How to turn on Contacts when imported from Excel

Cathy Handzel

I imported a list of 200 names, all known to Smartsheet, from Excel, into a column. The names show up as text values. I changed the column format to be "Contact" but the names are still text.

If I type the name into the column, it activates as a Contact. I need a way to activate the other 199 names without having to type them in one by one. How can I do that?

Kelly Drake

You'll need emails in your excel file for the contact to be activated. If you have data uploader you can import the info otherwise you'll need to copy/paste to transfer the details.

Kelly Drake

You'll need emails in your excel file for the contact to be activated. If you have data uploader you can import the info otherwise you'll need to copy/paste to transfer the details.

Cathy Handzel

Thank you, Kelly,

However, that's unfortunate, because I don't have the emails in my incoming data. Since I know all the names are recognized in Smartsheet since I can type any of them, and the Contact is activated, I was hoping I wouldn't have to provide an email, since it's already there.

Is there someway I can use a formula to take the name and lookup the email address that Smartsheet has and put that value into a column so it's active as a contact?

Thank you.