Import contacts (CSV)

Already have your contacts in a spreadsheet or another CRM? Export them as CSV and import them into Arcane in five steps: File, Mapping, Preview, Duplicates, Summary. No record is created before the last step (a field added at the Mapping step does stay), and an import can be undone for 7 days.

All plans Contacts › Import (CSV) Members allowed to create records Try it in the demo

The Import (CSV) button sits at the top of the contact, company and opportunity lists, and of other shared objects. On a narrow screen it only shows its icon.

1. File

The File step: CSV drop zone, size limits and the Download a CSV template link.

Drop your file or click browse your files.

At most 10 MB, 50,000 rows and 200 columns, on every plan.
The first row must hold the column headers.
UTF-8 or Windows (Excel) encoding; the separator (;, ,, tab or |) is detected automatically.
Download a CSV template gives you an empty file with the right columns.

2. Mapping

The Mapping step: each file column, an example value and the chosen Arcane field.

Arcane matches each column to a field from its name, including common synonyms (“Company”, “Phone”, “Mail”…). Check each row and change the field if needed:

Do not import skips a column.
Your organisation’s custom fields are offered too.
An admin can create the missing field right from the list (text field).
Date format: day / month (03/04 = 3 April) or month / day (03/04 = March 4).

3. Preview

The Preview step: the first rows as they will be imported, with ready rows, errors and companies to create.

The preview shows the first 5 rows converted, and counts rows that are ready, errors, likely duplicates and companies to create. A row with an error (invalid e-mail address, unreadable date, unknown choice…) is skipped and listed at the end.

For contacts, the company column is matched to an existing company by name, otherwise by the e-mail domain. Failing that, the company is created. A Gmail, Outlook.com or other consumer address never creates a company.

4. Duplicates

The Duplicates step: detection by e-mail, Skip (default) or Update, and the Import button.

A duplicate is a row with the same identifier as an existing record or an earlier row of the file: the e-mail for contacts, the domain for companies. Choose what to do:

Skip (default): the existing record is left alone.
Update: the file’s non-empty cells replace the existing record’s values.
Create anyway: creates a new record. This choice doesn’t exist for contacts, since two contacts can’t share the same e-mail address.

Click Import to start the import.

5. Summary

The summary: records created, companies created, duplicates skipped, rows with errors, the error download link and the Undo this import button.

The import runs in the background: you can leave the page, it keeps going. At the end, the summary gives the records created, records updated, companies created, duplicates skipped and rows with errors.

Download the rows with errors gives you a file to fix and import again.
Undo this import deletes the records and companies created by the import, for 7 days. Updated records keep their new values.

Good to know

At most three imports can run at the same time in an organisation.
Each imported record keeps its history: the import shows in the organisation’s audit log.
An import is only visible to the person who started it.