---
title: "How to import a CSV file of email addresses into phpList"
description: "During our testing of phpList and the rate limiting feature it has available, we had the need to import a large number of email addresses into a mailing list. Just like us, if you already have a list..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/phplist/import-csv-into-phplist/
date: 2011-12-21
modified: 2026-04-23
author: "Brad Markle"
categories: ["phpList"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# How to import a CSV file of email addresses into phpList

During [our testing of phpList](/support/edu/phplist/install-php-list/) and the [rate limiting feature](/support/email/rate-limit-phplist/) it has available, we had the need to import a large number of email addresses into a mailing list. Just like us, if you already have a list of email addresses and you need to import them into phpList, you’ll need to also know how to import email addresses in bulk.

In our example, we imported a CSV file with almost 400 email addresses in it. This is what part of our CSV file looked like:

bulk000@inmotiontesting.com,bulk001@inmotiontesting.com,bulk002@inmotiontesting.com,bulk003@inmotiontesting.com

As you can see, it is a simple text file full of email address, and each email address is separated by a comma.

**To import a CSV file into phpList:**

1. Log into your phpList Admin (if you’re following along with our example, we visited phplist.inmotiontesting.com/phplist/admin)
2. Click “Manage Users” in the right menu
3. Click “Import Users”
4. Click the link, “import emails with the same values for attributes.”
5.
   - At the top of the page you’ll see a list of your mailing lists. Check the lists that you would like to import the email addresses to.
   - Next to “File containing emails”, click browse and select the CSV file on your computer
   - For “Record Delimiter”, enter a comma ,
   - If you want all of the email addresses to be sent a confirmation message before they are subscribed, select the “Send Notification email” option. Otherwise, to automatically subscribe each user, click “Make confirmed immediately”
   - Click “Import”[![mass_import_page_screen_in_phplist](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_mass_import_page_screen_in_phplist.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_mass_import_page_screen_in_phplist.gif)
6. When the import has been successful, you should see a page similar to the below:[![what-it-looks-like-after-importing-users-into-phplist](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_what-it-looks-like-after-importing-users-into-phplist.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_what-it-looks-like-after-importing-users-into-phplist.gif)

To confirm that you have imported the users, click “lists” in the right menu. The list you subscribed your users to should have increased:
[![successful-phplist-import](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_successful-phplist-import.gif)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phplist_successful-phplist-import.gif)