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Step 1: Create and verify your account
Register with ZeroBounce, confirm your email address and open the validation area. Check the available credits and current terms before submitting a large file.
Begin with a small sample you control. Unlike this website’s local text extraction, uploading to ZeroBounce transfers the file to that service.
Step 2: Prepare a minimal input file
Export reviewed addresses from the extractor as CSV. Keep one address per row with a clear email column. Remove unrelated personal data that is unnecessary for the validation task.
Keep a separate original copy and any internal IDs needed to match results back to your records. Do not discard consent or unsubscribe history when preparing the working file.
Step 3: Upload and start validation
In the email validation area, upload your supported file. ZeroBounce documents CSV, TXT and Excel input. Check the detected email column and the address count before starting.
If the preview does not match the file you intended, stop and fix it. Wait for the job to complete before relying on or downloading results.
Step 4: Interpret the status of each address
Review valid and invalid separately. Keep catch-all and unknown apart from confirmed results. Flag spamtrap, abuse and do_not_mail for exclusion from campaigns.
Catch-all does not confirm a specific mailbox. Unknown is an unresolved check, not proof of validity. Retain the status and sub-status so another person can understand the decision.
Step 5: Download a reviewed result
Download the completed results and retain the relevant status columns. If an encrypted ZIP is provided, use the key supplied by ZeroBounce. Store the original and the result as separate files.
Create a conservative sending subset after review. A valid result alone cannot establish permission to send a newsletter or guarantee future delivery.
Step 6: Update your list without losing opt-outs
Match the results to your existing contact records. Preserve unsubscribe and complaint suppression even when an address validates. Test the import on a small subset before updating the whole audience.
Record the validation date and recheck stale records when appropriate. Review the service’s file-retention and deletion options after your export is safely stored.
Avoid common mistakes
- Unexpected address count: check the selected column and empty rows.
- Download unavailable: wait for validation to finish and check job status.
- Too many uncertain results: review sub-statuses; do not treat all catch-all addresses as safe.
FAQ
Does ZeroBounce send my newsletter?
This guide uses its email validation workflow. Send campaigns through your newsletter platform after reviewing the results.
Does valid mean I may contact the person?
No. Validation concerns the address, not subscription or permission. Keep those records separately.
What should I do with unknown results?
Keep them outside the confirmed-valid subset, inspect the reason and consider a later recheck. Do not silently convert them to valid.
Official sources
The setup steps were checked against the following vendor documentation.
Next step: prepare your data
Review existing addresses before transferring them. Clean address formatting replaces neither mailbox validation nor subscription evidence.
Open email extractor