# How do I import leads from a CSV?

> Open a campaign's Audience tab, click Import leads, drop in your CSV, match the Email column (plus any others), then click Import.

Source: https://warmerly.com/docs/help/import-leads-csv

Leads are imported straight into a campaign. Open the campaign, go to its **Audience** tab and click **Import leads** (or use the upload box in step one of the **New campaign** wizard). Drop in your CSV file, point one column at **Email**, match any other columns you want, and click **Import**. Your column names can be anything.

## Steps

1. Export your list as a **CSV** file. From Excel or Google Sheets, choose **File > Download > CSV** (or **Save As > CSV**). `.csv`, `.tsv` and `.txt` files work. Excel files (`.xlsx`, `.xls`) do not, so convert them first.
2. In Warmerly, open **Campaigns**, pick the campaign and go to the **Audience** tab. Click **Import leads**. For a new campaign, the same importer is in the first step of the wizard after you click **Create draft**.
3. Drag your file onto the box, or click **Choose a file**. You can also click **Paste instead** and paste rows copied from a spreadsheet.
4. **Match the columns.** Warmerly guesses the obvious ones (like "Email Address" or "Company Name"). For each column choose one of: **Email (required)**, **First name**, **Last name**, **Company**, **Website**, **Import as custom field** or **Don't import**.
5. Check the live count above the table: rows, valid emails, duplicates and skipped rows.
6. Click **Import**. The button shows how many leads will be added.
7. Read the result: how many leads were added, how many were already in the campaign, and how many were rejected as undeliverable.

## Use your columns in emails

Every column you import as a **custom field** becomes a merge tag. A column called "Job Title" becomes `{{Job_Title}}`, and you can rename the tag before importing. The standard fields become `{{firstName}}`, `{{lastName}}`, `{{companyName}}` and `{{email}}`. Add them to your emails with **Insert variable** in the sequence editor.

A **Website** column is also used to research each lead when you write with the `{{ai_opener}}` tag.

## What gets cleaned up for you

- Rows with a missing or broken email address are skipped.
- Duplicate addresses in the file are removed (the first one is kept).
- Leads already in the campaign are not added twice.
- Each address gets a free quick check on import. Addresses with no mail server or from disposable providers are dropped, because they would bounce. This does not use your verification allowance.
- Unsubscribed and bounced addresses can be imported, but they are never sent to. Warmerly checks the [suppression list](https://warmerly.com/docs/suppression) right before every email.

For a deeper check (like mailbox-level verification), run the list through **Email verifier** first. See the [Verify API](https://warmerly.com/docs/verify).

## How many leads can I import?

Each campaign has a lead limit that depends on your plan: 500 on Free, 2,500 on Starter, 25,000 on Growth and 100,000 on Agency. Importing from your own CSV never uses your lead export allowance. See [Plans and limits](https://warmerly.com/docs/plans-and-limits).

## Common problems

**"... is a spreadsheet, not a CSV".** You uploaded an Excel or Numbers file. Download it as CSV and try again.

**The Import button stays greyed out.** No column is set to **Email**. Pick the column that holds the addresses and choose **Email (required)**.

**"This campaign holds ... leads, so ... more will not fit".** The list is bigger than your plan's per-campaign limit. Split it across two campaigns, or upgrade.

**Merge tags send as blank text.** The tag in your email does not match a column name. The sequence editor warns you about tags that do not exist, so check the spelling.

## Related

- [How do I launch my first campaign?](https://warmerly.com/docs/help/launch-first-campaign)
- [Leads API](https://warmerly.com/docs/leads) and [Campaigns API](https://warmerly.com/docs/campaigns) for importing from code
- [Suppression](https://warmerly.com/docs/suppression)

## More in Help centre

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