Importing a spreadsheet
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CSV and Excel files can be imported into any object. Every role can import, including viewers, because importing adds records rather than changing existing ones.
The steps
- Select Import CSV / Excel in the CRM sidebar.
- Choose the file.
- Pick the object the rows belong to, or create a new one.
- Choose a list, or create one. Putting an import into its own list is worth doing — see below.
- Map the columns. Each column in your file is matched to a field on the object. Columns with no match can create a new field rather than being discarded.
- Import. Progress is shown as it uploads.
Map the columns carefully
This is the step that decides whether the import is useful or a mess.
Match to existing fields wherever one fits. Creating a second field called "Company" next to "Name" is the most common way an import makes a CRM worse.
Columns you do not need can be left unmapped. Not every column has to come in.
Relationship columns can link to existing records. A Contacts file with a Company column can match each row to an existing Account by a property you choose, usually the name or the domain. You control whether matching is case-sensitive and whether surrounding spaces are trimmed, which matters more than it sounds when the data came out of someone else's system.
Why a list per import
Creating a list for each import gives you the batch as a thing you can look at. If the mapping was wrong, or the file had rows it should not have, the list shows you exactly what arrived and lets you deal with it as a group.
Without that, a bad import is mixed in with everything else and is tedious to pick apart.
Duplicates
Imports are checked against what you already have. Rows matching an existing record on an identity field are held rather than being created blindly, and rows that are merely similar are flagged.
They wait on the Duplicates screen, where you merge, skip, or create a new record from each. Nothing is silently merged.
See Finding duplicates.
After importing
- Records appear under the object and in the list you chose.
- Each import is recorded, so you can see what was brought in and when.
- Anything the import could not place waits on the Duplicates screen.
What you cannot do yet
- Update existing records from a file. Import creates; it does not overwrite in bulk.
- Undo an import in one action. The list makes it manageable, but removal is still done through the list.
- Schedule a recurring import.