Bulk WhatsApp messages from Excel: the official way step by step, without saving numbers and without a ban
How to turn an Excel file into a bulk WhatsApp campaign the official way: preparing the file (international number, consent), importing to the dashboard, the approved template, sending without saving to a phone, Meta's limits, the cost — and why "send from PC" programs get banned.
The ArabyBot teamOfficial Meta partner · written from our own platform dataOn this page 3
The short answer
The official way: prepare the Excel file (CSV or XLSX) with a column for the number in international format, upload it to Contacts on the dashboard so the numbers are imported without being saved on your phone, then send the campaign on a Meta-approved template through the WhatsApp Business API to people who opted in — with the count governed by Meta's daily limit and your plan's monthly campaign recipients. The programs that read Excel and send from your regular number are the ones that get banned, and their low price is the price of your number.
Also asked as: «ابعت واتساب جماعي من اكسل» · «ارسال رسائل واتساب من ملف اكسل» · «كيف أرسل لقائمة أرقام من إكسل» · «رفع ارقام اكسل واتساب»
Two methods with the same name, and only one keeps your number
| Item | A program that reads Excel and sends from your regular number | Importing the file into the WhatsApp Business API |
|---|---|---|
| How it sends | A WhatsApp Web session on your phone | Meta's servers under your business, no phone |
| Saving numbers | Sometimes required, reaches only those who saved you | No saving — imported from the file |
| Ban | A matter of time | No, as long as the template is approved and the recipient opted in |
| Cap | Whatever slips through before the ban | A daily limit that starts at 250 recipients and rises with quality to unlimited |
| Personalising by name | Sometimes | Not yet: template variables take one value for the whole campaign |
| Who answers the replies | You, from your phone | The AI agent or the team from one inbox |
| Cost | Cheap — then a locked number | Meta's marketing rate per message on your account |
The official way in six steps
- Prepare the file: one number per row, international format
A column for the number: 2010xxxxxxxx for Egypt, 9665xxxxxxxx for Saudi Arabia, no leading zero, plus sign or spaces. Other columns such as a name are not imported, so you do not need them. Keep only people who agreed to receive your messages — the most important condition in the whole file.
- Save as CSV or XLSX
From Excel: Save as → CSV UTF-8, or keep the file as XLSX. Only the old XLS format is refused, so save it in one of the two. A text file, or numbers pasted straight in, are accepted too.
- Import into Contacts
WhatsApp → Contacts → Import: drag the file into the box. The system detects numbers automatically even from a mixed-column file, up to 20,000 at a time, skips duplicates, and places them in a group you name ("White Friday customers"). Nothing is saved on any phone.
- Get the template approved at Meta
A bulk message is a template: fixed text whose variables such as {{1}} are filled when you create the campaign with one value everyone receives — the offer or its end date, not each customer's name. Add a button if you like. It is submitted to Meta from the dashboard, and review can take up to 24 hours. Say in it how the customer can stop your messages: someone who finds a way to stop has no need to report you.
- Create the campaign and pick the group
Campaigns → new → template → the variable text → the imported group → time (Cairo time, the platform's clock). Choose a time your customers read (evening), and split a large list into several groups and campaigns at successive times so the first replies come in before the last messages leave.
- Let the agent answer whoever replies
A reply to the campaign opens a 24-hour service window; the agent answers "in stock?" and "how much is shipping?" from your files or store and hands the team what it does not know. Whoever stops your marketing messages through WhatsApp's own control is skipped for marketing templates automatically, but whoever writes "STOP" is not excluded on their own: tag them and exclude the tag in the next campaign.
Everything people mean by those phrases is done by the import above: the file comes from the computer, the numbers are saved on no phone, and sending is from the browser or the app. The only difference from the programs promising the same is that this way still works a month later.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to save the numbers on my phone?
No. On the WhatsApp Business API there is no phone at all: numbers are imported to the dashboard from the file, and messages leave from Meta's servers under your business name. "Saving the number" belongs to the regular WhatsApp app and its broadcast lists, which only reach people who saved you back.
What should the file look like?
One number per row in international format (2010… for Egypt, 9665… for Saudi Arabia) with no leading zero or plus sign. The system accepts CSV, XLSX and text files, or numbers you paste, up to 20,000 per import; an old XLS file you first save from Excel as CSV or XLSX. It picks out the numbers alone, even in a mixed-column file, and ignores the rest, so a name column is not imported.
Is there a cap on recipients?
Three limits: one import takes up to 20,000 numbers, each plan carries a monthly number of campaign recipients shown on the pricing page, and above both sits Meta's limit. Meta's limit starts at 250 unique recipients in any 24 hours, then 2,000 after business verification or after delivering 2,000 high-quality messages within 30 days, then 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited automatically while quality stays high and you used half your limit in the last seven days. Business verification.
Why do "send from PC" programs get banned?
Because they run a WhatsApp Web session of a regular number and send from it automatically, which is exactly what Meta detects: dozens of identical messages to numbers that never wrote to you, from a number with no business identity. The ban is a matter of time, and a banned number takes years of conversations with it. The real reasons for bans.
What does a bulk message cost?
A marketing template at Meta's rate for the recipient's country, on your account, with no markup from us: in Egypt about 4 EGP a message from our invoice (an estimate from one row); in Saudi Arabia we have not been billed yet, so we print no figure. Your replies inside the 24-hour window are free today — and from 1 October 2026 each phone number gets 1,000 free a month, with the rest charged at the customer's market utility rate. The subscription is separate, and each plan carries a monthly number of campaign recipients. Pricing.
How we write these guides Figures come from our platform and Meta's actual invoices, dated with their sample; we describe what works today, not what we plan, and say what we do not do and when someone else is the better choice. Reviewed by the ArabyBot team on 23 September 2026.
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