The Import Wizard helps you import your records into the CRM step by step. The import tool requires a CSV (comma-separated value) file.
Tip: It is best to import first your Account records, then your Contact records, followed by the other system modules. By doing so, your related records will properly link (either by Name, ID from your old system, or using a CRM.me ID).
EX: If an imported Contact record refers to an existing Account (exact Account name match or ID), it will be linked to that Account. If an imported Contact record refers to an unknown account, a new Account record will automatically be created with just the Account name.
Prepare your Data for Import
- Remove duplicate records
- Populate required fields to prevent import errors
- Verify the data is in the correct format and matches the format for the corresponding field in the CRM
- Are there any fields or values in your import document that do not exist in the CRM? If so, create the new field in the system before import.
- Multi-select pick list field: separate values in your CSV file by a comma
Using the Import Wizard
The Import Wizard is a very powerful tool. As well as allowing you to import your data into CRM.me, it can also be used to update existing records. Using the Import Wizard is as simple as completing 6 simple steps. You can open the Import wizard from anywhere in CRM.me by clicking on the Gear 
icon and choosing Import from the menu.
If you do not see the Import option then it's likely your user does not have permissions to use the Import Wizard and you should ask your CRM.me administrator about receiving access.
Step 1: Select Module
The Import wizard will ask you to select a module. Select the module you wish to import your records into. For example, if you are importing a list of Contacts, then you should select the Contacts module from the list. Click Upload File to go to step 2.
Step 2: Upload your CSV file
Click the + button to search for and select your CSV file. Once selected, your file will upload and be shown as you see in the image below. If the first row of your file contains a header, check the First Row is Header Row box. Click Select Permissions to go to step 3.
Step 3: Record Permissions
This step determines who can read and write the records you are importing into CRM.me.
- Owner: only the owner will be able to view and edit the records.
- Owner and users in [Group]: This option appears if you have created new groups in the CRM. The designated owner and any users that belong to the selected group will all be able to view and edit the imported records.
- Everyone: all users will be able to view and modify the imported records.
When you are done, click Map Fields to go to step 4.
Step 4: Field Mapping
Required fields are listed at the top. You will not be able to proceed without mapping these fields.
- CRM.me Field: From the dropdown, select the field in the CRM.me module where the column data should populate to. If there is a column in your import file that you do not wish to import, simply leave the dropdown at 'Do not map this field'.
- Header: If you specified that your CSV file contained a header, the header name will appear here
- Sample Row: The data in the first non-header row of your import file is displayed here. You can click the Next and Previous button to scroll through more values.
- Rules: This is an important setting. Depending on the type of field you are importing, this value will change. We will discuss field rules in more detail later on.
For most field types, a Default Value box will appear. If some or all of the rows in this column of your import file do not contain any data you can specify a default value that should populate in the field here. For example, if some Contacts in your csv file have no value in the Last Name column you may want to add a default Last Name value of 'Unknown'.
Larger image attached below.
Adding a additional field
If you would like all the records you are importing to be imported with a same value, you can do so by clicking the Add Field button at the bottom (EX: if you would like to set the Owner to Sally without having to add a column in your csv file). Select the field from the dropdown and populate the Default Name to the right.
When you are done mapping your fields, click Analyze Data to go to step 5.
Step 5: Data Analysis
This step analyzes the data you mapped from Step 4 and will let you know if there are any errors or data not properly formatted. If so, you can go back to your CSV file and make any necessary adjustments. You also have the ability to make changes directly to a field by clicking the pencil icon next to the value you want to update. If you use this inline editing, you can always re=click 'Analyze Data' to re-analyze your data. If everything is correct and you are ready to proceed, click 'Import Data' to import your data.
Step 6: Import Summary
The Import Results page lists the number of records successfully imported, the number of records updated, and the number of records skipped due to import errors.
Import Field Rules
Once you have mapped a CRM.me field to a column in your csv file, a Rules section will appear below it. For almost all fields a Default Value box will appear where you can enter in a default value for the field should some rows in your CSV file not have a specified value. Some field types however have special rules. Each of those special rule types is discussed below:
Date fields
When mapping a Date field you will be asked to specify date format as it appears in your CSV file. It is important that all date values in your CSV file are of a similar format and that you choose the correct format from the Format dropdown. Selecting the incorrect format for your date field can result in incorrect values or blank values being imported for the Date field you are importing to.
Dedupe Rule
Some fields will allow you the option to check for duplicate records that already exist in CRM.me during the import and allow you to decide what should happen if a matching record is found.
For the Accounts module the fields available for duplicate checking are Name, Primary email and Secondary email.
For the Contacts and Leads module the available fields for duplicate checking are Full name, Primary email and Secondary email.
For a record to be considered a duplicate, the value being imported must match exactly to the value of an existing record in CRM.me.
- Do not dedupe: select this option if you do not wish to check for duplicates and just want to import your entire CSV.
- When a match is found, skip row: select this option if you want to ignore the value in the CSV if a duplicate is found. It will not be imported.
- When a match is found, update existing record: select this option if a duplicate is found and you want to update the existing record in CRM.me with the values in the CSV.
Related fields and ID fields
When mapping to the ID field you will be asked to confirm the Type of Value you are importing. This is also true if you are mapping to a field that belongs to a related module. For example, if you are importing Contacts then the Account Name, Owner, Created By User, and Modified by User are all examples of related records from other modules that can be mapped. To better understand what rule we should choose, let's look at some different scenarios when importing Contacts:
A common scenario is importing Contacts and linking them to existing Accounts in CRM.me. In this example we would follow the steps of the Import Wizard up to field mapping. We also assume that your CSV file contains a column that refers in some way to the Account or company that the Contact is related to.
Scenario 1: My Contacts CSV has a column with the name of the Company the Contact belongs to
If your Contacts CSV file only has the name of the Company the Contact is associated with, then you can still associate these Contacts to existing Accounts in CRM.me provided the Company or Account name on your CSV file matches exactly the name of an Account in CRM.me. To do this, map the Company name in the Contacts CSV to the Account field in the CRM.me fields dropdown. Then in the rules dropdown that appears select the "Name" option to tell the Import Wizard that you are importing the name of the Account and not an ID value.
- If the Company name value in your CSV matches exactly the Account name of an existing Account record, the Contact will be associated/linked to that Account during the import.
- If the Company name is not matched exactly, then a new Account record will be created in CRM.me for the Contact.
- If the row in your Contacts CSV has no Company name value then a Contact will be created with no associated Account record, unless of course you have chosen to include a Default name in the field mapping rules.
Scenario 2: My contacts CSV has the Account ID from my old system
If you are migrating your data from another system then you may already have ID values that link your Accounts, Contacts and other records together. If that's true then you can use those same ID values to retain the relationships between records in CRM.me during your import. You can do this by mapping the ID values in your CSV files to the ID fields in CRM.me. Then from the field rule dropdown select "Other Id" to make it clear that the ID value you are importing comes from another system. For more information on how to import records and retain relationships using ID values from another system, take a look at the FAQ "how can I import data from my old CRM to keep all relationships between records" above.
Scenario 3: My Contact CSV has the CRM.me Account ID values on it already
If you are lucky enough to already have the CRM.me Account ID values on your Contacts CSV file or have performed a VLOOKUP to add them already, then importing the Contacts and matching them to the right Account is easy. On the Map Fields stage of the Import Wizard, map the Account ID column from your CSV to the Accounts field in the dropdown. In the field mapping rules that load make sure that you select CRM.me ID to let the wizard know that the value you are providing is an CRM.me Id. Once imported each Contact in your file will be associated to the correct Account based on the ID you provided.
FAQs and Tips
Q. I always get the following errors on my import but I am sure i am choosing the correct Date/Time format on the mapping screen.
Created Date Time - Is an invalid date time format. This value will be skipped during import.
Modified Date Time - Is an invalid date time format. This value will be skipped during import.
A. If you are confident you are selecting the correct format option on the field mapping screen then the issue may be with the format of the date/time values in your CSV. If you have made changes to your CSV in Excel prior to import then the format of some of your columns may have changed. When Excel opens a CSV file it displays Date/Time values with its own format (ie, m/d/yy h:mm). If you save changes to the CSV then the date/time values will be saved in the new format Excel has applied. Since CRM.me does not currently support the m/d/yy h:mm format you will receive the error above when attempting an import. Therefore if you need to make adjustments to the CSV in Excel then you should set the formatting of your date and date/time fields again before saving changes to your CSV file.
To set the correct Date time format follow these instructions:
- highlight the column containing the Date/time value
- Right click and Select Format Cells
- The cell formatting window will appear, make sure you are on the Number tab
- In the category list click Custom
- paste in the following custom format - mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm;@
- Click Accept
NOTE: You can apply this to multiple columns at once. If you have standard Date fields (without the timestamp) then you should do something similar with these fields also.
Q. Some of my Zip codes are wrong after import.
A. If you have made changes to your CSV in Excel prior to import then the format of some of your columns may have changed. It is common for Excel to read zip values as a number rather than a string and therefore it removes any proceeding zeros from the value. For example changing the zip code 09240 to 9240. Therefore if you need to make adjustments to the CSV in Excel then you should set the formatting of your zip code fields again before saving changes to your CSV file.
To set the correct zip code format follow these instructions:
- highlight the column(s) containing the zip codes
- Right click and Select Format Cells
- The cell formatting window will appear, make sure you are on the Number tab
- In the category list click Special
- Choose the Zip Code format option
- Click Accept
Q. how can I import data from my old CRM keep all relationships between records
A. If you are migrating your data from your old CRM and have ID values for all of the records already then you can import these ID values when you perform your import and use them to retain the relationships that already exist between records. For example, let's say you wish to import the Contact CSV and Account.CSV files that you have exported from Salesforce. Begin by importing Accounts CSV to the Accounts module and be sure to map the Salesforce ID column of your CSV to the ID field in CRM.me. In the rules dropdown that appears select "Other Id" from the dropdown. The Account records will import and be given a unique CRM.me ID and your Salesforce Id value will be written to the "Other Id" field which we will use to retain relationships when you import records into other modules.
Next import your Contacts CSV to the Contacts module. Again you should map the Salesforce ID column to the ID field in CRM.me and choose "Other Id" from the rules dropdown. Additionally now you can map the Account ID column of the Contacts CSV file to the Account Id field in CRM.me. When you do this you will again see the rules dropdown appear. Since you are relating the Contacts to the Accounts using the Other Id (Salesforce ID) value you should select "Other Id" from the dropdown. Now when you complete your import of contacts you will see that they have been related to the correct Accounts using the Other Id values that you have imported.
You can repeat this process for all other modules (Opportunities, Leads, Activities, Etc) using the Other Id values to and retain relationships from your old CRM in CRM.me.
Q. Can I update existing CRM.me records using the Other ID?
A. Yes, if you specified an Other ID on your records during their initial import then you can update those records via the import wizard provided your csv file includes the Other ID value and that it is mapped correctly to the ID field with the "Other ID" rule.
Q. How can I import Contacts and associate them to existing Account records?
A. There are a couple of ways to achieve this depending on whether your Contacts csv file includes the ID values of the accounts of not.
OPTION 1: My contacts csv has the CRM.me Account ID values on it already
If you are lucky enough to already have the CRM.me Account ID values on your Contacts csv file or have performed a VLOOKUP to add them already then importing the contacts and matching them to the right account is easy. On the Map Fields stage of the Import wizard map the Account ID column from your csv to the Accounts field in the dropdown. In the field mapping rules that load make sure that you select CRM.me ID to let the wizard know that the value you are providing is an CRM.me Id. Once imported each contact in yoru file will be associated to the correct Account based on the ID you provided.
OPTION 2: My contacts csv has the Account ID from my old system
If you are migrating your data from another system then you may already have ID values that link your Accounts, Contacts and other records together. If that's true then you can use those same ID values to retain the relationships between records in CRM.me during your import. You can do this by mapping the ID values in your CSV files to the ID fields in CRM.me, then from the field rule dropdown select "Other Id" to make it clear that the ID value you are importing comes from another system. For more information on how to import records and retain relationships using ID values from another system take a look at the FAQ "how can I import data from my old CRM keep all relationships between records" above.
OPTION 3: Match to the Account Name value
If your Contacts.csv file only has the name of the Company the contact is associated with then you can still associate these contacts to existing accounts in CRM.me provided the Company or Account name on your csv file matches exactly the name of an Account in CRM.me. To do this map the Company name in the Contacts.csv to the Account field in the CRM.me fields dropdown. Then in the rules dropdown that appears select the "Name" option to tell the import wizard that you are importing the name of the account and not an ID value.
- If the Company name value in your csv matches exactly the Account name of an existing account record the Contact will be associated/linked to that account during the import.
- If the Company name is not matched exactly then a new Account record will be created in CRM.me for the contact.
- If the row in your Contacts.csv has no Company name value then a Contact will be created with no associated Account record, unless of course you have chosen to include a Default name in the field mapping rules.
Q. Why would I assign an "Other ID"?
A. The Other ID is a field mapping rule option that appears when mapping the ID field or any related field such as Owner during Field Mapping. If you are migrating data from an old system and have csv files that are already linked by ID values from the old system then you can import those old ID and link your records together using the old ID values as you import records to each module.
Q. What is meant by a CRM.me field?
A. This refers to the name of the field you will map a column in your csv file to in CRM.me. If you have a column in your CSV file with a cell phone number then you might map this column to the field in CRM.me named "Mobile Phone" for example. In this example the CRM.me field is Mobile phone.
Q. If I import the data and it messes up, is it possible to mass delete or reverse an import?
A. It is not currently possible to "reverse" an import. You should check the Analysis of your data before completing the import, this will typically warn you of issues or possible issues with the import before you proceed. If your do need to delete the records you have imported then you can perform a mass deletion of records from the modules list view. If you need only delete a selection of records then you should add filters to your search in the list view and delete those records returned, ie, Date Created = Today AND Created by user = Admin.
Comments