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contact categories do not import
Idea shared by digital.iway - 6/3/2015 at 6:43 PM
Completed
I have a need to import contacts and assign them to categories but the csv file import does not support a category field.
 
how can I mass import contacts with category assignments?
 
if that is not possible how can i tag contacts so they can be filtered by tag or text field?

28 Replies

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I tried to use the ADDITIONAL FIELD and place category names in there to at least get them to display in a search and NO GO. 
 
What fields exactly does the search look at? 
 
I used the PAGER field to add some text tags then made the pager field visible using the settings and the search does not even search the pager field.
 
why not open up the search to all fields?
 
If I have contacts setup with categories attached and EXPORT as VCARDS then delete all contacts then import the VCARDS the categories will come back. This will not happen with CSV import so I am assuming this is a BUG?
 
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You could try exporting a contact that has a category assigned to see what field its using?
 
https://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2702/export-contacts-to-csv.aspx
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I tried doing that and the category field is not in the CSV at all. It is really strange that categories are ignored on export and not shown in the csv file.  Seems like a bug to me.
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Agreed, hopefully one of the staff see's this and can verify it for you =)
2
Employee Replied
6/9/2015 at 1:35 PM
Employee Post
digitial.iway / Brian, you are both correct in that SmarterMail currently does not export or import categories.  I have added this to our feature request list.  I have also noted that Categories is not a visible field in the contact list nor as a sorting option. I am changing this thread to Idea to facilitate tracking.
0
As part of this feature request, let's assign categories (Google calls them groups) to the contacts imported from Gmail during a mailbox migration.
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Robert, thank you for placing this "Under Consideration".  Can you please provide a time frame as to when this will reviewed and implemented by the dev team? 
 
Will this be included in SmarterMail 14 or do you think you could release it as a minor update?
0
In SM14 I see that google contacts have been resolved to import correctly.  Can I assume that the contact import has been reviewed overall and is now importing correctly the CATEGORIES??  SmarterTools can you please provide an update to this functionality
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We just upgraded from 13 to 14.0.5661 with the hope that the contact functionality was upgraded to include categories as part of the CSV import and export process via web mail.  After testing we see nothing has changed to the functionality.
 
Has anyone found a work around to this?
 
 
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digital.iway:  per Robert Emmett's response, of 9 June, 2015:
Under Consideration
Proposal is Under Consideration
 
 This change has not yet been implemented
Bruce Barnes ChicagoNetTech Inc brucecnt@comcast.net Phonr: (773) 491-9019 Phone: (224) 444-0169 E-Mail and DNS Security Specialist Network Security Specialist Customer Service Portal: https://portal.chicagonettech.com Website: https://www.ChicagoNetTech.com Security Blog: http://networkbastion.blogspot.com/ Web and E-Mail Hosting, E-Mail Security and Consulting
0
I am also in need of this feature we have a customer who needs to import/export users and sort them by Categories in Excel.
 
Kevin
 
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I am just curious if anyone at ST can give me an update/time-frame for this?  This missing VERY BASIC feature has just forced two of my clients to migrate to Microsoft Exchange 365.
0
Employee Replied
7/30/2015 at 2:07 PM
Employee Post
The ability to export and import contact categories to/from a CSV file via the web interface has been implemented and will be available in the next minor release.
0
Thanks for the update Robert. Do you have an ETA of when that release will be available?
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What about importing a CSV file with categories from Outlook?
 
Will SM automatically create the master category if it doesn't already exist?
 
What about contacts who are in multiple categories (I think Outlook separates them with a semicolon).  Is it smart enough to handle that?
 
Just want to make sure the new functionality is fully tested.

Thanks,
Kevin
0
Employee Replied
8/13/2015 at 1:28 PM
Employee Post
Yes, you can import Outlook-generated CSV files with categories (and multiple categories) properly.
1
Here's a bug with this enhancement...
  1. Start fresh -- delete all your contacts and master categories.
  2. Import a CSV file with contacts & categories
  3. Edit a contact and add "TestTestTest" as a new master category. This removes the categories from all your contacts.
Suggest ST hire a QA engineer and/or have members of this Community test before public release. Not trying to be mean, just helpful.
0
Employee Replied
8/14/2015 at 3:01 PM
Employee Post
This bug has been fixed.
0
Great! Thanks.
0
Found an Issue:
 
created a new email address to hold all contacts and imported them. (working fine)
 
Shared the contacts to another email address in the domain with FULL CONTROL.
 
logged into the other account to view contacts and they are there, but when you edit a contact the CATEGORIES tab is not showing.
 
with full control over a persons contacts I would assume I could edit the categories also and cannot.
 
 
0
Employee Replied
9/14/2015 at 1:21 PM
Employee Post
digitial.iway, this is actually by design. Each user has their own master category list. From which master category list would you control the contact's categories? The person editing the contact or the contact owner? This problem is exacerbated if multiple people have shared control over the contact.
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currently the FULL ACCESS user can filter by categories, but in contact edit mode the contact category is not able to be changed or even seen.

the client has multiple people that need to add contacts , edit contacts/change the category they are in, add categories and edit categories on the master email address/list.

Instead of granting / giving out the user and pass to everyone for access to the master email address holding the contact list I thought it would be more effective to share it out granting full control.

Are you saying that having multiple people with category edit/add access is problematic?
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Employee Replied
9/15/2015 at 7:11 AM
Employee Post
Problematic only in determining which master category list to use. Each user has their own master category list. These lists can differ greatly.
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Just to clarify - are you saying that I cannot share a master contact list and allow multiple people with full control edit contact info which includes changing the category that the contact is assigned to?

I am not saying that I need people to make or edit categories, but I do need people that have full control to occasionally change what category the contact is assigned to.
0
Employee Replied
9/15/2015 at 12:44 PM
Employee Post
Users with full control cannot modify the categories on shared contacts. This would be a feature request. I have added it to our feature request list for SM 15.

Basically, the Master Category button would become available on shared contacts. When modifying the master category list, there would be a warning message shown saying that changes to the category list affects the shared users' categories and not the user's list.

Is this how would you like to see it implemented?
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Whether you share, or merge, the master category list for shared contacts, you're opening a huge can of worms for tech support!

I say no. Share the contacts, and let them be IMPORTED into the other user's list of personal contacts, if you like, but DO NOT allow the person who can access the share to modify the master category list.
Bruce Barnes ChicagoNetTech Inc brucecnt@comcast.net Phonr: (773) 491-9019 Phone: (224) 444-0169 E-Mail and DNS Security Specialist Network Security Specialist Customer Service Portal: https://portal.chicagonettech.com Website: https://www.ChicagoNetTech.com Security Blog: http://networkbastion.blogspot.com/ Web and E-Mail Hosting, E-Mail Security and Consulting
0
Employee Replied
9/15/2015 at 1:12 PM
Employee Post
Bruce, this is our initial concern too. Each user only has one master category list that is used by that user's calendar, contacts, notes, tasks, etc.

We are willing to let the community weigh in on the topic, however, before we come to any decision on the matter.
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Robert thank you for the feature request and yest that is what I was thinking (just a few notes below).

Two things - if contacts are shared to me FULL CONTROL I do not see the MASTER CATEGORIES button or the CATEGORIES tab when editing the contact so I was thinking at the very least to show the categories tab to the shared user so they can change what category the contact is in NOT necessarily edit or change the master list, but that would be ideal.

when adding a contact to the shared contacts currently the MASTER CATEGORIES button and CATEGORY tab displays, but only shows the current user categories and not the shared contacts categories. I am sure that is by design, but it is confusing and does not give the user an option to add a contact correctly using an existing category that is ultimately in the master contacts.
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