---
title: "How do you clean a contact list in Sarbacane Contacts?"
description: "Remove duplicates, mistyped addresses and non-existent domains before your next send."
url: https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/208-how-do-you-clean-a-contact-list-in-sarbacane-contacts
collection: "How to use"
updated: 2026-10-30
language: en
alternates: [fr, es]
---

# How do you clean a contact list in Sarbacane Contacts?

Remove duplicates, mistyped addresses and non-existent domains before your next send.

To clean a list in Sarbacane Contacts, run the contact analysis: it removes duplicates, incorrect syntaxes and domains that don't exist, and suggests corrections. It starts automatically after a file import, and you can run it again at any time in under a minute.

## Prerequisites

-   A Sarbacane Campaigns license (Sarbacane Contacts is included).
    
-   A standard list that contains contacts.
    

## Steps

1.  In the left menu, open **Contact lists**, then click the name of the list.
    
2.  At the top left, next to the list name, click **•••**, then **Analyze addresses**.
    
3.  The **Contact analysis** window opens on the **Email addresses** tab. Turn on or off the analyses you need: **Detect duplicates and remove them**, **Identify incorrect syntaxes**, **Check if the domain exists** and **Correct identified errors** (for example, @gmial.com corrected to @gmail.com).
    
4.  If your list contains mobile numbers, open the **Mobile phone numbers** tab. It offers the same analyses, except the domain check. Also choose the **Area code** to apply to numbers that don't have one (**France (+33)** by default).
    
5.  At the bottom, click **Analyze**.
    
6.  When the analysis is complete, open the result.
    

## Expected result

Excluded contacts leave the list and move to the **incorrect** tab, at the top of the list. The exclusion cause column gives the reason, for example **Duplicate** or **Unknown domain**. Suggested corrections are in the same tab.

**Note**: when you import a list into a Sarbacane Campaigns campaign, an analysis also takes place. Excluded contacts then appear in the campaign's **Excluded** tab, not in an "incorrect" tab ([why contacts are excluded from my campaign](https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/443-pourquoi-des-contacts-sont-ils-exclus-de-ma-campagne-dans-sarbacane-campaigns.md)). Sarbacane Campaigns always removes bounces (NPAI) and unsubscribers at the time of sending, and duplicates too if the **Remove duplicates recipients** option is turned on in its settings (it is on by default).

**Best practice**: click **•••**, then **Distribution by domain** to see which email providers are most common in your list. Test how your campaign displays on those providers before sending.

## Troubleshooting

### A valid contact was excluded

Open the **incorrect** tab and select the contact. Next to the list name, click **•••**, then choose the option to reinclude the originals.

### A corrected address doesn't appear in my list

Open the **incorrect** tab and select the contact. Click **•••**, then choose the option to reinclude the corrections.

### My list still contains duplicates

The contact analysis only removes strictly identical rows: the same email address with two different phone numbers stays on two rows. At the time of sending, however, Sarbacane Campaigns keeps only one row per address (with the information from the last row) if the **Remove duplicates recipients** option is turned on, which it is by default.

## Related articles

-   [How do you import contacts into Sarbacane Contacts?](https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/210-comment-importer-des-contacts-dans-sarbacane-contacts.md)
    
-   [Why are contacts excluded from my campaign in Sarbacane Campaigns?](https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/443-pourquoi-des-contacts-sont-ils-exclus-de-ma-campagne-dans-sarbacane-campaigns.md)
    
-   [What is the bounce list in Sarbacane Contacts?](https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/123-sarbacane-contacts-qu-est-ce-que-la-liste-de-npai-et-a-quoi-sert-elle.md)