Send texts from a spreadsheet: check your list first

The checker marks rows that can't be texted or would be texted twice.

The checker recognizes common header names: First name, Last name, Name, Company, Phone, Mobile, Cell, Number. With no header row, it guesses: the phone column is the number, the next text column the name.

What you get back. A count of ready rows, a list of problem rows to fix in your spreadsheet, a cleaned CSV with four columns (first name, last name, company, phone), and a button that opens the ready rows in our free send list in this browser tab. Nothing goes into the web address.

Export from Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers as CSV.

• Excel: File, then Save As (or Save a Copy), then choose "CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited)."
• Google Sheets: File, then Download, then "Comma Separated Values (.csv)."
• Numbers on iPhone or Mac: Share or Export, then CSV.

If your sheet has several tabs (clients, vendors, staff), export each one separately.

Routes using a service's number are built for volume; phone routes keep your own.

The phone routes keep your own number but need you to tap Send for every text.

Mail merge means one template, many people, each copy with that person's details. In a text it's usually just the name: "Hi {firstName}," becomes "Hi Sam," for Sam and "Hi Priya," for Priya. Messages on iPhone has no merge fields; Apple's Pages merges into documents, not texts. So the merge has to happen somewhere else: in a texting service, in our free send list, or in an app.

Two things to know before you merge:

• Only the columns you have. Batchrunner fills first name, last name and company per person. Anything else that differs per person (a time, an amount, a slot) needs its own send, or a text to that person on their own.
• A merged name doesn't make a text private by itself. Privacy comes from sending one conversation per person. In Batchrunner 2.2, include {firstName} to open one conversation per person; without a merge token, a batch can open as a group.

The full rules, with sources, are on texting customers: consent and opt-out basics. Not legal advice. For this job:

• Only people who gave you their number for this. A spreadsheet of customers who asked for appointment texts is fine for those texts. A list from a vendor, an event attendee export or scraped numbers isn't.
• Business texts include "Reply STOP to opt out." When someone opts out, delete them from the spreadsheet and any group before your next send. Nothing on this site or in Batchrunner processes STOP for you.
• You're a business sender, even on your own phone. CTIA counts anyone texting on behalf of a business as a "Non-Consumer."

Batchrunner opens Messages; you tap Send for each recipient.

Contacts stay on your phone and messages go through Messages; there's no Batchrunner server. iOS picks iMessage, SMS or RCS per text. Prices and limits: Batchrunner for iPhone.