How to: Import Clients from Excel

Modules involved: CRM → Clients
Who uses it: Sales admin, operations, IT admin
Time required: ~15 minutes for a first import; faster on subsequent runs

Overview

Manually adding hundreds of clients is error-prone and slow. The Clients module supports bulk import via CSV — you prepare a file with the required columns, map them to the platform fields, and the system creates all records in one operation.

Tip

Before importing production data, run a test import with 5–10 rows to verify column mapping is correct. It is much faster to fix mapping errors on a small batch than to clean up 500 wrong records.

Step-by-step

1. Export a sample template

Navigate to CRM → Clients. Click the Import button in the toolbar to open the import dialog. Download the sample CSV template — this file shows the exact column headers the platform expects (e.g. company_name, vat_number, email, phone, address, city, country).

2. Prepare your data file

Open the template in Excel or Google Sheets. Paste your client data into the matching columns. Key rules:

company_name is required; all other fields are optional
country accepts ISO 2-letter codes (e.g. RO, DE, PL)
Phone numbers: include country prefix without spaces (e.g. +40723456789)
Remove any rows with duplicate vat_number values — the platform rejects duplicates silently

Save the file as CSV (UTF-8) to preserve special characters (ș, ț, ä, ç, etc.).

3. Open the import dialog

Go to CRM → Clients → Import. Upload your CSV file. The platform parses the first row as headers.

4. Map columns

The column mapper shows your CSV headers on the left and platform fields on the right. Match each column to its field. Unmapped columns are ignored — you do not need to map every column.

Warning

Do not map multiple CSV columns to the same platform field. If you have both a "Company" and a "Name" column that both represent the company name, pick one — importing both overwrites the first with the second.

5. Preview and validate

Click Preview. The platform shows the first 10 rows as they will be imported. Check:

Names are not truncated or garbled
Country codes resolved correctly
No unexpected blank fields

6. Run the import

Click Import. A progress indicator shows the batch being processed. When complete, the platform reports:

Imported: number of new records created
Updated: records matched by VAT number and updated
Errors: rows that failed validation (displayed with the row number and reason)

7. Handle errors

Download the error report. Fix the flagged rows in your source file and re-import only the error rows — the platform matches on vat_number and updates existing records rather than creating duplicates.

Result

All clients appear in CRM → Clients and are immediately available for invoicing, lead assignment, and contract linking. Tags, groups, and discounts can be bulk-assigned from the list view after import.

Tip

Download the client import template before preparing your data file — the template shows exact column headers and required fields so the import succeeds on the first run without guessing field names or discovering required fields are missing.

Warning

Test client imports with 5-10 records before running the full dataset. Imports are not automatically reversible — a column mapping error on a large file requires manual cleanup across potentially thousands of client records.