Rajeev Pentyala – Dynamics 365 Blog

Hi,

In CRM, you may come across scenarios where you need to Update/Insert a very large number of records very quickly. In these cases, opening each record’s form to make the change can be time-consuming.

We can handle this better by using CRM Data Import feature by which we can make bulk Update/Insert very quickly.

Below are the steps to achieve this. I am using ‘Contact’ entity for this article.

Steps :-

• Navigate to ‘Contact’ entity
• Click on “Export to Excel” button in the Ribbon menu
• In the “Export Data to Excel” dialog box which comes up, Select “Static worksheet with records” and check the “Make this data available…” check box.

"Export Data to Excel" Dialog Box

•   Save the file
•  Open the Excel file and it looks as below

Records in imported file

Important Points :-

* This Excel file has some unique characteristics which simplifies the data entry and re-import process.

* As you click on each cell, you will notice a pop-up that tells you format of the data and whether the field is required or not.

* Required fields are not enforced in Excel (i.e., Excel won’t validate even if you miss the value in required cell).

* If you miss a value in required field cell, the record wont be updated in the import process.

* You can enter “Lookup” values also, but the values must match with parent record.

For example, In this Excel “Parent Customer” cell is a lookup to the “Account” entity. So i need to give “Account” full name in the cell.

* If any wrong data entry in the lookup cell, the record will not be updated on import

• In the imported Excel (Above screen), If you observe, I don’t have “Middle Name” for any of my contacts. So I am giving middle name as “Updated” (Below screen)

Updating "Middle Name" field

•  Next, I want to insert a new record “Rajeev Pentyala” to my contacts.

          Important Point :-

– We can create new records by entering them in the bottom of Excel. (***Be sure to fill all required fields ***).

• So, In my last row of Excel, I enter “First Name”,”Last Name” ,”Email”,”Parent Customer” (i.e.,Valid full name of existing Account)

Adding new record in the last row

•  Save the Excel file. (Ignore the warning and continue saving)

Ignore warning and save

• In the CRM, Click on “Import Data” button in the Ribbon
• In the dialog window browse the saved file

Import process

• Click “Next” button
• In the next window, click on “Submit” button

Import process - submit

Import Porcess - Finish

• Refresh the CRM application
• Now you can see the newly inserted contact “Rajeev Pentyala” with the given values in Excel

Import - New Contact

• You can also verify the remaining contacts with the updated “Middle Name”
• This is how we handle  “Data import” process

Tip :-

• To verify your import finished successfully or any problems with it.
• Navigate to “Settings -> Data Management -> Imports”

Data Import - Settings

Imported File - Success & Failures

This article provides you a basic knowledge about Data import from Excel.

Hope it helps 🙂