren't added to this sequence. Learn more in Import contacts directly into a sequence.

💡 Contacts you deleted earlier are not skipped: if your file contains them, the import restores them.