Import contacts in bulk (Eight, Sansan, Excel)

Where to start#

• Import at the top right of the Contacts list (on a computer)
• Or the Contacts (cards) tab under Data migration

Anyone who can use customers and contacts can import.

Prepare the file#

Pick a source under Where are you moving from? to see how to export from it.

• Eight: in Eight (desktop), download the card data you want as a CSV (an Eight Premium / Eight Team feature). Upload the file as it is.
• Sansan: filter the cards you want, then download their data as a CSV. Ask your Sansan admin if you lack the export permission.
• Other CSV / Excel: a list whose first row is a header (full name or last name is required). Download the CSV template is the safest start.

CSV, text or Excel (.xlsx / .xls) up to 20 MB, Shift_JIS or UTF-8.

Which columns are read#

Columns are recognised by their header, including the different headers Eight and Sansan use.

• Name: last and first name columns; otherwise a full-name column split at the space (no space means the whole value becomes the last name).
• Kana: last/first name kana, or a single kana column.
• Company, department, title: company name, department, job title.
• Email: email or e-mail. If one cell holds several addresses, the first is used.
• Phone: direct line, then department line, then company line, whichever comes first, becomes the phone; mobile goes to mobile.
• Address: postal code and address (the prefecture is split out).
• Saved in the notes: fax, URL, card exchange date, notes.
• Owner (your staff): card owner or owner columns; the colleague with the same name becomes the owner.

If the headers are not recognised, you will see "Assign the columns". Choose what each column is and click Re-read with this mapping.

Steps#

1. Choose the source and what to do when the same person already exists (same email, or same name at the same company): Skip (keep existing) or Fill only the empty fields of the existing one.
2. Drop the file or click Choose a file, then Upload and preview. Nothing is saved yet.
3. On the review screen, check the New customers and Duplicates counts and the warnings or errors on each row. Companies not yet registered are marked "(new)".
4. Click Import (N). Large files take a few minutes. If you close the page, reopen the upload from Previous imports to continue.
5. When it finishes, click Open contacts to check.

How rows are imported#

• Customers: matched by company name (㈱ and 株式会社, full- and half-width differences are treated as the same company). Missing companies are created with the address, main phone and website from the card. A company that appears many times in the file is created only once.
• Duplicates: if a contact with the same email, or the same name at the same company, exists, your choice applies. Even with Fill, values already there (department, title and so on) are never overwritten. If the same person appears twice in the file, the second row is skipped.
• Someone else's private contact: if the person is already another member's "only me" contact, the row is skipped without showing the name (nothing is created or filled).
• Owner: the colleague whose name matches the card owner or owner column; otherwise you.

Rolling back#

After the import, Roll back this import deletes the contacts newly created by it in one go.

• Existing contacts whose blanks were filled, and customers that were created, are kept.
• It is refused if any of those contacts already has deals, activities or emails; tidy those contacts up individually.

FAQ#

• Columns landed in the wrong fields: a header can occasionally match a different field. If you notice it on the review screen, click Discard, fix the headers or follow the template, and upload again.
• I uploaded the same file again: you will see that it was already imported on a given date. People already there are skipped (or only their blanks are filled).
• An email address was rejected as invalid: that row is imported with the email left empty.