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Import contacts or Bulk Upload: which one you need

Compare Import CSV and Bulk Upload URLs, and pick the right one to add people for your email campaigns.

Written by Veronica Fletcher

Bulk Upload finds the journalists who wrote a list of articles, from the article links you paste. Import CSV adds your own people to your contacts from a CSV file. A CSV file is a spreadsheet saved as plain text with commas between columns. A contact is a person you added yourself, by hand or from a CSV file.

Use Bulk Upload when you have article links and want their authors. Use Import CSV when you already have names and email addresses in a spreadsheet. Bulk Upload is included in the 7-day free trial. Import CSV is on paid plans only.

Import CSV and Bulk Upload compared

This table lists how the two tools differ.

Bulk Upload

Import CSV

What you give it

Article links (URLs)

A “.csv” file of people

What you get

The journalists who wrote those articles, from the JournoFinder database

New contacts on your Contacts tab

Where it is

In the sidebar, Tools > Bulk Upload URLs

Outreach > Campaigns, then the Contacts tab > Import CSV

How many at once

Up to 200 URLs per bulk job

Up to 1000 rows per file

Where the people go

A media list, when you click Add To Media List

Your contacts. On a team plan, your team sees them too.

How they get into a campaign

Add the media list to the campaign

Add contacts one by one, or add every contact with a tag

Available on

The 7-day free trial and all paid plans

All paid plans. Not included in the 7-day free trial.

A media list is a saved list of journalists from the JournoFinder database. Media lists and contacts are separate. You cannot add a contact to a media list, and Bulk Upload does not create contacts. Both can go into the same campaign.

When to use Bulk Upload

Use Bulk Upload when you have links to articles and want to find who wrote them. For example, a list of articles that covered a competitor.

  1. In the sidebar, under Tools, click Bulk Upload URLs.

  2. In Enter a name for the bulk job, enter a name.

  3. Paste your article links, separated by new lines, commas or spaces.

  4. Click Start Bulk Job.

  5. When the job finishes, go to the Journos tab.

  6. Tick the journalists you want, then click Add To Media List.

If you paste more than 200 valid links, you see this message:

“The number of valid URLs exceeds the maximum allowed limit of 200.”

When to use Import CSV

Use Import CSV for people who are not in the JournoFinder database. For example, clients, bloggers, podcasters, or journalists you already have in your address book or CRM.

  1. In the sidebar, under Outreach, click Campaigns.

  2. Go to the Contacts tab.

  3. Click Import CSV.

  4. Click Choose a file and pick your “.csv” file.

Every row needs a name. Import contacts from a CSV file covers matching columns, duplicates and the review step.

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