Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | WMS administrator |
A spreadsheet is only one way in. If your people are already in Active Directory, Microsoft 365 or Google, the system can keep reading them from there.
You may not need a file at all
Most people assume importing means preparing a spreadsheet. A CSV is one option among many. The system can read users and contacts straight out of Active Directory, LDAP, Microsoft 365, Google, an SQL database, Exchange or Zoho, among others.
That matters for two reasons. There is no file to get wrong, and it does not have to be a one-off: a scheduled sync can run every hour, or every two, six, twelve or twenty-four, and email somebody each time it finishes. Your directory becomes the source of truth and the phone system follows it.
With Active Directory you can go a step further and let people sign in with their AD credentials.
Importing users
- In WMS, go to Users and click Import. Only the root administrator has this option.
- Choose the backend and give it the connection details.
- In the mapping section, tick only the fields your source can supply. ID and Name are required, because they identify the record.
- Use the Import test button before committing to anything.
- Save and import.
If you are using a CSV after all, export the template from WMS and fill that in rather than building a spreadsheet and hoping the columns line up. Duplicate extensions, duplicate or missing email addresses, and numbers without a country code cause most failures.
Two options delete things. Remove existing contacts which are not received from the backend deletes anyone missing from the source at the next sync, and Erase existing value if empty value is received clears fields the source leaves blank. Both are right for a directory you trust completely and destructive for a partial export. Decide deliberately rather than accepting the defaults.
What the import does and does not set
Imported users land in the Default permission group unless you choose another one. Licences are a separate matter: check the License type afterwards and make sure you hold enough of the right kind first, because importing forty people while holding thirty licences leaves ten unable to sign in.
One exception applies on x-hoppers: an imported user with an empty License type is given the Service licence. That is not a small plan, it is a licence that cannot register a phone or sign in to anything at all. It exists for virtual users such as park orbits, so anybody who lands on it by accident is completely locked out.
Importing contacts
Contacts go into a phonebook rather than into the system as a whole, so start from Users > Phonebooks, pick or create the phonebook, then import. Full international format on every number, or incoming calls will not match the entry and you lose the name lookup that made this worth doing.
In a WMS network each PBX keeps its own phonebooks, so an import has to be repeated per system rather than done once centrally.
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