# Importing Contacts is taking a very long time!

**URL:** <https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Created:** [June 26, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962 "2020-06-26T02:47:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hermanblau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/hermanblau/32/668_2.png) [@hermanblau](https://forum.mautic.org/u/hermanblau)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/1 "2020-06-26T02:47:21Z")

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Hello! I’ve followed the instructions below but am still finding that my Mautic installation takes a VERY LONG time to upload a list of contacts: [https://www.devside.net/wamp-server/apache-and-php-limits-and-timeouts](https://www.devside.net/wamp-server/apache-and-php-limits-and-timeouts)

Have you guys found anything else that’s helpful to speed up the import process?

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**Author:** ![joeyk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/joeyk/32/11164_2.png) [@joeyk](https://forum.mautic.org/u/joeyk)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2020, 6:24am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/2 "2020-06-26T06:24:48Z")

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Hi,  
questions:

- are we talking about 1 million or 10.000 ?
- are you using batch import (background) or browser?  
Thx

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**Author:** ![hermanblau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/hermanblau/32/668_2.png) [@hermanblau](https://forum.mautic.org/u/hermanblau)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/3 "2020-06-28T19:52:02Z")

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The list is around 45,000.  
We are using browser.

Thank you for the help!

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**Author:** ![silavapi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/silavapi/32/7424_2.png) [@silavapi](https://forum.mautic.org/u/silavapi)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/4 "2020-06-28T20:12:02Z")

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Strongly recommend you using the Cron-based background import rather than browser based with those numbers!

Also as a side note, we use gender inclusive language in this community, please use ‘folks’ or alternatives rather than ‘guys’ 🙂

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**Author:** ![hermanblau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/hermanblau/32/668_2.png) [@hermanblau](https://forum.mautic.org/u/hermanblau)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/5 "2020-06-28T20:19:24Z")

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Thank you for the suggestion! Where could I get some more information and directions about using Cron-based background import?

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**Author:** ![silavapi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/silavapi/32/7424_2.png) [@silavapi](https://forum.mautic.org/u/silavapi)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/6 "2020-06-28T21:01:18Z")

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[https://docs.mautic.org/en/contacts/import-contacts#background-import](https://docs.mautic.org/en/contacts/import-contacts#background-import) 🙂

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**Author:** ![joeyk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/joeyk/32/11164_2.png) [@joeyk](https://forum.mautic.org/u/joeyk)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:44am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-contacts-is-taking-a-very-long-time/14962/7 "2020-06-30T08:44:25Z")

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Just a comment to the import topic.

I hear it over and over again, that import is too slow.  
Import is not fast anywhere else either. It takes lots of resources to import/merge/verify data.  
I think it makes sense to make it even slower (and safer) with cron jobs by using the following settings:  
If you run the import cron every 5 min, can use:  
mautic:import --limit=2500

If your freshly imported data will trigger segments to update, you should limit that as well:  
mautic:segment:update --batch-limit=2000

If your 45.000 contacts start receiving emails, you might want to set your cron accordingly:  
mautic:emails:send --message-limit=2000

Will it send “slow”? Yes. Buit it will be stable.

Good luck  
PS: slow sending is good for inboxing
