Importing Contacts, Companies, Deals and Leads from CSV

What this is

A column-mapping CSV importer for four record types — Contacts, Companies, Deals and Leads. Each list page has an Import CSV button that walks you through uploading a file, matching its columns to CRM fields, and previewing the first few rows before anything is created.

Why it works this way

Every spreadsheet and every CRM export names its columns differently. Rather than demanding a rigid template, the importer reads whatever headers your file has, guesses the mapping, and lets you correct it. Nothing is written to your CRM until you confirm.

When to use it

• Moving in from another CRM — export from the old system, import here.
• After a trade show or campaign — bulk-load the list you collected.
• Bringing across a client spreadsheet you've been keeping outside a CRM.

How to import

1. Go to Contacts, Companies, Deals or Leads and click Import CSV.
2. Choose your file. The first row must be column headers.
3. Check the mapping. Each column gets a dropdown; set any it guessed wrong to the right field, or to — Ignore — to leave that column out.
4. Review the five-row preview.
5. Click Import. You'll get a count of what was created and what was skipped.

Fields marked with an asterisk are required — at least one column must map to it, and rows missing a value there are skipped.

What happens to duplicates

• Contacts — a row whose email already exists is skipped.
• Companies — a row whose name already exists (case-insensitive) is skipped, so re-running the same file is safe.
• Leads — a row whose email already exists is skipped.
• Deals — never skipped. Two deals can genuinely share a title, so nothing is assumed.

Type-specific notes

Contacts: if you map a Company column, each company is matched to an existing record by name, or created if it's new — so importing contacts also builds out your company list.

Deals: pick which pipeline the deals land in (a dropdown appears if you have more than one). A Stage column is matched to your stage names; anything that doesn't match lands in the first stage rather than failing. Values are read tolerantly — `R 45 000,00`, `45,000.00` and `45000` all work. Map a Contact email column and matching deals attach themselves to the right contact automatically.

Leads: scores are calculated automatically from the fields you import, using the same rules as leads created by hand. A Status column accepts NEW, CONTACTED, QUALIFIED, UNQUALIFIED, WON or LOST; anything else defaults to NEW.

Plan limits

Contact and deal imports count towards your plan's limits. If an import would take you past your limit, it imports everything it can and stops with a clear message telling you how far it got — it never fails silently or half-writes a row. Companies, leads and tasks aren't capped.

Imports are capped at 1,000 rows per file. For a larger migration, split the file and run it in batches.

Before a big import

Run an export first. If a mapping turns out wrong, having a copy of what your data looked like beforehand turns a problem into an inconvenience.