Supported file format: CSV or XLSX. Please convert all your files into .CSV or .XLSX format before attempting to import data.

Records that can be imported via CSV/XLSX files:

• Contacts

• Accounts 

• Deals

• Products

• Custom Modules

• Sales Goals

There are four important things to follow while importing records from a CSV/XLSX file:

• Preparing your CSV/XLSX file/

• Importing the file

• Mapping fields

• Finalizing import

1. Preparing your CSV/XLSX file

• Ensure your CSV/XLSX file's header row has columns that can be mapped to the field's Last name.
• Ensure your file size is 5MB or fewer.
• To automatically assign contacts to users, create a column with the email addresses of the users, and map the column to the field Owner.
• While adding LinkedIn profile of a contact, enter only the profile name instead of adding the entire URL. For example, if the contact's LinkedIn URL is https://www.linkedin.com/john-doe, enter only john-doe.

Note: The email address must be the email address that the user uses to sign-in onto Freshsales

Create the custom fields before you begin the import to find your columns and map them. If a field is multi-select, values of the field should be separated by a semicolon(;) in the CSV/XLSX file. For example, if 'Competitors involved' is a multi-select field, then here's how the column should like in the spreadsheet:

The last name must be mapped for the import to be complete. Your CSV file must have columns for this field.

2. Importing the file

1. Once your CSV file is ready, navigate to Import Contacts in the Contacts module.
   

2. Select the CSV/XLSX option and click Next.

3. Choose if you want to import only Contacts or Contacts along with Accounts.
   

   • To Create or import new accounts while importing contacts:

     • Map the contact and account fields under the Contact and Account fields tabs. For example: Contact fields - Firstname, Lastname, Email
       Account fields - Number of employees, Annual Revenue
       

4.  Click Next.

5. Upload the CSV/XLSX file. Note that the maximum file size is 5 MB. 

3. Mapping fields

1. The Review the mapping of your fields overlay is exclusively for mapping the columns in your CSV file with the fields available in Freshsales.
2. If you are importing Accounts with Contacts, ensure that the mandatory Account fields are mapped. Unmapped mandatory fields are flagged at the top 
   
3. Associate contacts with existing accounts - When the 'Account name' in the file matches an existing account in the CRM, the contact will be associated with that account. 
4. If you have not mapped unique fields to specific columns in the CSV/XLSX file, you will be prompted to choose the right unique field for mapping.
   
5. Mapping the fields is critical to the success of the import, so here’s a list of know-how to help you do it right.
   1. If there are columns that you do not wish to import, you can skip those columns by simply not mapping them with any field. Unmapped contact and account fields are flagged at the top.
      
   2. As fields get mapped, they become unavailable for mapping with another column (Fields are distinct).
   3. Lastly, make sure the field type matches the type of value in the column. For example, if you’re trying to map the column Number of Rooms, you need to find a field that accepts numeric value viz the Number field. If you’ve mapped it to a field that is a text box, then the values for the column Number of Rooms will not be imported.
6. If there are multiple (account) field values associated with a contact, Freshsales updates the contact with the latest value. For example, a contact John with Account Name Acme already exists on the CRM, and your import file contains Contact John with Account Name Apex Co, then the CRM updates Contact John with Account Name Apex Co. 
   
7. Click Next.

4. Finalizing the import

1. Choose the format of the date fields in the CSV/XLSX file: You can choose between one of three options–
   - DD/MM/YYYY
   - MM/DD/YYYY
   - YYYY/MM/DD
2. Choose how you want to import the contacts: You can choose to create new contacts, update only the existing contacts in Freshsales, or do both. 
3. Skip duplicate contacts: Check the Skip duplicate Contacts box to identify duplicates between the CSV file and your web application records by matching them based on the following identifiers:
   

   1. Freshworks CRM ID

   2. Email*    

   3. Phone number*

   4. Work Number
      Additionally, all fields of type ‘Text field’ and ‘Number’ will be automatically detected and can be used for matching. These duplicates will be skipped during the import. This will prevent your web application from updating records that are already present on the system. You will also receive an import summary email with a CSV file containing all the skipped records.

      
      

      Note:
      When Email is used as an Identifier: The email field in the CSV/XLSX will be matched only with the primary email of Contact for finding duplicates. Secondary email addresses, if any, will not be considered. 
      
      The CSV/XLSX file will be matched with both Contacts to identify duplicates. 
      
      If you are importing multiple emails for a Contact through the CSV/XLSX file, the first email of the record will be matched as the identifier. 
      
      When a Phone number is used as an Identifier: Only if there is an exact match between the field value on the CSV/XLSX file and the stored record will the record be considered a duplicate. Example: if a record on your web application contains 9003241245 and the CSV/XLSX file has a record containing the phone number as +1-9003241245, then the two records will not be considered duplicates  

      
      

4. Assign owners: Choose a user who will be assigned as an owner for all unassigned records i.e the owner field is left empty on the CSV/XLSX file. 
   

5. Add more details: 

   1. Add tags and assign lifecycle stage: You can add tags to the records being imported and assign a lifecycle stage to capture the decision journey of contacts.

   2. Manage SMS, email, and WhatsApp subscriptions: Select the subscription status of the contacts being imported to customize outreach. Make sure that your contacts have consented to receive emails/messages from your organization.

6. Click Import Now.

If your CSV file is small, the import will be instantaneous, and you can see a green label that gives you the number of successful imports. If the CSV file is large, you will be taken to the import progress screen, where you can see the progress of your imports.

NOTE: 
When you try to import a file with no data in the mandatory fields, your import will be unsuccessful. Pay attention to the list of mandatory fields for your account before your import the CSV file to ensure that all the mandatory fields are filled with relevant values.

While mapping a contact/account to the Sales Owner, ensure that the CSV file has the email address of the sales owner in the column 'Sales owner' and NOT the name of sales owner. Adding the name will not map the sales owner to the record. 

When importing contacts along with accounts, if you opt to use the 'Overwrite' option, accounts already mapped to contacts being imported will not be replaced. Instead, the new account being imported along with the contact will be appended to the contact and will exist as an additional account.

During import, if a record is mapped to a user who is deactivated, then the import will fail for those records.

For more information, refer to this FAQs on Data Import 

1. Why did some of my data not get imported? (Reasons for failure of data import)

When importing records, these are the possible reasons for the failure of data import:

• Invalid email address - If the email addresses in your CSV/XLSX file aren’t of the proper format (e.g: jamesampleton@sales, jeangrey.com) 
  
  

• Unmapped Columns - Columns that aren’t mapped with any of the fields.
  
  

• Improper Field Type - If the field type is different from the type of value in the column.
  
  

• Picklist Values - If you’re mapping a column with values for a picklist (such as a Radio button/Checkbox/Drop down menu) with a field (also a picklist), double-check the values in the column to ensure that they match with the appropriate field choices.
  
  For e.g: If you’ve got a column that has the values 1, 2, 3 for the Number of Rooms and want to map it to a radio button (field), make sure that that radio button has 1, 2, 3 as the field’s choices.

Admins can set limits for users on how many records they can import and update for the day. 

Note: Import limit can be set only for Contact/Account/Deal modules and not custom modules.

To configure this,

Go to Admin Settings > Teams & Territories > Roles > Choose a role (say Sales User)

Under Permissions > Actions, set the limit for creating and updating records during import

After Import

Once the import is complete, you will be redirected to the Import History page. This page provides you with the necessary information on the records created, updated, skipped, and errored, along with their statuses

To view the error logs, simply click on the Download button, and the file will be automatically downloaded.