diff --git a/services/contacts/prepopulate.coffee b/services/contacts/prepopulate.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6d6d9e19a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/contacts/prepopulate.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Usage: coffee preprocess.coffee projects.json done.csv
+# where projects.json is the output of 
+# mongoexport <CREDENTIALS> --db sharelatex-staging --collection projects --type=json --fields owner_ref,collaberator_refs,readOnly_refs --query '{ $or: [{collaberator_refs: { $not : {$size: 0} }}, {readOnly_refs: { $not: {$size: 0}}}]}'
+
+fs = require "fs"
+
+projects = fs.readFileSync(process.argv[2]).toString()
+projects = projects.split("\n").filter((p) -> p!="").map (p) -> JSON.parse(p)
+
+contact_pairs = []
+for project in projects
+	project_id = project._id.$oid
+	owner_id = project.owner_ref.$oid
+	contact_ids = project.collaberator_refs.concat(project.readOnly_refs).map (r) -> r.$oid
+	for contact_id in contact_ids
+		contact_pairs.push [project_id, owner_id, contact_id]
+
+# Done list is a list of pairs owner_id:contact_id
+DONE_FILE = process.argv[3]
+done_list = fs.readFileSync(DONE_FILE).toString()
+done_contacts = {}
+for done_pair in done_list.split("\n")
+	done_contacts[done_pair] = true
+
+workers = []
+for contact_pair in contact_pairs
+	do (contact_pair) ->
+		workers.push (cb) ->
+			if done_contacts[contact_pair.join(":")]
+				console.log "ALREADY DONE", contact_pair.join(":"), "SKIPPING"
+				cb()
+			else
+				[project_id, owner_id, contact_id] = contact_pair
+				console.log "PINGING CONTACT API (OWNER: #{owner_id}, CONTACT: #{contact_id})..."
+				require("request").post {
+					url: "http://localhost:3036/user/#{owner_id}/contacts"
+					json: { contact_id }
+				}, (error, response, body) ->
+					return cb(error) if error?
+					if response.statusCode != 204
+						return cb(new Error("bad status code: #{response.statusCode}"))
+					console.log "DONE, WRITING TO DONE FILE..."
+					fs.appendFile DONE_FILE, contact_pair.join(":") + "\n", (error) ->
+						return cb(error) if error?
+						console.log "WRITTEN"
+						cb()
+
+require("async").series workers, (error) ->
+	console.error error if error?
+	console.log "DONE"
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