Changing a Text field to a Picklist

It is not possible to change a field from one type to another in CRM.me, once you set the field type it can no longer be changed.  You can of course create a new custom Picklist field to replace the existing field you have. 

If your Text field already has values populated then it is possible to copy those over to the new Picklist field there are some common pitfalls you need to be aware of if you plan to do this however.  This article shows you the method for copying text values to a Picklist and provides tips for avoiding those pitfalls along the way.

HOT TIP!  Normalize your data!  If you are importing text values to a picklist then new picklist values will be created for each unique text value in your csv.  We strongly recommend that you check your data and attempt to normalize the values you will import in the csv before you import it.

Import Text values to a Picklist

In this example we have a text field called TEXT1 on our Accounts module which already has values in the DB, we have also created a new picklist field in Accounts called PICKLIST1.  The steps below show us how to populate the picklistfield with values that are currently in the text field.

STEP 1: Export all Account records to Accounts.csv

The resulting Accounts.csv will have values in the TEXT1 column and no values in the new PICKLIST1 column.  

STEP 2: Import the Accounts.csv file to the Accounts module in CRM.me

We will now import the accounts.csv file and use it to update the existing Account records in CRM.me.

STEP 3: Set the correct field mapping

You must set the following field mappings, the below show the CRM.me field first followed by the column in the csv.

• ID to ID  <-- Set the type of value to CRM.me Id

this is very important, failure to map this field will result in new Account records being created

• PICKLIST1 to TEXT1

doing this will populate the picklist with the value in the text field, each unique text value will become a new value in the dropdown list.

• NAME to NAME

the Name field is required and therefore must be mapped for the import to continue.

NOTE! You do not need to map any other fields, all fields you do map will be updated in CRM.me with the values provided in the csv.

Normalize your data! 

If you are importing text values to a picklist then new picklist values will be created for each unique text value in your csv.  For example if the TEXT1 column in your csv contains the values "Banking and Finance" and "Banking & Finance" then new picklist options will appear in the dropdown for both values because they are unique.

If you are importing Text values to a Picklist then its very likely your csv contains lots of unique values, unless you normalize these values before importing them the result may be a very long and ugly picklist.  We strongly recommend that you check your data and attempt to normalize the values you will import in the csv before you import it.