> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vocily.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # WhatsApp contacts and groups > Manage Vocily WhatsApp contacts, groups, imports, and marketing consent. Contacts and groups are Vocily-managed workspace records for organizing WhatsApp recipients. Use this page to create an address book, group contacts into campaign audiences, open one-to-one chats, and manage marketing consent. ## What this page manages This page manages data inside Vocily: * **Contacts** — customer phone numbers, display names, added date, and marketing consent status. * **Groups** — reusable Vocily audience lists made from contacts. * **Memberships** — which contacts belong to which Vocily groups. * **Marketing eligibility** — whether a phone number is opted in, opted out, or has no recorded marketing consent. This page does not create WhatsApp app groups for customers. It also does not replace the WhatsApp Business Account, connected WhatsApp number, approved templates, or Meta messaging rules used when messages are sent. Contacts are created when your team adds them manually or imports them by CSV. Incoming WhatsApp messages are shown in Monitoring, but they do not automatically add every sender to this contact list. ## Page layout The Contacts and groups page has two main areas: | Area | What you can do | | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Contact Groups sidebar** | View **All contacts**, search groups, create a new group, edit a group, delete a group, and switch between groups. | | **Contacts table** | Search contacts, filter by marketing consent, filter by added date, sort by name, open chat, edit a contact, copy or move contacts between groups, remove contacts from a group, and delete contacts. | The **All contacts** row shows the workspace contact list. Selecting a group shows only contacts in that group. ## Contact fields Each contact row is keyed by WhatsApp phone number. | Field | What it means | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Name** | The display name shown in Contacts, Monitoring, and campaign audience views. | | **Phone** | The WhatsApp phone number. Vocily stores the normalized digits-only number after removing spaces, plus signs, and punctuation. | | **Marketing consent** | The current marketing eligibility badge for the phone number. | | **Added** | When the contact row was created in Vocily. | | **Actions** | Open chat, copy to group, move to group, edit, remove from group, or delete. Available actions depend on the current view and your permissions. | Phone numbers must normalize to 7–15 digits. Include the country code when adding or importing contacts. ## Add contacts manually Use **New contact** when you want to add a small set of contacts directly from the UI. The manual add dialog starts with multiple rows. For each row, enter: | Field | What it does | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Name** | Optional display name for the contact. | | **Phone** | Required WhatsApp phone number. | | **Consent source** | Where the marketing consent came from, such as **Website form**, **Checkout checkbox**, **Physical form**, **CRM import**, **Manual by agent**, or **WhatsApp keyword**. | You can also choose a target group before saving. If a group is selected, Vocily creates the contacts and then adds the new phone numbers to that group. If the same phone number appears more than once in the manual rows, Vocily keeps one row for that phone number. If a phone number already exists in the workspace, that row is not created again. ## Import contacts by CSV Use **Import** when you need to add many contacts. The import wizard has three steps: 1. **Upload** — drop a CSV file or browse from your computer. 2. **Preview** — map the phone, name, and consent source columns, then review valid and invalid rows. 3. **Assign Group** — optionally choose an existing group or create a new group for the imported contacts. The required column is a phone column. Vocily can detect common phone headers such as `phone`, `mobile`, `number`, `contact_wa_id`, and `whatsapp`. Optional columns include: | CSV column | What Vocily uses it for | | ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `name` or `display_name` | Contact display name. | | `consent_source` | Per-row marketing consent source. If omitted, the default consent source selected in the wizard is used. | Before import, the preview shows: * how many rows are valid; * how many rows are invalid; * the detected phone, name, and consent source values; * a preview table for the first rows in the file. During import: * Invalid phone rows are rejected with row-level errors. * Duplicate phone numbers inside the same file are reported as duplicates. * Phone numbers that already exist in the workspace are skipped, not overwritten. * Imported contacts can be assigned to a group after import. ## Groups Groups are Vocily-managed audiences. They are used for organizing contacts and selecting recipients for WhatsApp campaigns. From the group sidebar, you can: * create a group; * search groups; * edit a group name and description; * delete a group; * select a group to view only its members. A contact can belong to multiple groups. Deleting a group removes only the Vocily grouping and its memberships. It does not delete the contacts, remove customers from WhatsApp, or affect conversations. ## Move, copy, remove, and delete contacts The Contacts table supports single-row and bulk actions. | Action | What it does | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Open chat** | Opens the contact in WhatsApp Monitoring. If no message is sent, the draft thread is temporary. | | **Copy to group** | Adds the contact, selected page, or selected filter result to another group. Existing members are skipped. | | **Move to group** | Available when viewing a group. Adds the contact or selection to another group, then removes it from the current group. | | **Remove from group** | Available when viewing a group. Removes the membership only; the contact remains in the workspace and can stay in other groups. | | **Delete contact** | Deletes the contact row from the workspace and removes it from all groups. Marketing opt-out history for that phone number is preserved separately. | When selecting rows, you can work with only the visible page or select all contacts that match the current filter, search, or group view. Bulk actions use the same current scope. ## Search and filters Use the table controls to narrow the list before acting. | Control | What it filters | | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Search contacts** | Matches contact name or phone number. | | **Marketing consent filter** | Shows all contacts, opted-in contacts, or opted-out contacts. | | **Added date filter** | Filters contacts by when they were added, including preset and custom date ranges. | | **Name sort** | Sorts contacts by display name. | | **Group selection** | Shows all contacts or only contacts in the selected group. | The total count and pagination update based on the active group and filters, so a bulk selection applies to the same set you are viewing. ## Marketing consent Marketing consent is stored by phone number. It is separate from the visible contact row and separate from the support conversation. | State | What it means | | ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Marketing consented** | The phone number has recorded marketing consent and can be used for marketing templates and campaigns when the rest of the WhatsApp rules are satisfied. | | **Marketing opted out** | The customer replied `STOP` to a template with an opt-out footer, or a team member marked the phone number opted out. Vocily blocks marketing templates and campaigns for that phone number. | | **No marketing consent** | The contact exists in Vocily, but no explicit marketing consent is recorded. Treat this as not eligible for marketing sends. | Editing a contact lets a team member mark a phone number opted in or opted out. Marking a previously opted-out phone number back in requires choosing a consent source and confirming that valid external consent exists. If a customer gives consent again, edit the contact to update its marketing consent. Choose a consent source and confirm that valid external consent exists before marking the contact as opted in. ## What marketing opt-out blocks Marketing opt-out blocks future marketing templates and campaigns for that phone number. It does not: * delete the contact; * remove the contact from groups; * close the support conversation; * block appropriate utility or authentication templates; * block allowed one-to-one replies inside the customer-service window. When a customer replies `STOP` to a marketing template that includes opt-out instructions in its footer, Vocily records the marketing opt-out and keeps the support conversation active. ## What's next * Build approved messages in [Templates](/whatsapp/templates). * Send campaigns in [WhatsApp campaigns](/whatsapp/campaigns). * Review conversations in [Monitoring and inbox](/whatsapp/monitoring-inbox).