Moving from Another Provider
Bring your past WhatsApp conversations over from your previous provider, so your team keeps the full history of every chat.
What it does
When you switch to us, your old conversations do not have to stay behind. Ask your previous provider for a chat export, upload it, and the messages appear in the shared inbox in the right threads, with the right dates. Importing history sends nothing to your contacts, triggers no automations, and costs nothing.
Chat history import is available on plans that include it.
Before you start
- Connect your WhatsApp number first. Imported history is attached to the number it was sent from.
- Import your contacts first if you also want their tags and custom fields. See Importing Contacts.
- Get a full chat or conversation export from your previous provider. CSV, Excel (
.xlsx) and JSON all work.
The export needs one row per message, with the contact's phone number, the message text, when it was sent, and who sent it (a direction or sender column). Media links, contact names, message IDs and delivery status are picked up when present.
Importing your history
- Open WhatsApp Chats, click the Chat options gear above the chat list, and choose Import chat history.
- Pick your Previous provider (or Other provider) and the WhatsApp number these chats belong to.
- Click Choose export file and select your export.
- Map your columns. The wizard matches what it can. Check that phone (or from / to), message text or media, date, and direction or sender are all mapped. Anything you do not need can be set to Don't import this column.
- Set the options (below) and click Preview.
- Review the figures and the sample of messages, then click Import messages.
Options on the mapping screen
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Times in the file are in | The time zone your old provider used. Ignored for timestamps that already carry their own offset. |
| Dates like 03/04/2026 mean | Day first (3 April) or month first (March 4). |
| Country for numbers without a code | Added to local numbers. Workspace default suits most files. |
| Messages already imported before | Merge keeps them and adds only new messages. Override refreshes them from this file. |
| Add numbers not yet in Customers | Creates a customer for each new number. No welcome flows fire for them. |
| Copy media to our storage | Keeps images and files viewable after your old provider's links stop working. |
| Open imported chats as read | Keeps your unread count to genuinely new messages. |
Either way, nothing is duplicated, and messages that reached your inbox live are never changed by an import.
The review screen
Before anything is saved you see the date range covered and tiles for Messages, Received, Sent, Contacts, With media, Already here and Unreadable, plus a sample table of what will be imported. If the numbers look wrong, click Back to mapping and adjust.
After the import
Progress shows rows imported, refreshed, already there and failed, plus new contacts and media copied. When it finishes:
- Open the inbox to see the imported conversations in place.
- Download failed rows to see which rows could not be read and why.
- Import another file if your provider split the export into parts.
Undoing an import
Every import is listed under Previous imports with its file, provider, status and message count. To undo one, open its row menu and choose Delete imported messages. This removes the messages that import added, and their media. Contacts it created stay.
Good to know
- Turn on Copy media to our storage before you close your old account. Once you leave, their links stop working.
- You can import in several files. Overlapping rows are recognised, so nothing appears twice.
- Only team members allowed to delete conversations see Delete imported messages. Ask a workspace admin if you need an import undone.
Import contacts first, then chat history. Your team gets the full picture of every customer from day one.
