Migrating Contacts to 138 Enterprise Email: A Troubleshooting Guide for IT Admins

When Contact Migration Breaks Down

You have just activated your 138 Enterprise Email accounts, verified your custom domain, and configured MX records. Your team is ready to switch over—but the address book is missing, incomplete, or showing garbled characters. For foreign trade teams, cross-border operators, and small businesses relying on accurate contact data, a failed migration halts outreach and damages sender credibility.
This guide addresses the most common after-sales issues IT administrators and business users encounter when migrating contacts into 138 Enterprise Email, and provides a structured troubleshooting path.

Why Contact Migration Is Not Always Automatic

138 Enterprise Email supports multi-device access via webmail, mobile apps, PC clients, and third-party standard protocol clients using SMTP, IMAP, and POP. However, these protocols handle email messages—not contact data—in different ways:

• IMAP and POP
• synchronize or download email messages only. They do not transfer address books or contact lists.
• CardDAV
• is the standard protocol for contact synchronization, but not all legacy email clients or older mobile mail apps support it.
• Webmail import
• is often the most reliable method for bulk contact migration, provided the file format is correct.

Understanding this boundary prevents wasted time trying to "sync contacts via IMAP" and directs you to the correct migration channel.

Common Failure Scenarios and Root Causes

1. Contacts Do Not Appear After Client Setup

Symptom: You configured your 138 Enterprise Email account on Outlook, Foxmail, or a mobile mail app, but the address book is empty.
Diagnosis: IMAP/POP configuration only pulls email. Contacts stored in the previous provider's proprietary address book (e.g., Tencent Exmail, Alibaba Mail, or Google Workspace) are not transferred through mail protocols.
Action: Export contacts from the old provider as a `.csv` or `.vcf` file, then import them through the 138 webmail interface or a client that supports CardDAV sync.

2. Imported Contacts Show Garbled Names or Missing Fields

Symptom: After importing a CSV file, contact names appear as random characters, or phone numbers and company names are mapped to wrong fields.
Diagnosis: The CSV file encoding is not UTF-8, or the column headers do not match the expected import template.
Action:

• Open the CSV in a plain text editor and confirm the encoding is UTF-8
• (not GBK or ANSI).
• Download the import template from the 138 webmail contacts page, map your data to the correct columns, and re-import.

3. Contacts Sync on Webmail but Not on Mobile

Symptom: The webmail address book is complete, but the mobile mail app shows no contacts or only partial entries.
Diagnosis: The mobile app is using the device's native contact store, which requires CardDAV or a dedicated sync setting. Standard IMAP configuration on mobile does not pull server-side contacts.
Action: In the 138 mobile client or your device's account settings, enable contact sync explicitly. If using a third-party mail app, verify that it supports CardDAV for the 138 Enterprise Email server.

4. Duplicate or Merged Contacts After Migration

Symptom: After importing, you see duplicate entries or contacts merged incorrectly (e.g., two different people sharing one record).
Diagnosis: The import file contains duplicate email addresses, or the system's deduplication logic merged records based on partial matches.
Action: Before importing, deduplicate your CSV file by email address. After import, use the webmail contact management tools to review and merge or delete duplicates manually.

Step-by-Step Contact Migration Checklist

Follow this sequence to minimize migration errors:

Boundaries and Limitations to Keep in Mind

• Account-level vs. domain-level contacts:*
• Contacts imported by one user are private to that account. Shared company-wide address books require administrator configuration through the management console.
• Attachment and note fields:*
• Some legacy providers store custom notes or attachment links in contact records. These fields may not transfer if the target system does not support them.
• Large address books:*
• If your organization has thousands of contacts, batch imports may be necessary. Confirm any size or count limits with the 138 official support team before starting.
• Historical email linkage:*
• Migrating contacts does not retroactively link old emails to the new contact records. Email history must be migrated separately.

When to Contact Official Support

If you have followed the steps above and contacts still fail to import or sync, the issue may involve server-side configuration, account permissions, or a client compatibility edge case. 138 Enterprise Email is officially direct-operated—meaning activation, migration, and daily maintenance support are handled by the provider's own team, not third-party agents.
Reach out through the official service portal with the following information ready:

1. The email client or app you are using (webmail, Outlook, Foxmail, iOS Mail, etc.)
2. The export file format and a sample of 2–3 rows (with sensitive data redacted)
3. Screenshots of any error messages
4. Whether the issue affects one account or multiple accounts under your domain

Related Considerations for Cross-Border Teams

For organizations operating across regions—such as teams communicating with partners in Vietnam, Japan, or other markets—contact data often includes multilingual names, international phone formats, and non-Latin characters. Always verify that your export file uses UTF-8 encoding and that your client supports Unicode display. This is especially relevant for teams like cross-border e-commerce operators or manufacturing supply chain coordinators who manage contacts across multiple languages and time zones.

Next Steps

If your contact migration is stable, proceed to verify email sending and receiving, confirm SPF/DKIM/DMARC records for deliverability, and test multi-device synchronization across your team. For ongoing maintenance, establish a routine for periodic contact backup through the webmail export function.