Free Yealink Remote Phonebook XML Builder
Paste your contacts from a spreadsheet, or load an Excel or CSV file, and this builds the XML phonebook your Yealink desk phones download, so callers' names show on screen. It tidies the numbers, escapes the characters that break the file and removes duplicates. Everything happens in your browser: your contacts are never uploaded.
1Your contacts
Copy the rows straight from Excel or Google Sheets and paste them here, including the heading row if you have one, or load an Excel or CSV file. One contact per line.
2Match the columns
We have guessed which column is which. Change any that are wrong. Use either a full name column, or first and last name columns.
3Options
Match the number format to how calls arrive: look at the caller ID of a few real incoming calls on your handset. If it does not match, the phone will not find the name.
4Your phonebook file
5Phone settings
Put the file on a web server your phones can reach, then enter its address here for the settings to add to your phones or provisioning file.
If 3CX or another phone system provisions your handsets, it may already use slot 1, and settings made only on the handset can be overwritten when the phone reprovisions. Check your phone system's documentation.
What this tool does
Yealink desk phones can download a phonebook from a web address and use it to put a name on incoming calls. The file has to be in a particular XML format, and one stray character, such as the ampersand in "Price & Sons", can stop the whole file loading. This tool turns an ordinary contact list into a valid file, and gives you the phone settings to go with it.
When to use it
- You want customer and supplier names to show on your Yealink handsets when they ring.
- You have been importing contacts into each phone one at a time and want one list for every desk.
- You have a phonebook file that will not load and want to rebuild it cleanly.
If your contacts change often, the long term answer is to have your CRM or database write this file automatically. Our guide to pushing a company phonebook to Yealink desk phones explains how we do that, and how we keep the file private.
How it works
The tool reads your pasted rows, Excel sheet or CSV file, works out which column holds the name, company, numbers and group, and builds one entry per contact with up to three numbers each. Numbers lose their spaces and brackets and can be converted between 0 and +44 formats, so they match the caller ID your phones receive. Characters that are not allowed in XML are escaped, duplicates are removed, and the result is checked before you download it.
The simple directory format is the one most Yealink T2, T4 and T5 series phones accept. The grouped format adds menus, such as Customers and Suppliers, on firmware that supports it. Formats, limits and settings differ between models and firmware versions, so check the Yealink administrator guide for your handset.
The file contains names and numbers, which can be personal data under UK GDPR. Only include the contacts your staff need, and keep the file somewhere only your phones can reach.