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Bring Your Existing List In From Excel

Bring your existing Client list across from a spreadsheet instead of retyping it.

1:11

What this covers

Bringing your existing Client list across from a spreadsheet instead of typing it in again. It works the same way for Prospects, Web Leads and Contacts, each on its own tab.

Start with the template

Go to Database Management, Import / Export, Import Database, and press Generate Empty Excel Sheet before anything else.

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that saves the time. The sheet comes with every column already named and in the order the import expects, so there is nothing to map: no matching your headings to ours, and no guessing which Address is which.

There is room for two names per record, a company, two address lines, city, province and postal code, four email addresses and four phone numbers, and employer and occupation fields after that. Leave anything you do not have blank.

Fill it in

One row per person. Keep the header row exactly as it came, and do not reorder the columns. Save it as .xlsx.

Set the types before you import

Back on the import screen, choose your file, then set Client Type, Client Rating Type and Lead Type.

These are applied to every record in the file, which is worth reading twice. It is not a limitation so much as the trick: bring people in a group at a time and each group arrives already labelled, so you can filter that batch out again later. A Lead Type of something like Noodle Clients (Import) tells you months from now where those records came from.

Then press Import Excel Sheet, and they are in your list.

Tips

Do a small one first. Five rows, check they look right, then do the rest. It costs two minutes and tells you whether your columns line up.

Split the file by group. One import per Lead Type beats one big import and a tidy-up afterwards.

Do not delete columns you are not using. Leave them empty. The import reads by position.

Common questions

Can I import Prospects and Contacts too?

Yes. The tabs across the top of the import screen are Clients, Prospects, Web Leads and Contacts, and each takes the same template.

What if I import the same people twice?

You will have them twice. Check the list after a big import rather than assuming, and delete duplicates from the Client list.

My list is in something else, not Excel.

Almost everything exports to Excel or CSV. Get it out of the old system, paste the columns into the generated template, and import that.

It will not import.

Usually a changed header row, reordered columns, or a file saved in an older format. If it will not go, ask us. Sorting out a messy list is part of the free setup help.

Video transcript

Show transcript

You already have your people somewhere. A spreadsheet, an old system, a list somebody sent you. You do not have to type them in again. Database Management, Import and Export, Import Database. Start with Generate Empty Excel Sheet. This matters more than it sounds.

It hands you a spreadsheet with the columns already named, in the order it expects. Names, company, address, four email addresses, four phone numbers. Which means there is nothing to map. No matching your headings to ours, no guessing which address is which. So fill it in. One row per person. Two here. Samantha Noodle and Carpenter Noodle.

Then come back and choose your file. Now the part worth reading twice. The types you pick here are applied to EVERY record in the file. Client Type, Rating, and the Lead Type, which is where they came from. This one is set to Noodle Clients Import. Which is the trick. Bring them in a group at a time, and every group arrives already labelled and filterable.

Import Excel Sheet. And there they are. Carpenter and Samantha, in the Client list, ready to work with. If the file is a mess, or it will not go, just ask. Sorting that out is part of the free setup help.

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