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Bulk Updating or Inserting records from Excel using CRM Data Import
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.
- Save the file
- Open the Excel file and it looks as below
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)
- 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)
- Save the Excel file. (Ignore the warning and continue saving)
- In the CRM, Click on “Import Data” button in the Ribbon
- In the dialog window browse the saved file
- Click “Next” button
- In the next window, click on “Submit” button
- Refresh the CRM application
- Now you can see the newly inserted contact “Rajeev Pentyala” with the given values in Excel
- 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”
This article provides you a basic knowledge about Data import from Excel.
Hope it helps 🙂