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Importing Data Guide

Updated

Preparing a file, importing it, and handling custom fields, tags, linked records, and duplicates along the way.

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Requirements

Import requirements cover file format, size, and the default fields Insightly expects.

Preparing your file

Most import problems are file problems. Preparation covers column headers, data formatting, and matching your columns to Insightly’s fields.

Sample contact import spreadsheet with column headers — A spreadsheet showing nine rows of contact data organized into five columns: first name, last name, title, organization, and work phone. This illustrates the required format for preparing a CSV file before importing contacts into Insightly CRM.
Excel Spreadsheet Formatted for CRM Import — A sample Excel file shows contact data organized into columns for first name, last name, title, organization, work phone, and email address, with four Dunder Mifflin employee records as examples. This illustrates the required spreadsheet structure a user must follow when preparing data for import into Insightly CRM.
Save As Dialog with UTF-8 Encoding Selected — A Windows Save As dialog box is shown saving a file named “SourceExport.csv” with the encoding dropdown open, highlighting UTF-8 as the selected option. Choosing UTF-8 encoding is important when exporting data to ensure special characters are preserved correctly during import into Insightly CRM.

Record ID is the unique identifier Insightly uses to match a row in your file to an existing record. A blank Record ID doesn’t cause the import to fail, but it does change the outcome: with no ID to match against, that row is treated as a new record rather than an update, even if a matching record already exists in Insightly.

Excel Spreadsheet With Missing Record IDs — An Excel spreadsheet shows six contact records with columns for Record ID, First Name, and Last Name, where row 4 (Michael Scott) is missing a Record ID value. This illustrates a data import issue where some contacts lack unique identifiers, which could cause problems when importing or syncing records with Insightly CRM.

Running the import

The core import process, plus the specific path for importing leads.

When you run an import, you choose an import action that controls how Insightly handles new versus existing records:

  • Add New Records adds new records and skips records that Insightly recognizes as duplicates.
  • Update Existing Records updates records that match the Record ID field in your file and skips all other records.
  • Add New Records and Update Existing Records updates records that match the Record ID field in your file, skips duplicates, and adds all other records.

Uncheck the “Skip the first row when importing” checkbox if your file does not include a header row. Use the Trigger Automations checkbox to control whether workflow automation actions and AppConnect recipes run for the imported records, and the Send Notifications checkbox to control whether record change notifications are sent (by default they are not). After uploading and setting options, map each column in your file to an Insightly field, then click Start This Import. Insightly places the file in a queue and emails you when the import completes, including any problems it found.

Import Contacts Menu Option in Insightly — A dropdown menu is open in Insightly CRM’s Contacts section, with a red arrow pointing to the “Import Contacts And Notes” option. This helps users locate the correct menu path to begin importing contact data into their account. Import Contacts Step 1 Upload CSV File — The screenshot shows the first step of the Import Contacts wizard in Insightly CRM, where users select a CSV file to upload using a file input field and “Select File” button. The interface indicates a three-step process (Upload File, Import Options, Field Mapping) and notes that up to 50,000 records can be imported in a single file.
Insightly CRM Import Options Configuration Screen — This screen shows Step 2 of a 3-step data import process in Insightly CRM, where users configure settings such as import action, field delimiter, and options to skip header rows or trigger automations. These settings determine how the imported data will be processed and whether automated workflows will run on the newly added records. Mapping Last Name Field During Contact Import — A dropdown menu is open showing field mapping options during a contact import, with “Last name” being selected to match the “Lname” column containing sample data “Shrute.” This step is critical for ensuring imported contact data aligns correctly with Insightly’s fields, preventing mismatched or lost information.

ℹ️ Importing leads requires a few extra steps. Leads require a Last Name, Lead Status, and Lead Source. Professional and Enterprise plans can apply a lead assignment rule during import to distribute leads to the sales team. You can also choose a fallback user to assign leads to when the file does not specify a responsible user, and select a lead source that applies when the file does not specify one. You can only select one lead source per import file; different per-lead sources in the file will be overwritten by the import selection. If Lead Status is missing or does not match a status in your list, the default status from System Settings is applied. Importing leads does not create related contacts or organizations; those are created only after each lead is qualified and converted.

Accessing the Import Leads Option in Insightly — A dropdown menu is open in the Insightly Leads view, with a red arrow pointing to the “Import Leads” link under the Import/Export section. This shows users exactly where to click to begin importing leads into the CRM from the My Open Leads list view.
Lead Import File and Assignment Settings — This screen shows options for importing a CSV file of leads into Insightly, including selecting an assignment rule, a fallback assignee, and a lead source for new records. These settings determine how imported leads are automatically routed and tagged when the file is processed.
Mapping Import Fields to Insightly Lead Fields — The screenshot shows a field mapping interface where users match columns from their import file (such as FirstName, LastName, Organization, and Title) to corresponding Insightly Lead fields. Some fields show “NO MATCH, you choose...” indicating they require manual selection, which is a critical step to ensure imported lead data lands in the correct CRM fields.

Custom fields, tags, and linked records

Four situations need their own handling: importing records with custom fields, importing into a lookup relationship custom field, importing records with tags, and importing linked records. The linked-records article is the longest in the folder at 10,000 characters.

Excel Spreadsheet Mapping CRM Contact Fields — A sample Excel spreadsheet shows columns for first name, last name, title, billing ID, and nickname with four fictional employee records from The Office. This illustrates how contact data should be formatted before importing into Insightly CRM, including optional custom fields like nicknames. Mapping Excel Friendliness Ratings to CRM Dropdown — An Excel spreadsheet with a “Friendliness Rating” column is shown alongside an Insightly “New Contact” form, illustrating how spreadsheet values map to a CRM dropdown field. This helps users understand how to match their import data values to the available custom field options in Insightly. Syncing Excel VIP Field to CRM Checkbox — The image shows how a TRUE/FALSE value in an Excel spreadsheet column maps to a checkbox field in Insightly CRM’s contact record. When the VIP column is TRUE, the CRM checkbox is checked, and when FALSE, it remains unchecked, demonstrating how boolean data transfers during an import.
CSV Data Format With Semicolon Delimiter — A sample CSV record showing “123456;JaneDoe” where fields are separated by semicolons instead of commas. This illustrates how data should be formatted when importing or exporting records in Insightly CRM. Contact Tags Bulk Import Spreadsheet Example — A spreadsheet shows sample contact data with first name, last name, and two tag columns containing values like “TonyR_Referral” and “Supplier.” This illustrates how to format a CSV file when importing contacts with multiple tags into Insightly CRM. Mapping Contact Tags During File Import — A dropdown menu is open showing Contact Tag options (Tag 1, Tag 2, Tag 3) while importing a file, with Contact Tag 2 highlighted and selected. This helps users understand how to correctly map tag columns from their import file to the corresponding Contact Tag fields in Insightly.
Mapping Tag List Field During Contact Import — A dropdown menu is open showing “Contact Tag List” being selected to match an imported “Tag List” field containing values like “TonyR_Referral, Supplier.” This mapping step ensures that contact tags from the import file are correctly assigned to the corresponding tag field in Insightly.

Importing contact notes and organization notes is documented separately again.

Insightly Import Sources Menu With CSV Notes Highlighted — The image shows a list of data import options available in Insightly CRM, including Gmail, CSV, Excel, Outlook, and Act! 9. The “Import Contact Notes from a CSV File” option is highlighted with a red border, indicating it is the focus of the support article. Import Notes File Mapping Field Configuration — The screenshot shows the “Import Notes File Mapping” screen in Insightly CRM, where users match columns from their import file (such as FirstName, LastName, Phone, and Note Body) to the corresponding Insightly fields using dropdown menus. This step is critical during a contact notes import because incorrectly mapped fields can result in data being saved to the wrong place or skipped entirely. Import Field Mapping with Unmatched Fields — The screenshot shows a data import screen where three fields (Billing ID, Nickname, and VIP?) have not been automatically matched, displaying “NO MATCH, you choose...” dropdowns. A “Start This Import” button and a “Cancel” option are visible, indicating the user must manually map these fields before proceeding with the import.

Duplicate checks

Imports can check for duplicates before creating records, which is the cheapest point to prevent them. See SmartMerge for cleaning up duplicates that already exist.

If you don’t choose to update existing records, or your file has no Record ID to match against, Insightly checks for duplicates before importing and skips anything it flags. Skipped records are listed in the email you get once the import finishes. What counts as a duplicate depends on the object:

  • Contacts, Prospects, and Leads – first and last name must match exactly. If they do, Insightly also checks email address, phone number, and Organization; a match on any of those confirms it as a duplicate and the row is skipped.
  • Organizations – matched on Organization name alone. Multiple rows with the same name import the first and skip the rest, so give each location its own distinct name (for example, “Store ABC (Main Street)” and “Store ABC (Downtown)”) if they should be separate records.
  • Opportunities and Projects – matched on name alone.
  • Tasks and Notes – not checked at all. Duplicates in your file become duplicate records.

Since name and address fields drive most of this matching, inconsistent or incomplete data in the source file is the most common reason duplicates slip through, or legitimate records get skipped as false duplicates.

Duplicate Contact Records With Missing Street Data — A spreadsheet view shows multiple contact records with identical or nearly identical addresses in Scranton, PA and Mainville, CA, with one record displaying “UNKNOWN” in the Street field. This illustrates how duplicate or incomplete records can appear in Insightly CRM, which is relevant for users learning how to identify and clean up data quality issues.

Before importing, scan your file for near-duplicate names or organizations and for placeholder values like “UNKNOWN” in address fields. Cleaning these up in the source file catches issues that Insightly’s matching rules won’t.

After importing

Recently imported records can be viewed as a set and deleted together, which is the recovery path when an import goes wrong.

Recent Imports Section in Contacts Menu — The screenshot shows the Insightly CRM contacts list with a dropdown menu open, highlighting the “Your Recent Imports” section which displays a “Nov 1 Import” entry. This helps users locate and review their previously imported contact batches directly from the contacts view.
Selecting Contacts and Viewing Recent Imports — The screenshot shows a contact list in Insightly CRM with one record (Ginny Weasley) selected via a checkbox, and a red arrow pointing from the selected record to a “Nov 1 Import” entry in the Recent Imports panel on the right. This helps users understand how to identify which import batch a contact came from after importing contacts into the CRM.
Deleting a Selected Contact in Insightly — The screenshot shows a contact record for “Ginny Weasl...” selected in the Insightly CRM contacts list, with the Delete button highlighted in the toolbar. This illustrates how to delete a contact by checking its checkbox and clicking the trash can (Delete) icon at the top of the list.

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