Bulk import/update made easy

In Dynamics CRM the import functionality can help u import and update data on any entity available for import in CRM. When u choose the default import template most of the time there are fields or not the fields u want to import or update. In this blog I will show u how to make a personal view and create an import template based on this view.

Step 1                 Select the entity which u want to modify or add data to

I will use the Lead entity as the entity for the import template.

Step 2                 Create and edit personal View

To create a personal view click on the icon with the tree dots to fold out the menu and click on Create view. When the view designer has opened the selected entity is already set to Lead.

Use the button Edit Columns to modify the view and select the fields u want to include.

When all the columns are set and in the right order save the view by clicking on the Save As button of the View designer.

Step 3                Open your Personal View

Now that your view has been saved it will be available in the view selector on the entity Leads beneath My Views.

Below the newly created Personal view named Lead import with only the fields I want to import and / or update visible.

Step 4                Download Template on the view Lead import

In the ribbon use the button Excel Templates to click on the item Download Template.

(Another possibility is to edit the data directly in Excel online by using the button Open in Excel Online in the ribbon Export to Excel).

In this dialog the Entity and the View are already set correctly to download the template.

Step 5             Open the downloaded template in Excel

Open the template in Excel and start updating the leads or even add new leads by entering data starting at cell D9 and so on.

In the screenshot above u can see I have edited the column Mobile phone of the lead Tamer Salah and added a new lead by inserting my own information at row 9. This row will be picked up as a new record to insert in CRM.

Step 6              Import the data into CRM

After I did some editing in the excelfile and saved it, I can now start to import the data back into CRM by navigating to Settings\Datamanagement and selecting Imports. On the import entity select Import Data in the ribbon and upload the excelfile.

After selecting the excelfile for upload click on the button Next and The dialog “Review Settings and import Data” will show up.

On the top there is notification that says “This action will update existing records, and, if required, create new records.”. CRM recognizes there are records in the excelfile that are already in CRM, so it will update those when the data in any of the columns is modified. Rows not available in CRM will be seen as new and thus created as records in CRM.

Step 7             Submit the data

By clicking on the Submit button the data will be submitted for import into CRM. Now just go back to the view Lead import and wait to see the updates and the new records become visible in CRM. (Use the refresh button)

Done!

The import has successfully updated and inserted the data into CRM with a import template based on columns in the Personal view Lead Import. When u want to save this template for later use u can also upload the template back into CRM by using the button Upload template.