Importing customers from a CSV file
At CRM -> Customers -> Import from CSV it is possible to upload many customers' information at once.
Jump to:
- Demo video: Importing data.
- Importing new customers.
- Example customers import table and file.
- Updating existing customers.
- Important notes.
What is CSV? CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a universal format for importing or exporting tabular data. A CSV file can be obtained by saving/exporting e.g. an Excel file as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv).
When uploading the CSV file:
- Select and match the names of the fields corresponding to the columns in the data.
- Check the "The first row is heading" option if the first row of the file contains headers. Then the first row will not be imported.
- Select "Do not import" as the column type if some column is not to be imported.
- Click Import to upload the data into the appropriate fields of the database.
- If the importing of some data failed, a skip file will be generated and downloaded to your computer, which indicates all errors line-by-line.
Importing new customers
When uploading customers, the fields that can be used are:
Company name* | Required. The name of the customer company. |
Number | A unique code to identify the customer. If not imported, the code will be generated automatically. |
Status | The status of the customer (plain text). Customer statuses are saved at Settings -> System Settings -> Customer Statuses. If the status does not exist it will be created. |
Contact started | Date when the contact was started. |
Next contact | Date and time for the next contact. |
Trade credit limit | The credit limit for the customer. |
Account manager |
Your customer account manager. |
Registration number | |
Tax/VAT number | |
Tax rate | The default tax rate for the customer. |
Pricelist number | |
Pricelist name | |
Default discount | Default discount for the customer. |
Payment period | Default payment period in days. |
Payment period type |
|
Phone | |
Phone 2 | |
Fax | |
Skype | |
Web | |
Free-text address | |
Free-text address line2 | |
Free-text shipping address | |
Address and Shipping Address |
Structured address fields. Possible columns:
|
Additional information | Free text notes. |
Contact person's name | |
Contact person's position | |
Contact person's phone | |
Contact person's fax | |
Contact person's Skype | |
Contact person's e-mail | |
Custom fields | Any custom field defined for customers. |
Example customers import table:
Number | Name | Status | VAT nr | Phone | Phone 2 | Address | Shipping address | Contact person | ... | |
CU-012 | Customer 1 | Permanent | Primary phone | Secondary phone | info@ABC | Primary address | John Smith | ... | ||
Customer 2 | New | 12345 | Primary phone | Secondary phone | info@XYZ | Billing address | Shipping address | Jane Smith | ... | |
(Up to 3000 lines can be imported at once) |
Download a sample file: import-customers.csv
Re-importing data for updating customers
It is possible to update existing customers from a CSV file, at CRM -> Customers -> Import from CSV. (Alternatively, the bulk editing can be used at CRM -> Customers table.)
The Number field is used for matching the customers. If a customer with the same number already exists, then software updates this customer. If there are new values that will be updated, then:
- A confirmation page is shown with a list of values that will be changed.
- The user can choose whether to update a particular customer or skip it.
The following fields can be used:
Number* | A unique number to identify the customer. Required. Used for matching the customers. |
Company name |
The name of the customer company. |
Status | The status of the customer (plain text). Customer statuses are saved at Settings -> System Settings -> Customer Statuses. If the status does not exist it will be created. |
Contact started | Date when the contact was started. |
Next contact | Date and time for the next contact. |
Account manager |
Your customer account manager. |
Registration number | |
Tax/VAT number | |
Tax rate | The default tax rate for the customer. |
Default discount | Default discount for the customer. |
Payment period | Default payment period in days. |
Payment period type |
|
Trade credit limit | |
Pricelist number |
Important!
- If the imported file contains non-Latin characters, the file must be in UTF-8 (preferred) or Unicode encoding. If Excel is used to save the file, select the "Unicode Text (*.txt)" option in the "Save as type" field. Even though the extension of the file is TXT, it can be imported as a CSV-file.
- The limit is 3000 lines per upload. If the file is bigger, divide it into several smaller files.
- Since importing can be a question of trial-and-error, we strongly suggest making a back-up of the database before importing. In that case, if anything goes wrong, it is always possible to restore the previous session.