Export Contacts to CSV | Constant Contact Developer

Bulk Activities - Export Contacts Endpoint

Use this endpoint to create asynchronous background jobs that exports the members of a specified contact list to a comma separated value (CSV) file.

Methods:

Click a method to view its documentation

POST

DescriptionTOP

Privileges required: contacts:write

Export the members of a contact list to a RFC 4180 compliant .CSV file. In the JSON request body you need to specify the following properties:

lists array
file_type
sort_by
export_date_added
export_added_by
column_names

See the Structure section for details and values for these properties.

column_names array

The column_names array lists the contact properties to include in the exported file. See the JSON Structure table below for valid column names to use. If the first contact does not have a valid email address, then the request fails and no contacts are exported. "Email" must be included in column_names, or the activity will fail.

Deprecated column_names

The following columns names have been deprecated for export as of the May 5, 2014 update:

SUB ZIP/POSTAL CODE
MIDDLE NAME
US STATE/CA PROVINCE

Existing integrations using these column names will not return errors, but the API ignores these columns.

Export system generated lists

You can export the following system generated contact lists that are filtered by contact status by specifying them as follows in the lists array (include only a single list in the array):

active
opted-out
removed

View contact status definitions here.

Activity status

You can poll the URI returned in the response's location header to monitor the status of the export activity. You must include the access_token and api_key when making a GET call to the activity status report endpoint:

https://api.constantcontact.com/v2/activities/<activity_id>?api_key=<api_key>

The activity has finished once the status is returned as either COMPLETE or ERROR. The activity status response structure is detailed here.

How to get the exported file

Once the activity completes processing (status = COMPLETE or ERROR in the activity status report), the status report will also include the file_name property, which is the URL where the file is hosted. The value of this property is a URI that points to the location of the exported file. To retrieve the file, make a GET call to the URI, be sure to include the access_token and api_key in the call.

GET <file_name>?api_key=<api_key>

name	type	default	description
POST: https://api.constantcontact.com/v2/activities/exportcontacts
api_key	query		REQUIRED; The API key for the application

Example JSON Request BodyTOP

{
"file_type": "CSV",
	"sort_by": "EMAIL_ADDRESS",
	"export_date_added": true,
	"export_added_by": true,
	"lists": [
		"6"
	],
	"column_names": [
		"Email",
		"First Name",
		"Last Name",
		"Contact ID"
		"Job Title",
		"Company Name",
		"Work Phone",
		"Home Phone",
		"Address Line 1",
		"Address Line 2",
		"Address Line 3",
		"City",
		"State",
		"Country",
		"Zip/Postal Code",
		"Custom field 1",
		"Custom field 3",
		"Custom field 6",
		"Custom field 15"
	]
}

Response CodesTOP

code	description
201	Request was successful
400	Bad Request; Error in validating a contact
401	Authentication failure
429	We couldn't complete your request because you have too many other requests in progress. Please try again later.
500	Internal server error occurred

StructureTOP

property	type(max length)	description
column_names	array	REQUIRED. Contains a list of the contact properties (column names) to include in the exported file. Valid column names are as follows, and are case sensitive: Email First Name Last Name Contact ID Job Title Company Name Work Phone Home Phone Address Line 1 to 3 City State Country Zip/Postal Code Custom field 1 to 15
export_added_by	boolean	If set to true, this property adds a column showing who added/removed the contact to/from the list
export_date_added	boolean	If set to true, this property adds a column showing the date that each contact was added to list
file_type	string	REQUIRED. Specifies the format of the export file; CSV is only supported value at this time.
lists	array	REQUIRED. Although this is an array, only one listId is supported. Specifies the contact list to export by listId or by on of the following system generated list names: active opted-out removed List names are case-insensitive.
sort_by	string	REQUIRED. Defines the sort order of the export file, as follows: EMAIL_ADDRESS - ascending a to z sort by email address DATE_DESC - descending numerical sort by date contact was added to the list

Response StructureTOP

property	type(max length)	description
contact_count	string	Displays the number of contacts that were processed, and is meaningful only after the activity is completed; the value is not predictable if the activity has not yet been processed. (Read Only)
error_count	string	Displays the number of errors encountered, and is meaningful only after the activity is completed; the value is not predeictable if the activity has not yet been processed. (Read Only)
id	string	Unique ID for the activity (Read Only)
type	string	EXPORT_CONTACTS - export contacts to a supported file type (Read Only)

Example ResponseTOP

{
"id": "a07e1ilb9z7hdeo0iin",
"type": "EXPORT_CONTACTS",
"error_count": 0,
"contact_count": 1350
}