WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to create groups to communicate with multiple people at once.
Often, you may want to create a WhatsApp group with phone numbers that you don’t already have saved in your contacts. For example, you may have a list of phone numbers in an Excel spreadsheet for work colleagues, event attendees, or group project members that you want to add to a WhatsApp group.
The good news is that it’s possible to create a WhatsApp group with unsaved numbers using just your Excel spreadsheet of numbers. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to easily create a WhatsApp group from numbers in an Excel sheet without needing to save each one to your contacts.
Prerequisites
Before creating a WhatsApp group from Excel numbers, there are a couple requirements:
- You need to have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your phone
- Your phone number needs to be registered with WhatsApp
- You need to have an Excel spreadsheet with the phone numbers you want to add to the WhatsApp group, one number per row
- Your phone needs to have enough storage space for the WhatsApp group and contacts
As long as you meet these requirements, you can follow the steps below to easily create your WhatsApp group!
Steps to Create a WhatsApp Group from Excel Numbers
Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a WhatsApp group from an Excel spreadsheet of numbers:
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Open the Excel sheet containing the phone numbers you want to add to your WhatsApp group. Make sure the numbers are formatted correctly and include the country code.
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Select and copy the column of phone numbers from Excel (Ctrl + C on Windows, Command + C on Mac).
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Open WhatsApp and tap on the Chats tab. Click on the 3 dots menu in the top right and select “New group”.
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In the “To:” field, long press until you get the option to paste. Paste the phone numbers you copied from Excel.
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Check that the numbers pasted correctly. Tap the checkmark to proceed to creating the group.
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On the next screen, enter a subject/group name and tap “Create group”.
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Your new WhatsApp group with the Excel numbers is now created! You can now message the group.
It’s quick and easy to create a WhatsApp group from an Excel list of numbers by copying and pasting the numbers into the WhatsApp group creation screen. The key is having the phone numbers formatted properly in the Excel spreadsheet.
Tips for Formatting Numbers in Excel
To ensure the process goes smoothly, properly format the phone numbers in your Excel sheet using these tips:
- Include country code – Make sure each number has the proper country code before the phone number.
- Use correct column format – Format the column as Text to avoid Excel dropping leading zeros.
- No spaces or dashes – Don’t include spaces or dashes in the phone numbers.
- One number per row – List each phone number in its own row in the Excel sheet.
Properly formatting the phone numbers in Excel makes copying and pasting into WhatsApp work correctly.
Creating Groups with Large Number of Participants
WhatsApp allows you to create groups with up to 256 participants. If you need to create a larger WhatsApp group from your Excel spreadsheet, you can follow this process:
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Split your master list of numbers into multiple Excel sheets of 256 numbers or less.
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Create multiple smaller WhatsApp groups from each Excel sheet using the steps above.
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On WhatsApp, merge the smaller groups into one large group using the “Add participants” button.
This allows you to get around the 256 participant limit and create a WhatsApp group with your entire list of Excel numbers, even if it’s 500 or 1000 numbers.
Customizing Group Settings
Once you’ve created your WhatsApp group, you can customize various settings to configure the group how you’d like:
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Group Name – Rename the group at any time by tapping on the current name at the top of the chat.
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Group Photo – Tap on the default group icon to add a custom photo or image.
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Group Description – Add a description that provides more info about the group purpose.
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Notifications – Mute the group for certain periods if needed.
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Permissions – Configure who can modify group info, add participants, etc.
Take advantage of these settings to customize your new WhatsApp group to fit your needs.
Troubleshooting Tips
In some cases, you may encounter issues when trying to create a WhatsApp group from Excel numbers. Here are some troubleshooting tips:
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Double check all numbers are formatted correctly in Excel before copying.
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Make sure your phone has an active internet connection when creating the group.
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If numbers fail to paste, close WhatsApp completely and retry pasting.
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Verify country codes match the country the number is from.
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Try creating smaller groups if you get an error when pasting many numbers.
Following these tips should help resolve any issues with creating your WhatsApp group from Excel.
Alternative Tools
If you find manually copying and pasting numbers from Excel too tedious, there are some tools you can use:
- Google Sheets Add-On – Add-ons like ‘WhatsApp Group Manager’ integrate with Google Sheets to simplify adding numbers.
- Third-Party Apps – Apps like ‘Group It For WhatsApp’ allow creating groups more easily from your computer.
- WhatsApp Business API – The WhatsApp Business API allows programatically creating groups and adding numbers.
These tools can streamline the process of turning an Excel list into a WhatsApp Group. But the manual method works just fine for occasional use cases.
Conclusion
Creating WhatsApp groups from an Excel list of numbers is straightforward by copying and pasting the numbers into the WhatsApp group creation window. Just be sure to properly format the phone numbers in Excel beforehand. Customize the group settings once created to configure it to your preferences.
Utilizing WhatsApp groups allows you to conveniently communicate with large sets of people for work, events, groups projects, and more. With an Excel list of numbers, you have an easy way to get those groups created quickly.
So next time you need to message a group of people, don’t waste time adding their numbers one by one. Use this guide to easily create a WhatsApp group from your Excel spreadsheet of numbers in just minutes!