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Import people and companies

H
Written by Hayko

Import people and companies

Import from text

Preview reads names from To/Cc headers and checks company email domains automatically. One exact match selects the existing company and groups its people below it. Multiple matches require your choice. For an unmatched domain, enter a company name or skip the company. Nothing is created until approval.

Paste a signature or contact details. Review every suggestion before approving creation. No AI service is used.

Review names, associations and notes carefully. Only the editable fields below will be saved.

  1. Upload a text file

  2. Check duplicates

  3. Choose an action

  4. Approve and create

Import at most 50 records at a time.

Use at most 100,000 characters.

Approved records have been created. Existing records were left unchanged.

Creation has started. A retry keeps completed records and resumes the remaining work. Keep this page open until finished.

Import from a CSV file

Use the import to add many people or companies at once. Open CRM > People and click the upload icon (Import people). You need the role setting Import into the CRM and a plan that includes import (Starter or higher). The page shows four steps: File, Map columns, Check and Result. Nothing is saved until the last step.

Step 1: Choose a file

  1. Choose People or Companies.

  2. Drop a CSV file on the page or click Choose a file.

  3. Click Next.

The first line of the file must contain the column names. A file can have up to 5,000 rows and 5 MB. Comma, semicolon and tab separated files are recognised. The file is read in your browser; only the rows you confirm are sent. If the file is too big or has too many rows, split it into smaller files.

Step 2: Match the columns

For each field, choose which column of your file fills it. Leave a field on Do not import to skip it. The table shows the first row of your file so you can check the match.

  • People fields: First name, Last name, Email address, Phone number, Job title, Company name, Country, Language, Tags (comma separated). Map at least an email address, a phone number or a name.

  • Companies fields: Company name, Domain, VAT number, Chamber of commerce number, City, Country, Industry, Website, Tags (comma separated). The company name is required.

A Company name on a person row links the person to the company with that name. If no such company exists, it is created. Tags that do not exist yet are created, up to 10 tags per row.

Under When a person or company already exists choose Skip it and keep what is there or Update it with the file. People are matched by email address. With the update choice, empty fields of the existing person are filled from the file and the tags are added; values that are already there are not overwritten. Companies that already exist, matched by name, are always skipped. Click Check the file.

Step 3: Check before importing

The check imports nothing. It shows four counts: Rows in the file, Ready to import, Already exist or repeat and With a problem. Below them, The first N problems lists the row number and the problem. Row numbers count the data rows, without the header line.

  • The email address is not valid.

  • The phone number is not valid. Use the international format. For example +31612345678.

  • The row has no name, email address or phone number.

  • The same email address appears earlier in the file.

  • The company name is empty.

Rows with a problem are skipped; the rest is added. Fix the file and go back if you prefer. When you are happy, click Import N rows. Your plan limit for people still applies: if the import reaches it, the import stops with the status Failed and the message The import stopped before it finished. The rows counted above were processed. Rows already added stay.

Step 4: The result

The result shows Added, Updated, Skipped and Failed. Files with up to 500 rows are imported at once. A larger file is imported in the background: the result first says Waiting for the CRM worker, then shows progress such as Importing: 1,200 of 4,000 rows processed. You can leave the page; the result stays under Previous imports.

Click Download problems for the row numbers and reasons of skipped and failed rows. Use Go to people or Go to companies to see the records, or Import another file. Imported people show Added by a file import on their timeline.

Previous imports

The table lists each import with its File, Type, Status (Not started, Waiting for the CRM worker, Running, Completed, Failed or Cancelled), the number of Rows, how many were Added, Updated, Skipped and Failed, and the Date. The download icon in the last column downloads the problems of that import.

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