Importing Contacts - Formatting Your Import File

Overview: For a successful import into the contact database, your data file needs to follow a few guidelines.

Specifically your data needs to be:

• Saved as a .CSV file type
• All data needs to be separated into one data point per column--
  • e.g. first name and last name are two unique columns, not one "Name" column etc.
  • Address is separated into Address 1, Address 2, City, State, Zip etc not one "Address" Column.
• Free of hidden line breaks*

*Note about invisible line breaks: You may not be able to see this hidden issue, but your .CSV file may have some hidden line breaks in a cell, this is most common in address cells where for instance the street may be on one line, and the apartment number on another hidden (out of view) line. If imported into our system, this record will fail to import. The best strategy to avoid this is as you are formatting your file for import, one of the final steps should be to run a Search and Replace on the entire datasheet. In the Search field type  Control+J (note you will not "see" anything, but it is there) then Replace with a space by hitting the space bar (again you will not "see" anything) you will be replacing the line break with a space and this will bring up the invisible content in the cell into view, and make your cell content compatible for import.

Note for Country: Best to only use the (ISO Alpah-2) or 2 character alphabet-based Country Code to populate the Country field in your import, not the entire country name. Please consult this link if needed and update your Country Code column from a name approach to the ISO Alpha-2 approach.  https://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/ctycodes.htm

In this video we look at what a proper format spreadsheet with one set of data point per column looks like.

(In the video it is mentioned that email address is the only required field for importing a contact record. Although it is best to have an email, it is possible to import a record with no email address at this time.)

NOTE: Although this Chapter is designed to be sequential in its steps, you may jump ahead to a specific topic by visiting the Course Content page for a linked Index. To continue click Next to proceed in sequence.

Related Topics

• Importing Contacts - Formatting Your Import File  
• Importing Contacts - Save Data File as .CSV File Type  
• Importing Contacts - Categorize Contacts on Import  
• Importing Contacts - Assign Member Groups to Contacts  
• Importing Contacts - Before Import Checklist  
• Import your Contacts and Add to Subscription List at Import  
• Import Previous Customers and Invite to Create New Sign In Account Access

Popular Contact Management Topics

• Getting Started - Importing Contacts
• Creating Lists in Contacts
• Find and Edit Contact Information
• Custom Contact Fields
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