How to create an import CSV file

You can create a CSV file to import your contacts into OnePageCRM in two ways. 

In this article:
Create your CSV file for import file
Create your CSV file for merge import
Tips for importing contacts

Create your CSV file for import

1
If you wish to import your own CSV file, we advise you to use the following headings to facilitate auto-matching of columns during import:

Title

First name

Last name

Job title

Status

Phone (Work)

Phone (Home)

Phone (Mobile)

Email (Work) 

Email (Home) 

Address

Zip

City

State

Country

Tags

Background

Organization

Website

Next Action text

Next Action date

Lead source

Custom fields

Notes

Note: For any columns in your CSV file that OnePageCRM does not have as default fields, you must create Custom Fields in OnePageCRM before importing.

2
Once you've gathered the details and created your file, save as a CSV file. 
3
In your OnePageCRM account under  Import as  → select New contacts → click Select file to upload → choose the CSV file you wish to import (for more details see here).

Create your CSV file for import merge

The merge import feature requires the OnePageCRM IDs for the contacts you're trying to merge. The contact IDs allow the system to match the contacts in your file to the contact in your OnePageCRM account, and thus once the contacts are matched the merge import feature will update the contact in OnePageCRM with the new information in the file you're importing. Follow the steps below to prepare your file to be merged.

1
The best way to prepare a merge file is to export a list of contacts from your OnePageCRM account because the export file will contain the contact IDs required to process the merge. Once you've exported your file from OnePageCRM, you'll notice a column in the file titled Contact ID, and each contact will have a corresponding ID, this way when you import your file for merging, the system will identify and match the contacts to be updated.
2
Make the required updates to your contacts in the export file → save file in .CSV format.
3
You're now ready to import your file and start merging the contacts on your file with your OnePageCRM contacts.

Top tips for importing contacts to OnePageCRM

1
Last name or Organization name is the only required field for a contact to be imported. Other fields are optional.
2
To link multiple contacts from one organization, use an identical Organization name for these contacts.
3
If you are using just one field for Name please split it into First name and Last name.
4
For clean import data split the Address into separate cells:
  • Address (Street)
  • Zip
  • City
  • State
  • Country
5
To avoid the need to ignore multiple fields in the 'Map fields between file and database' step of the Import process, prepare your file by deleting any columns you don't need.
6
Before importing, remove duplicates from your import file. For more information on this, check out this article on how to remove duplicates from import file in Excel.
7
To import special characters (for example: á, è, õ, ü, ć) seamlessly, make sure to save your import file with the Unicode UTF-8. This encoding is widely supported by most of the apps.
8
It’s only possible to import a file with one tab, the import will not work if you've several tabs on the one file.
9
Be realistic when setting Next Actions on your import file. For example, set 10 for one date, then 10 for the next date. This will prevent you from having lots of overdue actions.
10
If you receive the  "Error:  Invalid file separator", check to ensure you don't have a coma at the end of a sentence without any more text, and ensure a semi-colon is not being used instead of a coma. We'd recommend doing a Find and Replace in Excel to amend your file.

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