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CSV Import Guide

Import your existing customer list from any system

CSV Import Guide

How to prepare and upload your customer list to Tadhkir

Required Columns

Your CSV file must include these three columns (header names are flexible):

Data Accepted Header Names Required
Customer name Name, name, Full Name ✅
Phone number Phone, phone, Mobile ✅
Last visit date Last Visit, last_visit, Visit ✅

File Format

  • File type: .csv (comma-separated)
  • Encoding: UTF-8 (important for Arabic names)
  • Max rows: No hard limit, but we recommend batches of 1,000 for large imports

Example CSV

Name,Phone,Last Visit
Fatima Al Rashidi,+966501234567,2024-08-15
Mohammed Al Harbi,0501112233,2024-06-01
Sarah Johnson,+447891234567,2024-09-20
Amina Musa,+2348012345678,2024-07-30

Phone Number Format

Tadhkir accepts multiple formats and auto-normalises them:

Input Normalised to Notes
+966501234567 +966501234567 ✅ Preferred — international format
0501234567 +966501234567 ✅ Gulf local format auto-converted
00966501234567 +966501234567 ✅ IDD prefix stripped
501234567 +501234567 ⚠️ May fail — too short
abc rejected ❌ Invalid

For non-Gulf numbers: Always use international format with the + country code (e.g. +447891234567 for UK, +12125551234 for USA, +2348012345678 for Nigeria).

Date Format

Last Visit must be in YYYY-MM-DD format:

Input Valid? Notes
2024-08-15 ✅ ISO 8601 — preferred
15/08/2024 ❌ Will fail validation
Aug 15 2024 ❌ Will fail validation
2024-13-45 ❌ Invalid month/day

Tip: In Excel/Sheets, format the date column as YYYY-MM-DD before exporting to CSV. In Google Sheets: Format → Number → More formats → yyyy-mm-dd.

Validation Rules

Tadhkir validates each row before importing:

Check Rule
Name Must be present (not empty)
Phone Must be at least 9 digits after stripping non-numeric characters
Date Must be a valid date in YYYY-MM-DD format

Rows that fail validation are shown in red during the review step. You can proceed with valid rows only, or fix the CSV and re-upload.

Step-by-Step Import

  1. Go to Dashboard → Customers → click Import CSV (Or complete during onboarding Step 2)
  2. Click Choose File and select your .csv file
  3. Tadhkir parses the file and shows a Review screen:
    • Green rows = valid, ready to import
    • Red rows = validation errors — hover to see the reason
  4. Click Import Valid Rows to proceed
  5. Tadhkir inserts all valid customers and calculates their next_reminder_date automatically based on your business vertical

Common Errors & Fixes

Error Cause Fix
"Invalid date format" Date is not YYYY-MM-DD Reformat the date column before export
"Invalid phone" Phone number too short or has letters Check the number includes country code
"Missing name" Name column is blank Fill in all name fields
"Column not found" CSV headers don't match expected names Rename headers to Name, Phone, Last Visit
Arabic text garbled Wrong encoding Save CSV as UTF-8 (not ANSI)

After Import

  • Each customer's next_reminder_date is automatically calculated (last visit + vertical interval)
  • Customers with a next_reminder_date in the past appear immediately in the Recall Engine as overdue
  • You can view all imported customers in Dashboard → Customers
  • To edit a customer's details, click their record in the customer directory