Edition
|
Enterprise
|
Professional
|
Free
|
Availability
|
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
Importing records from external
sources to Zoho CRM is one of the most important lead creation activities for
marketing and sales. In Zoho CRM, importing records help you to create new leads
by gathering data through various sources, such as purchasing record database,
records from different business units, etc.
You can import records into
Zoho CRM, if you are authorized to perform this operation. Otherwise, Import
My [Module]/Import My Organization [Module] link in a module's home page
will be hidden in the user interface. By default, the records' ownership is
automatically assigned to the user who imports the records. However, you can
change the records' ownership while importing by adding a [module] owner column in import
(CSV/XLS) file and map to the Assigned To field. This will automatically
assign records to particular users.
Import Checklist
Before importing the
data, please go through the following checklist:
- Permission
Make sure you have the
access and privilege to Import data. If you do not have the privilege, the
Import link will be hidden in your User interface.
- File Format
The file to be imported must be a comma-(or tab)-separated
values' text file. It must be an ASCII file (usually with a .txt or .csv
extension in the Windows environment) where each line of text represents a
single record. The supported formats are: XLS/CSV/VCF. All file
attachments should be separated from the data.
- Forbidden Characters
Any data for
the file to be imported should not contain the following characters:
- Double quotation marks(") - use only as a field delimiter
- Vertical bar (|)
- Angle brackets (<>)
- Mandatory Fields
The required
(mandatory) fields must contain a value. Make sure you do not leave the
mandatory fields blank, in the source file. For instance, if you are importing
account information, each account record must include an Account Name.
The Field Mapping page in the Import wizard shows the required fields in the
<field Name>* format.
Do not proceed to the next step
without mapping the mandatory fields.
- Check-box
Data
Make sure that the data you plan to import from Boolean or
check box fields contain values that get properly converted during import
process.
Imported data from Boolean and check box fields are converted as
follows:
- If check box is selected - True or 1
- If check box is not selected - False or 0
- Drop-down
List
All data values displayed in the drop-down lists must exist in
the corresponding Zoho CRM fields.
For instance, if you plan to import
an account information that contains a value for the industry type drop-down
list, before you import the account information, make sure all the industry
values in the source file already appear in the drop-down list. If the values do
not exist, you must either change the values in the source file to match the
existing values in Zoho CRM, or have your administrator add the new values.
- Field Names
Make sure the first
row of data (records) in the source file contains the column headings or field
names rather than the actual data values. These heading/ field name values help
identify the data when you map the new data to the existing fields in Zoho
CRM.
- Blank Lines
Remove all blank lines
from the file to be imported. A blank line is interpreted as the end of the
file.
- Date Time values
The date value
for the import data file must be in MM/DD/YYYY format and the date time value must
be in MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS
Date / Date
time values in any other format will be ignored during import.
- User Name
The file to be imported
into Zoho CRM should have the exact Zoho CRM User name (login ID) for the record
Owner field. Otherwise, the User (importing the records) becomes the
record's owner.
- File Size
Make sure the file size
(Import data) does not exceed 5MB.
- XLS Files
In case of XLS file,
only MS Excel 97 - 2003 formats are supported. Unexpected errors may occur if
the XLS files contain any special controls like combo filters or images embedded
in it.
The Modules for which you can Import data along with
their mandatory fields are mentioned in the table below:
|
Modules |
Mandatory Fields |
|
Modules |
Mandatory Fields |
|
Modules |
Mandatory Fields |
|
Leads |
|
Potentials |
- Potential Name
- Account Name
- Sales Stage
- Closing Date
|
Products |
|
|
Accounts |
|
Cases |
- Case Origin
- Subject
- Status
|
Vendors |
|
|
Contacts |
|
Solutions |
- Solution Title
- Question
- Answer
|
Price Books |
|
Note: You cannot import
reports, letters, and templates into Zoho CRM.
Import Limits
|
Zoho CRM - Edition |
Number of Records |
| Free Edition |
|
| Professional Edition |
- XLS/VCF Format - 1500
- CSV Format - 10,000
|
| Enterprise Edition |
- XLS/VCF Format - 1500
- CSV Format - 20,000
- Skip/Overwrite duplicate
records
|
Import My data
This method allows any
user of Zoho CRM to import data into Zoho CRM and the records' ownership is
automatically assigned to the particular user who imports the data.
To import data:
- Click the [Module] tab.
- In the [Module] Home page, click Import My
[Module].
- In the Import Wizard page do the following:
- Click Browse to locate the required file that is to be
imported.
- Select a Workflow Task (if required). Note, that the work
flow task will be available in the list only if you had already created a work
flow task and the corresponding work flow alerts and rules.
- Select an option from the list to Assign all
imported Leads to this Lead Source.
- Select the check box to Enable Manual Lead
approval (this demands each data to be manually approved by the
administrator before assigning to specific users).
- For duplicate records, click any of the options (skip , overwrite, clone).
- Select the Character Encoding form
the list.
- Click Next to continue.
- Map Fields:
- Associate the fields in CSV/XLS file column header with the corresponding
[Module] fields in Zoho CRM
(Mandatory fields should be properly mapped)
- Click Next to continue.
- Confirm Mapping:
- Verify whether all fields are mapped correctly
- Click Import and your records are imported in Zoho CRM.
Once Import process begins, you cannot cancel it.
- Click Go to [Module] List.
Import Organization data
This method allows any
user of Zoho CRM to import data into Zoho CRM and the records'
ownership is automatically assigned to the particular user who imports the data.
To import organization
data:
- Click [Module] tab.
- In the [Module] Home page, under Lead Tools, click Import My
Organization [Module] data.
- In the Import Wizard page do the following:
- Click Browse to locate the required file that is to be
imported.
- Select a Workflow Task (if required).
Note, that the work flow task will be available in the list only if you had
already created a work flow task and the corresponding work flow alerts and
rules.
- Select an option from the list to Assign all imported Leads to this Lead
Source.
- Select lead owner from the list to Assign Lead Owner as per the Assignment
Rules.
- Select the check box to Enable Manual Lead approval (this demands each
data to be manually approved by the administrator before assigning to specific
users).
- For duplicate records, click any of the options (skip ,
overwrite, clone).
- Select the Character
Encoding form the list.
- Click Next to continue.
- Do the following to Map Fields:
- Associate the fields in CSV/XLS file column header with the corresponding
[Module] fields in Zoho CRM
(Mandatory fields should be properly mapped)
- Click Next to continue.
- Do the following to Confirm
Mapping:
- Verify whether all fields are mapped correctly
- Click Import and your records are imported in Zoho CRM.
Once Import process begins, you cannot cancel
it.
- Click Go to [Module] List.
Note: The file to be
imported into Zoho CRM should have the exact e-mail address for the record Owner
field. Otherwise, the User (importing the records) becomes the record's
owner.
View Import History
Edition
|
Enterprise
|
Professional
|
Free
|
Availability
|
30
days
|
30
days
|
7
days
|
The import history provides a detailed picture of the recently imported
files. It contains the imported file name, module name, user name, and the
imported time. In the Import History page you can perform the following
operations:
- Confirm the imported data
- Rollback (delete) the imported data
Confirm Imported data
After importing the data into Zoho CRM, if you are satisfied with your recent
imported data, confirm the operation, so that the data will be permanently added
to your CRM account.
Note: Once confirmed, you cannot
revert the operation.
Rollback Imported Data
The rollback option permanently deletes the data from your CRM account so
that you can import the data again. This is useful in cases when after
importing, you notice that the data was not imported properly and you prefer to
import the same data again.
To view import history
- Click Setup > Data Administration Tools > Import History.
- In the Import History page, the import details are displayed under
List of Imports section.
- Select the check box(es) and do any of the following:
- Click Confirm to confirm the imported
data.
- Click Rollback to remove
the imported
data
Note:
- Manual approval option is available only while importing Leads
- While importing records to Zoho CRM, the option
to ignore duplicate records is not available in Free and Professional Editions.
The duplicate records are automatically cloned.
- The option to skip and overwrite duplicate records is available only in
Enterprise edition.
Related Links
CRM Data Administration | Export Data | Migrate to Zoho CRM | Miscellaneous Topics