If you have your data in .csv or .vcf format, you can import thousands of records instantly and effectively.

Simply CRM supports importing data into different modules including Leads, Contacts, Organizations, Opportunities, etc.

Check List

1.Mandatory Fields
Make sure your file addresses all mandatory fields. For instance, Last Name and Company fields are mandatory in Leads module. You cannot proceed with importing until or unless you have a value within these fields of your .csv file. If the value of mandatory fields is empty, they will be set to ‘????’.

2.File Size
Make sure the file to be imported do not exceed 3 MB size

3.Permissions
Admin users can disable import access to non-admin users from Profile level. If you can’t find the Import option, you should contact your Administrator to enable import permission for your profile

Getting Started

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This tutorial will walk you through different steps involved in importing records into your Simply CRM account. The entire process is simple and straightforward.

Follow few simple steps to import data into simply CRM

1. Click [Module] tab. Eg: Leads, Contacts, etc
2. Click Actions > Import

Step 1: Select File

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In the first step of importing process, you’ll need to browse and upload your import file from your machine.

Here’s how to select your.CSV file

Click on the Choose File button, browse for the desired file that is to be imported. CSV and vcf are the two file formats currently supported.

Step 2: Specify Format

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In the second step of importing process, you’ll need to specify import file properties. The details of each property are explained below.

a. File Type : Simply supports two different file types namely: .csv and .vcf. Select the appropriate value from the File Type dropdown that describes the format of the file you’ve selected in Step:1. For instance, if you’ve uploaded .csv file, select .csv from File Type field.

b. Character Encoding : Make sure you select the right character set in which your import file has been encoded. You’ll need to select right encoding of the file irrespective of the file contents.

c. Delimiter : Simply CRM supports comma (,) and semicolon(;) as field delimiters. The fields in your .csv file are recognized only if they are separated with delimiters. More often, in a CSV file, fields are separated with commas(,). To know more about delimiters, click here

d. Header : While importing, the header of your .csv file is compared with fields in Simply CRM. Having a header makes it easy for you to map fields. Click on Has Header checkbox if your file has a header. The first row of your CSV file is considered as a header. Please make sure that you uncheck the Has Header field if your file doesn’t have a header. To know more about headers, click here

Step 3: Duplicate Record Handling

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This is an optional step and comes into play if you would enable the checkbox in Step-3 of the import process. This option will help you in tracing out duplicate records. You can also configure the actions to be performed on duplicate records: skip, overwrite and merge. And finally, select desired fields for duplicate lookup by moving fields from the list of Available Fields to Fields to be matched on by using the right and left arrows.

Following actions can be performed on duplicate records

Skip : After import, duplicate records are identified based on fields criteria. If your Simply CRM and .csv file has records in common, to avoid redundant data, duplicate records in .csv file are not imported into Simply CRM.

Overwrite :After import, duplicate records are identified based on fields criteria. If your Simply CRM and .csv file has records in common, to avoid redundant data, the records in .csv file are imported and will replace the records in Simply CRM.

Merge : After import, duplicate records are identified based on fields criteria. Merge, unlike overwrite and skip, checks for duplicate records first and then captures only useful information from your .csv file and updates it in your Simply CRM. Learn more

Here’s a sample image that depicts how all these properties work

Step 4: Map CRM Fields

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In the final step of the import process, you will need to map import file Header/Column to fields in simply CRM. Fields will be automatically mapped if your CSV file’s header matches with simply CRM field label. Here’s a list of helpful tips before you get started.

You can provide default values for mapping fields which will be picked up in case if the value for any field in a file will be empty.

Also, frequently used mappings can be saved and reused.

Saved mappings will be accessible across all users. You can delete the saved mappings by clicking on Trash icon.

After successfully mapping fields, click Import button.

Import Results

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After successfully importing records into Simply CRM, the import results are displayed in tabular format

• Import More

Lets you start all new import again

• Last Imported Records

Displays records imported lately with the help of paging support.

• Undo Last Import

Deletes all records that are created during the last import session. Reference records related to other modules will not be deleted.

Import Inventory

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Points to be noted while importing files into Inventory.

1. The item name in CSV file has to be same as that present in Product/Service list.

2. The specified item name, by default, will be searched in Product list first and then in the Service list. To make your work easy, append the item name with product/service in the following format

        Product::::Product_Name
        Service::::Service_Name

3. The Quantity and Selling price fields have to be specified properly and must be mapped. If you don’t specify it, the Import will fail.

4. The Tax values must be in percentage format, as it is calculated on the Total amount.

5. Discount can be applied on Individual item or on a group of items, specify the type of discount you prefer to add.

6. Tax type has to be mapped correctly and in CSV file the Tax type should be specified either group or individual, if not it would consider the default tax type.

7. If 2 records with 2 different items contain the same Subject, then it would be considered as a single record.

8. Specifying the Items Total, Pre-Tax Total , Received , Balance and Grand Total in CSV file will not be considered, as these fields depend on Item total, discount and taxes added to it.other fields like Quantity, Selling Price, Discount, and Tax added to it.

Notifications

FAQ

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1. How to import a .csv file from Microsoft Excel, that uses UTF-8 character encoding

Follow the steps outlined below to use Microsoft Excel to open a .csv file that uses UTF-8 character encoding.

• Open Microsoft Excel.
• Click on the Data menu bar option.
• Click on the From Text icon.
• Navigate to the location of the file that you want to import. Click on the filename and then click on the Import button. The Text Import Wizard – Step 1 or 3 window will now appear on the screen.
• Choose the file type that best describes your data – Delimited or Fixed Width.
• Choose 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) from the drop-down list that appears next to File origin.
• Click on the Next button to display the Text Import Wizard – Step 2 or 3 window.
• Place a checkmark next to the delimiter that was used in the file you wish to import into Microsoft Excel. The Data preview window will show you how your data will appear based on the delimiter that you chose.
• Click on the Next button to display the Text Import Wizard – Step 3 of 3.
• Choose the appropriate data format for each column of data that you want to import. You also have the option to not import one or more columns of data if you want.
• Click on the Finish button to finish importing your data into Microsoft Excel.

2. How do I see the UTF-8 charset in Open Office?

• Select the charset as UNICODE UTF-8
• Open it in OpenOffice with delimiter set to semicolon or comma
• Click OK