# Managing data sources

Create a data source and run its life cycle from the panel: the source states, how to monitor and force a sync, reconnect or resume a connection, and what happens to your contacts when you delete a source — including how unification and field mapping work.

**Language:** en
**Audience:** platform
**TLDR:** Every data source is created from Data sources › Add data source and then lives a cycle: it imports, you monitor it (states like Connected, Draft or Needs reconnection), you can force a sync from its detail screen, and deleting it also removes the contacts that existed only through that source. Every import runs field mapping (column → attribute) and unification (duplicates merged by email and phone).
**Translation key:** platform.data-sources.managing
**Search keywords:** manage data source, data source states, sync log, force sync, resync, reconnect, resume, delete data source, delete contacts, unification, merge duplicates, key field, field mapping, map columns, create attribute, deduplication
**Related pages:** /platform/es/data-sources/managing, /platform/en/data-sources, /platform/en/data-sources/csv-copy-paste, /platform/en/data-sources/connectors, /platform/en/audience/attributes-events
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Every data source has a life cycle: you create it, it imports and syncs, you keep
an eye on it, and eventually you may reconnect or delete it. This page covers that
life cycle from the panel — the states a source can be in, how to monitor and force
a sync, and what deleting a source does to your contacts. It also explains the two
mechanisms that run on every import: **field mapping** and **unification**.

## Creating a data source

Open **Data sources** and select **Add data source**. The creation grid groups the
options into CSV, Developers (the Ingest API) and Integrations (the connectors and
webhook platforms):

- **CSV or copy-paste** opens the import wizard — see
  [CSV & copy-paste](/platform/en/data-sources/csv-copy-paste).
- **A connector or webhook platform** opens its setup or connection screen — see
  [Connectors](/platform/en/data-sources/connectors) and
  [API & webhooks](/platform/en/data-sources/api-webhooks).

An empty project sends you straight to the creation grid the first time.

![The data source creation grid, grouped into CSV, Developers and Integrations](/platform/en/data-sources/images/managing--1-creation-grid.png)
*The creation grid, grouped into CSV, Developers and Integrations.*

## Source states

A source's badge tells you where it stands:

- **Connected** — authenticated and importing data normally.
- **Draft** — created but waiting for you to finish the connection. Use **Resume** to
  complete it.
- **Waiting for first sync** — the source is set up and its first import hasn't run
  yet.
- **Syncing** / **Importing** — a sync is running; the panel refreshes its progress
  while it works.
- **Needs reconnection** — a connector's authorization has expired or been revoked at
  the source; **Reconnect** before it can sync again.
- **Disconnected** — the connection is no longer active.
- **Initial sync failed** — the first import couldn't complete.

![The data sources list with each source's status, contacts and last activity](/platform/en/data-sources/images/managing--2-source-list.png)
*The data sources list shows each source's status badge, contact count, source type and last activity.*

## Monitoring and forcing a sync

Each source keeps a record of its syncs. Hover a source to see its recent activity
and, where the source supports it, force a sync on demand. The initial import can
always be re-run; connector and CSV sources that support it expose a **resync**
action. Webhook and Ingest API sources show a **stream log** of the data coming in
instead, since they receive data continuously rather than in scheduled runs. The
**last activity** timestamp tells you when the source last received data.

## Reconnect and resume

Two actions recover a source without rebuilding it:

- **Reconnect** re-establishes a connector's authorization (for example after the
  platform's token expires) and resumes syncing. It does **not** delete the source
  or its data.
- **Resume** finishes an authorization you started but didn't complete, moving a
  source out of the draft state.

Reach for these before deleting and re-creating — they keep the source's history
and its place in unification intact.

## Deleting a data source

Deleting a source is more consequential than it looks, because contacts are tied to
the sources they came from:

> **Warning**: When you delete a data source, all the data it provided to your audience is
> removed, and **contacts that have no data from any other data source are removed
> as well**. Contacts that also came in through another source are kept; only the
> data this source provided is taken away. The change can take a couple of minutes
> to fully apply.

If you only want to fix a broken connection, **Reconnect** instead — deleting and
re-creating is not the way to refresh a source.

## How unification works

Unification is what keeps one person as one contact even when they arrive from
several sources. Instasent matches contacts across sources by **email**
(the built-in `_email` attribute) and **mobile phone** (the built-in `_phone_mobile`
attribute): when an incoming contact shares
one of those identifiers with an existing contact, the two are merged into a single
profile rather than duplicated.

Because of this, each source needs a **key field** — the identifier that decides
who is who. In the import wizard, if email or phone are not unique in your data, an
extra deduplication step appears so you can resolve it. The panel warns you about
how distinctive your chosen key is: below 85% unique values it shows an error
notice, between 85% and 95% it warns. A CSV import may proceed with no real key (a random
one), but connectors always require a real identifier.

Contacts with an empty (null) value in the matching field are never merged together: unification only joins contacts that actually share an email or phone, so missing identifiers don't collapse distinct people into one.

## Field mapping

When data comes in, each incoming field (a CSV column, a connector attribute) is
mapped to an Instasent attribute. The panel pre-scores likely matches, and you
confirm or adjust each one. For every field you choose one of three strategies:

- **Match to an existing attribute** — send the field's values into an attribute you
  already have.
- **Create a new attribute** — make a brand-new attribute on the fly, named and
  typed from the import, without leaving the wizard.
- **Ignore** — leave the field out (at least one field must be mapped, not all
  ignored).

An attribute you've already mapped is removed from the options for the other rows,
so two columns can't both land in the same attribute. See
[Attributes & events](/platform/en/audience/attributes-events) for what attributes
are and how to manage them afterwards.

> **Note**: When the same contact arrives from two sources with different values for the same
> attribute, unification merges the profiles — the panel does not ask you to pick a
> winning value field by field. Value reconciliation is handled by the backend on
> merge. (Ecommerce **events** like orders do carry a source priority, but plain
> attributes do not.)

{/* VERIFY: value-conflict resolution between sources — there is no per-value resolver in the front end; unification reconciles on merge, and only ecommerce events carry a priority. */}

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