CSV support for contacts

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rex_tf
Posts:4
Joined:Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:54 am
CSV support for contacts

Post by rex_tf » Sun Oct 08, 2017 1:48 pm

Add me to the list of people asking for CSV support in contacts. Ooma *exports* contacts by CSV. Is it not logical to be able to *import* that same CSV back into Ooma? I want to do my editing in Excel (because the Contacts UI is, let's face it, painful) and then suck the edited version of the backup back in to Ooma.

PLEASE add CSV support for Ooma contacts.

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RockFox
Posts:13
Joined:Tue Jun 06, 2017 1:18 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by RockFox » Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:01 am

Add me to the list of people who want to IMPORT contacts from a CSV file. You have a function to EXPORT a CSV file, why no IMPORT CSV function?

Your smartphone import app requires at least Android 5.0. My Android is 4.4 so I can't use it to import.contacts.

pamelaantonacci
Posts:82
Joined:Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:44 am

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by pamelaantonacci » Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:05 pm

+1

Asyd_Rayn
Posts:7
Joined:Sat May 28, 2022 12:45 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by Asyd_Rayn » Sat Jun 11, 2022 5:59 pm

I'm all for this too. While they're at it they can work on making it possible for Android users of the Ooma app to upload their contact as is possible for Apple devices.

markgrime
Posts:1
Joined:Fri Jan 20, 2023 3:04 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by markgrime » Fri Jan 20, 2023 8:54 pm

Add yet another request for CSV support. I'm surprised that such a simple task that is so common would be sidelined. Since I won't be getting a cellphone, this may sway me in other directions when decisions are made.

MontrealPaul
Posts:7
Joined:Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:46 am

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by MontrealPaul » Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:41 pm

+1. How many 'plusses' does it take!?

I use Google Workspace, Outlook, and have an iPhone. I also have different 'profiles', to keep home, business, etc. separate.
To keep things straight, I use an external database, based mainly in Excel.
Phones, be they Android, iOS or other (?), handle and format contacts differently, e.g. adding contacts automatically when there's activity. This includes email-only 'contacts'.

I don't want everything that's in my phone to be imported into Ooma, which is what's happening now (and with a total of over 800 contacts in my phone, I just can't go through the pre-import list and check/uncheck all day!). (side-note: a 'filter' in the import function could help with this task
)
OK, my use-case may be a little different, but it's one of many, and as we've seen from the many, many posts in this forum, the NEED for importing, preferably through CSV, from something other than a phone, is a BASIC need.

Why has Ooma chosen to ignore our pleas all these years (and, yes, I've been reading threads going back YEARS)?
C'mon, Ooma, it's 2023. Get with the program [sic]!

dnatrop
Posts:2
Joined:Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:01 am

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by dnatrop » Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:36 am

I am relatively new to Ooma (installed late October 2022). Let me pile on one more request for CSV support for contacts. I have an Android cell phone with Tracfone as my carrier. The Ooma Home Phone app cannot be installed on my Samsung SM-S727VL smartphone. Ooma Home Phone app does not even show up as a choice when I go to Google Play from my Android phone. When I search for Ooma Home Phone app in Google Play using my computer, the "About this app" screen tells me "Ooma Home Phone app Does not work on your Samsung SM-S727VL device".

Since I am unable to install the Ooma Home Phone app, I am forced to enter contacts manually one at a time. What a nuisance and pain in the behind!

I can export contacts to a CSV file, but I can't import a CSV file? How much time, effort and expense would it take for the Ooma web developer to add CSV import capability? Imagine how adding CSV import would improve Customer satisfaction and raise Ooma's reputation among VOIP providers.

Robek
Posts:234
Joined:Thu Sep 26, 2019 6:56 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by Robek » Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:59 pm

The Samsung SM-S727VL supports Android 6.0, but the Ooma mobile app currently requires at least Android 8.0, according to Google Play, (or iOS 13.0, according to the Apple App Store). Ooma should probably update its documentation about that.

Exporting and importing contacts could still require some sort of manual clean up, especially between external applications (Outlook, Google, Android, iPhone, etc.), because the elements for a contact don't always map cleanly to/from the available columns in the current CSV template.

For example, "Groups" and "Instant Messenger" don't have matching CSV columns, and repeatable elements (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) may not have enough, so Ooma can't export all of them. Similarly, Ooma wouldn't import non-matching CSV columns, such as "Middle Name" or "Suffix".

External applications may also use the different CSV columns inconsistently. For example, Ooma exports the (Caller ID Name) "Display As" element to the "Title" column, but it looks like Outlook expects the title part of a name there instead, (such as "Prof.", "Dr.", "Mr.", or "Mrs.").

Currently, Ooma uses only the first+last name to uniquely identify a contact entry. If Ooma has to match imported contacts with existing contacts, then it could incorrectly combine two separate entries with the same first+last name, or incorrectly create a duplicate entry with a misspelled (or updated) name.

When updating some repeatable elements, (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.), Ooma could just add the new elements, without deleting (or overwriting) the old elements. And if a contact has too many of these elements, then it may not export the right ones later on.

Ooma Office supports exporting and importing contacts, but may still require manually copying data from one file to another, when exporting data from external applications. It does perform some validation when importing, but it does not check for duplicates.

atdonsm
Posts:1
Joined:Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:18 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by atdonsm » Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:22 pm

I would love to be able to upload CSV's to add contacts to my Ooma as well.

Robek
Posts:234
Joined:Thu Sep 26, 2019 6:56 pm

Re: CSV support for contacts

Post by Robek » Tue Oct 24, 2023 5:53 pm

Ooma Office supports importing contacts. Ooma Home Phone used to, but Ooma removed that functionality. They didn't say why, but importing is a lot more complicated then it may seem (for any application), due to differences in CSV files, or unexpected merging, overwriting, or duplication of information.

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