Add and import contacts
Create a contact by hand, or bring a CSV from your old CRM and check every row before anything is added.
Most contacts arrive on their own when someone messages a connected channel. Add one by hand when someone reached out another way, such as at an event or by phone, or import a CSV to bring your list over from another CRM.
- Who can use it: Owners, admins and members can add contacts one at a time. Importing a CSV is for owners and admins by default, and an owner or admin can grant it to other roles. Without the permission, New contact is disabled with the reason on hover, and Import contacts isn't in the menu. See Roles and permissions.
- Before you start: For a contact, know their name, company and one way to reach them (a phone number, email address or handle). For an import, have a
.csvfile with one contact per row.
Add a contact
Open New contact
On the Contacts page, click New contact or press N. On the board, you can also click + or Add contact in a column to start the contact in that stage.
Fill in the person
Under Person, enter their Name and Company (for a sole trader, use their own name). Pick the Channel you reach them on, then enter their handle there. The field changes with the channel:
| Channel | Field | Enter |
|---|---|---|
| Handle | The whole number with its country code, like +1 415 555 0182. Pick the country from the flag, or type the + code. | |
| Address | An email address, like nadia@larkspur.io. | |
| Telegram | Handle | A username that starts with @, or a number that starts with +. |
| Handle | The profile path from their LinkedIn URL, like in/nadiaprasad. | |
| Handle | The page or profile address, like fb.com/fjordlabs. | |
| Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads | Handle | A handle that starts with @, like @larkspurhq. |
Switching between WhatsApp and another channel clears the field, because a phone number doesn't carry over into a handle.
A contact can keep a handle on any of these channels. Mokanata can message them on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram once those go live; Email, Telegram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X and Threads are coming soon (see Connect a channel).
Fill in the deal
Under Deal, pick the Stage (it starts on Lead) and the Owner (you, unless you pick a teammate). Deal value and Close date are optional. Type the value in your workspace's currency, with or without separators: 84000, 84,000 and $84,000 all work.
If your workspace has added custom fields or relations to Contacts, they appear below the deal under Custom fields or Related records. Required ones come first. See Custom fields on contacts.
Create the contact
Click Create contact or press Enter. The dialog closes, the list goes back to its first page, and a notice confirms it: Contact created, with the stage and owner and an Open record button.
The new contact starts with no agent assigned. Their last touch reads Just now, and their timeline starts with a note that you created them.
If a field is wrong
Mistakes show once you leave a field or click Create contact, under the field in red. Fix each one and create again.
When the handle already belongs to someone, the error names them and links to their record, so you can open it instead of creating a duplicate.
Closing before you save
Once you've typed something, clicking outside the dialog doesn't close it. Cancel or Esc asks Discard this contact?: click Keep editing to go back, or Discard to close without saving.
Import contacts from a CSV
Prepare the file
Save your list as a .csv file, with the column names in the first row and one contact per row: up to 500 contacts and 1 MB per file. Mokanata reads these columns, in any order:
| Column | Required | Also recognised as | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
name | Yes | full name, contact, contact name, person | At least two characters. |
company | Yes | company name, account, organization, organisation, business | |
channel | Yes | network, platform | WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram, or a channel that's coming soon: Email, Telegram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X or Threads. Short forms work too: wa, ig, insta, mail, e-mail, tg, fb, and twitter for X. |
handle | Yes | username, phone, phone number, email, email address, address, number, profile | Follows the same rules as the New contact form. |
stage | No | deal stage, pipeline stage | Lead, Qualified, Discovery, Negotiation or Closed won (won and closed mean Closed won). Empty means Lead. |
value | No | deal value, amount, deal size | Digits; $ signs and commas are ignored. Empty means no value. |
Column names ignore capitals, and punctuation counts as a space, so Full_Name reads as full name. Files saved with semicolons instead of commas (common in European spreadsheet apps) work too. Other columns are ignored.
To start from a template, click Download a template in the import dialog. You get mokanata-contacts-template.csv:
name,company,channel,handle,stage,value
Nadia Prasad,Larkspur Analytics,WhatsApp,+1 415 555 0182,Negotiation,84000
Tom Achebe,Helio Systems,Email,tom@helio.io,Qualified,12000Open Import contacts
On the Contacts page, open the ⋯ menu next to New contact and click Import contacts. When the workspace has no contacts yet, the empty list offers Import CSV too.
Choose the file and check it
Under CSV file, choose your file, then click Check file or press Enter. Nothing is added yet: Mokanata reads every row and shows you what it found.
Review every row
The dialog is now titled after your file. The line at the top sums it up, such as 4 ready · 1 already in Mokanata · 2 need fixing, and the table lists each row with its line number in the file, so you can find it.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Ready | The row is added when you import. |
| Skipped | The person is already in Mokanata (same handle, or same name at the same company), or the same contact appears on an earlier line. The reason says which. |
| Needs fixing | Something in the row is missing or wrong. The reason says what; fix it in the file. |
Scroll the table to see every row. Rows that need fixing say exactly what's wrong:
To fix rows, correct the file, click Choose another file and check it again. You can also import the ready rows now and the fixed ones later: rows already in Mokanata are skipped next time.
Import
Click Import with the number of ready contacts, such as Import 4 contacts. If no row is ready, the button reads Nothing to import.
A notice confirms it: Imported 4 contacts, from your file, with Undo. Imported contacts start with no agent assigned and are owned by you. They appear at the top of the list, or at the top of their stage on the board. If a search, filter or other sort is on, the notice tells you how to see them.
Write values as plain numbers
The value column takes digits; dollar signs and commas are ignored. A dot counts as a decimal point, so 84.000 imports as 84, and text such as Rp 84000 makes the row need fixing. Write 84000 or 84,000.
Troubleshooting
You clicked Check file without choosing a file. Choose one under CSV file.
The file doesn't end in .csv. In your spreadsheet app, use Save as or Download and pick CSV (comma-separated values).
The file was renamed to .csv but is still a spreadsheet file inside. Export it as CSV from your spreadsheet app instead of renaming it.
One or more required columns (name, company, channel, handle) are missing, or their names aren't recognised. Rename the column to one of the names in the table above, or compare with the template.
A file can hold up to 500 contacts and 1 MB. Split it into smaller files and import them one after another.
Add a header row with the column names and one contact per row below it.
The channel isn't one Mokanata knows, or it's spelled in a way it doesn't recognise. Use one of the channel names in the channel column above.
Use one of the pipeline stages: Lead, Qualified, Discovery, Negotiation or Closed won. Leave the cell empty to start the contact as a Lead.
Saving failed, so nothing was added. The dialog stays open with what you entered or the rows it checked; the message after it says why. Click Create contact or Import again.
Click Undo in the notice that follows the import to take the contacts out again. Later, you can select them in the list and delete them; see Search, filter, sort, export and bulk changes.