Update: 06 April 2026 for Release 228
Importing mailing list
In the Dashboard, go to Mailings > Mailing list import
This module imports email addresses and optional other personal data from a .csv file and adds these records to a specific mailing list.
This module ensures that no duplicates email addresses will arise. If the email address already exist, the data will be updated.
Step 1: Creating the CSV file
A list of email addresses must be imported as a .csv file.
CSV stands for comma separated values. With a program such as Excel or OpenOffice's Calc it is very easy to create a .csv file.
Create a spreadsheet and name the first row email (put the name in the first row of the column). This name will be used by the importer to find the column that contains the email addresses.
You can optionally add more columns for importing extra visitor data. They each need to have a specific name in order for the importer to recognise the type of data. The full set of possible columns are:
- email (required column)
- surname prefix (optional column)
- first name (optional column)
- last name (optional column)
- gender (optional column)
The order of the columns is not important, the importer looks at the column names.
You can add the following data in each of the columns
- email = email address
- surname prefix = prefix, like “de” or “van de”
- gender =
man/vrouw/onbekendare still supported andmale/femaleas well (any other value will be mapped to "unknown", which we typically present as "other" or "x")
- first name = First name
- last name = Last name or family name
In the Excel Go to File > Save as ..., and choose CSV (Comma Separated Values) as the file type.
- Name the file without spaces, capital letters or special characters
- File must be encoded using UTF-8 .
- The columns must be separated with a comma or semicolon, and the columns can only be delimited with double quotes. (Delimit is optional and only used when comma’s or semicolons can be within the data itself)
Step 2: Import the CSV file
- Select an existing Mailing List to import the data to. If you want to upload to a new mailing list, first create a mailing list in the Mailing List module.
- Choose the file you just created.
- Select the separator type of the .csv file. Rows can be separated by semi colon (;) or comma (,).
- Check Overwrite data for existing visitors if you want to replace any data already in the CMS. Leave blank if you want it to stay as is.
- Select Upload and import to upload your file.
Data processing logic
- If a value in the csv file is empty it will never overwrite existing information
- To prevent the import from failing:
- All data is automatically converted to UTF-8, email addresses are cleaned of special characters, accents, and invisible whitespace.
- Email addresses are stripped of any non-ASCII characters and whitespace, such as apostrophes in names.
GDPR & privacy
When importing new e-mail addresses, it is important to take GDPR into consideration. You cannot use e-mail addresses in mailings without consent. If consent was already given, consider importing consent data too via our Opt-in import feature.
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