Skip to content
Wbiztool

Product guides

WhatsApp contacts: everyone your workspace has messaged

The Contacts page lists every phone number and WhatsApp group your workspace has sent a message to. Use it to look someone up, see whether a number is a group or a WhatsApp Business account, and export the list to a CSV file.

Who can do it: Owners and Editors of the workspace, on every plan, including the free trial. Analysts don't see Contacts in the sidebar, and opening the page shows "Contacts are for owners and editors". Owners and Editors of a workspace see the same list. Each workspace has its own contacts: switch workspace to see another one.

Click Contacts in the sidebar, or go to /contacts/.

The Contacts page in a browser window, with Contacts selected in the sidebar: the search box, the Export CSV button, the All, People, Groups and Business tabs with their counts, and the newest contacts with their Business, Group and Saved in phone badges

Find a contact#

  1. Open Contacts

    Click Contacts in the sidebar. The list shows 25 contacts per page, the most recently added first.

  2. Search

    Type in Search a name or number: a name, a group's name or any part of a number. The list updates as you type.

  3. Pick a type

    Click People, Groups or Business to see only those, or All to see everyone. The count on each tab is for your current search.

The contacts list with a customer's name typed in the search box (2) and the People tab selected (3): one match, marked Saved in phone, with the date it was added
  • Numbers can be typed any way. Only the digits count, and leading zeros are ignored: +91 98765 43210, (91) 98765-43210, 43210 and the local 098765 43210 all find 919876543210.
  • Anything with letters finds that text anywhere in a name or a group's name, in upper or lower case.
  • People is everyone who isn't a group, WhatsApp Business numbers included. Business lists only the numbers marked as WhatsApp Business (see Names, Business and Saved in phone).
  • The list is sorted by when each contact was added, not by your last message to it.
  • Move between pages with Previous and Next under the list (with more than 3 pages, « and » jump to the first and last page). The line beside them shows, for example, "1,286 results · page 1 of 52".
  • Your search, tab and page are kept in the page's address, so reloading, or coming back with the browser's Back button, keeps your list, and you can bookmark it.

What each row shows#

On the pageWhat it shows
ContactThe contact's name with its number below. A contact without a name shows its number, with No name saved below. A group shows its name, with WhatsApp group below.
GroupA WhatsApp group you've sent messages to.
BusinessThe number uses WhatsApp Business.
Saved in phoneThe number is saved in the phone contacts of the WhatsApp number whose sync last read it.
AddedWhen the contact was saved: when your workspace first queued a message to it, even if that message later failed or was cancelled. Shown in your computer's time zone.

A name that only repeats the number, such as +91 98765 43210 or Sheet Contact 919876543210, counts as no name: the page shows the number with No name saved. The CSV keeps the name as it was saved.

Export contacts to CSV#

  1. Narrow the list (optional)

    Pick a tab or type a search. The file holds exactly the contacts the list shows, from every page, newest first. With All and no search, that's every contact.

  2. Click Export CSV

    Click Export CSV at the top right of the list. Your browser downloads a file named like contacts_20261015_1430.csv.

  3. Open the file

    Open it in Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet app. Names in any alphabet show correctly.

The contacts list on the People tab (1) with the Export CSV button outlined (2): the newest people with their Saved in phone badges, one of them with No name saved

The file has these columns:

ColumnWhat it holds
NameThe contact's name. A contact without one has its number here, or Sheet Contact followed by the number if a Google Sheets trigger messaged it first.
NumberThe number as saved, digits only (without a country code if it was saved without one, see Where contacts come from). For a group, the group's name.
TypeContact or Group.
BusinessYes for WhatsApp Business numbers, otherwise No.
Saved in phoneYes or No, as the badge on the page.
AddedWhen the contact was saved, such as 2026-10-15 14:30, in your computer's time zone, as on the page. The time in the file name is in your time zone too.
  • A cell that starts with =, +, - or @, such as a name saved as +91 98765 43210, gets a ' in front, so the spreadsheet doesn't run it as a formula.
  • Export CSV isn't shown on phone-sized screens. Use a computer or a wider window.

Use the file#

  • Check which numbers are on WhatsApp: add the file as it is in Number verification, on the Standard plan and above, within your plan's limit per list. It reads the Number column and skips the groups.
  • Message your contacts by name: export the People tab and add the file in Template messages. Number is picked as the Send to (column), and {{Name}} in your message puts in each name. Check the Name column first: a contact without a name has its number there (sometimes with a ' in front), or Sheet Contact and the number. Replace or clear those cells, or {{Name}} puts them into your message. To skip numbers that aren't on WhatsApp, check the file in Number verification first. Template messages need a paid plan.

Reuse a contact in a quick message#

In the Send a message card on the Dashboard, type at least two letters of a contact's name or two digits of its number under Numbers, then click it in the list that opens. With Send to set to Groups, your saved groups are suggested instead. See Send a quick message.

Campaigns, template messages and reminders don't pick from Contacts: they take the numbers from your sheet or from the reminder.

Where contacts come from#

A contact is saved the first time your workspace sends a message to a number or group that isn't in the list yet. The name it starts with depends on where the message came from:

Sent fromSaved with the name
Send a message on the Dashboard, or Send test message on NumbersThe number
CampaignsThe number, or the group's name
Template messagesThe number
Reminders, when one first sendsThe number or group name in the reminder
The send message APIs, also used by Zapier, Make, n8n and WordPressThe number, or the group's name
Google Sheets triggersSheet Contact and the number
Shopify order notificationsThe number
Your replies in the Unibox inboxThe chat's name in the inbox
  • Each number and each group name is saved once per workspace, however often you message it.
  • A number stays in the list even if the message to it failed (for example, the number isn't on WhatsApp) or was cancelled. Contacts isn't a list of numbers that are on WhatsApp: use Number verification for that.
  • Numbers are saved as digits with the country code, without +, spaces, brackets or leading zeros. A number without its country code in Send a message, Send test message, campaigns, template messages, reminders or Google Sheets triggers gets the country code of the WhatsApp number chosen to send it (or else, and for reminders from any connected number, the workspace's Country for numbers without a country code), and is saved with it. When no country is known, it's saved as it was written.
  • A number sent through the API's send endpoints without its country code is saved without it, as a separate contact. Reminders created with the API are completed when they run.
  • A group is saved under its name exactly as it was typed, so Family Group and family group are two contacts.
  • People who write to your inbox numbers appear in the Unibox inbox, not here, until you reply to them from the inbox.
  • Your phone's address book isn't imported: people you've never messaged from Wbiztool aren't in the list.

Names, Business and Saved in phone#

Shortly after you connect a WhatsApp number (not one connected through the browser extension), Wbiztool reads that number's WhatsApp contacts once and updates the matching contacts that are already in your list:

  • Name: the name saved for them in that phone's contacts, or else their WhatsApp profile name.
  • Business: added when the number uses WhatsApp Business.
  • Saved in phone: added when the number is saved in that phone's contacts.

The sync never adds contacts. It runs once for each WhatsApp number, and again only if you reconnect that number with a different phone. So someone you message for the first time later keeps their number as their name, and names you change in your phone afterwards aren't picked up. With several numbers, each one's sync can change the name, Business and Saved in phone, and the last sync wins.

Troubleshooting#

ProblemWhat to do
No Contacts in the sidebar, or "Contacts are for owners and editors"You're an Analyst in this workspace. Ask an Owner to make you an Editor, see Roles and permissions.
"No contacts yet"Nothing has been sent from this workspace yet, or another workspace is selected: check the workspace picker at the top of the dashboard.
"No contacts match “…”"Check the spelling, or search a part of the number instead. Click Clear search to see everyone.
"No groups yet", "No people match “…”" or similar on a tabNothing of that type matches. Click Show all types. Business stays empty until the contact sync has marked a number.
A number you messaged is missingCheck that the right workspace is selected, and search only the last digits: a number sent through the API may be saved without its country code. Messages people send you don't add them until you reply from the Unibox inbox.
No name saved under a numberYou first messaged this number after the one-time sync of your connected numbers, it isn't in those phones' WhatsApp contacts, a Google Sheets trigger messaged it first, or WhatsApp didn't share its number with the sync. Names can't be typed in by hand.
A name is wrong or out of dateNames come from a phone's contacts or the person's WhatsApp profile at the time of the sync and aren't updated afterwards.
The same group is listed twiceIt was sent to with different capitals or spaces in its name, and each spelling is saved separately.
The same person is listed twice, such as 9876543210 and 919876543210A message went out without the country code: through the API, or an older message from the dashboard. Include the country code in API requests.
No Export CSV buttonYour screen or window is too narrow. Use a computer or widen the window.
A name in the CSV starts with 'It's added on purpose to names starting with =, +, - or @, so the spreadsheet doesn't run them as formulas.
A contact called redacted-…A customer of your Shopify store asked for their data to be erased, and Wbiztool removed their number.
Numbers look like 91xxxxxxxx10 and searching a number finds nothingYou're in the demo account, which hides numbers. Search by name.
A red bar with Try againThe list couldn't load. Click Try again, or reload the page.