Importing Data

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Importing Data

You will need to import your data initially and may need to do recurring data imports to update CiviCRM.

If your organization has contact records in MS Access©, Excel© or other applications, you can easily import them into CiviCRM.

View the Import tutorial

If you want to understand the structure of the civiCRM fields that you want to import, it can be very helpful if you first create some temporary records in civiCRM with all the types of data that you intend importing. Then do an export, including from civiMember and civiContribute etc. This will provide a very useful guide for how to approach the import process.

Before Importing, be sure to eliminate any duplicates in your import files.

Configure and use Find and Merge Duplicate Contacts to check for data that might already exist.

From the main CiviCRM menu choose Import

The menu will open to allow you to choose to Import Contacts or Activity History:

Contacts means a file with information on individuals, households or organizations.
Activity History means a file with information on meetings, phone calls, etc.

The default is Contacts, so only if you are importing Activity History do you need to click that option.

Select the type you want to import. You will be brought to the appropriate Upload Data screen.

Files must be in the 'comma-separated-values' format (CSV) and UTF8 encoded
Most applications will allow you to export records in this format. Consult the documentation for your application if you're not sure how to do this. Also note that files must be UTF8 encoded if they contain special characters (e.g. accented letters, etc.).
Go to Administer CiviCRM » Global Settings » Configure » Localization » Import / Export Field Separator to set the field separator used in your import data file.

Save the CSV file you want to import to your local hard drive (or an accessible drive on your network) before you continue.

There are 4 steps in the Import process:

1. Upload Data

2. Match Fields

3. Preview

4. Summary

If you think that you will use version 2.2 doing telemarketing via voip is better also that you import also Country in csv files, to have the right country code prefix in links to do voip calls with a click.

Importing Data

Return to Data Management

Importing Data

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