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Manage external contacts

Alex Brainin avatar
Written by Alex Brainin
Updated over 3 months ago

In Ringotel admin portal you can create or import external contacts and they will be automatically synchronised with all Ringotel users created in an organisation or a specific connection.

Create a contact

To manually create a contact, navigate to an organisation, "Contacts" tab. Then, click +Create contact button to open a new contact form.

New contact form

In the new contact form, specify contact's details then click Save changes.

In addition, if organisation has multiple connections, you can select for which connection to create a contact. In this case, the new contact will be created only for users under the selected connection.

Import contacts

In your Ringotel admin portal, you can import external contacts from various sources, such as a CSV file, XML Phonebook, CRM system, contacts management systems, directories, or API. Imported contacts are automatically synchronised with the users' softphone apps.

To import contacts, navigate to an organisation, "Contacts" tab, and click Import button.

Import external contacts panel

Import contacts from a CSV file

To import a list of Contacts from a CSV file:

  1. Navigate to an organisation, "Contacts" tab.

  2. Click Import button.

  3. Select CSV File.

  4. Choose a CSV file in your system and click Import.

  5. Optionally, if organisation has multiple connections, you can select for which connection to create a contact. In this case, the new contact will be created only for users under the selected connection.

  6. Wait while the contacts are imported. If you are importing a lot of contacts, you can close the panel (but do not close the browser tab so that the file can be uploaded to the server).

CSV file format for importing contacts

Ringotel support various export formats from different PBX systems. If you are preparing your own CSV file, it must be in the following format:

  • The first line of the file should contain the columns name.

  • The following columns are supported:

    • name - (required) contact's name. Alternatively, firstname and lastname fields are allowed.

    • mobile - mobile number(s). To import multiple mobile numbers, split values into multiple columns with the same header name.

    • phone - phone number(s). To import multiple phone numbers, split values into multiple columns with the same header name.

    • fax - fax number(s). To import multiple fax numbers, split values into multiple columns with the same header name.

    • sip - SIP address. To import multiple SIP addresses, split values into multiple columns with the same header name.

    • organization - organization name associated with the contact

    • position - contact's current position

    • department - department name

    • email - contact's email address

    • about - any arbitrary info

Import contacts from XML Phonebook

You can specify a URL that points to an XML file with phonebook records which Ringotel will periodically fetch and automatically sync with the users' apps.

Currently, Ringotel supports XML Phonebooks in the following formats:

  • Yealink

  • Polycom

  • Grandstream

  • Cisco

  • Fanvil

To specify an XML Phonebook URL:

  1. Navigate to an organisation, "Contacts" tab.

  2. Click Import button.

  3. Select XML Phonebook.

  4. Choose a CSV file in your system and click Import.

  5. Optionally, if organisation has multiple connections, you can select for users of which connection to import the contacts. In this case, the contacts will be imported only for users under the selected connection.

Contacts may not appear immediately. Please allow up to 5 minutes for the update to take effect.

Import from a CRM system, contacts management systems, or directory.

For specific guidance on how to import from a CRM system, contacts management system, or directory, please refer to a specific integration.

Update a contact

To update a contact, click on the contact's name or open a contact's three-dots menu and select Edit.

After making the required changes in the contact form, click Save changes. The updates will be automatically synchronised with users' apps.

Delete contacts

To delete a shared contact, open the three-dot menu for the contact and select Delete.

You can delete multiple contacts at once by selecting the contacts you want and clicking the Delete button that appears at the top of the contact table.

Tip: Use the search field to find and filter contacts by name, mobile/phone number, organization and email. Click on the column headings to sort the contacts.

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