Importing a spreadsheet into Zoho CRM: limits, duplicates and what you cannot undo

File limits

Zoho's current import page says the supported file types are CSV, XLS, XLSX and VCF (VCF only for Leads, Contacts and Users), the maximum file size is 25 MB, and a file can have up to 500 columns.

The number of rows per file depends on edition: 1,000 on Free, 20,000 on Standard, 50,000 on Professional, 100,000 on Enterprise and 200,000 on Ultimate/CRM Plus. An older Zoho FAQ quotes lower per-batch figures, so if the two ever disagree for your account, trust what the import screen tells you.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module, Zoho Help: Import FAQs

Duplicates: what happens to matching rows

Zoho's current page describes three modes. "Add as new" matches on a unique field of your choice and skips rows that already exist. "Update existing only" matches on a unique field and creates no new records, with an option to skip empty values so existing data is not wiped. "Both" adds unmatched rows and updates matched ones.

An older Zoho FAQ describes the options differently (overwrite, skip and clone), so the labels you see depend on the version of the screen.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module, Zoho Help: Import FAQs

What you cannot undo

Zoho says you can undo an import within 30 days, but only for added records: "You will not be able to undo updates made to records" through import. The older FAQ adds that undoing permanently deletes the imported data, that imports are confirmed automatically after 30 days, and that undoing imported Contacts also deletes their associated Accounts.

In practice this means an "update existing" import with a wrong column mapping is the riskiest kind.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module, Zoho Help: Import FAQs

Mapping, required fields and formats

• Records with missing mandatory fields are not imported.
• Lookup columns need an identifier such as a Record ID, a unique field, a record name, an email or an external ID.
• For date, date-time, currency, number and percent fields you choose the format at the mapping step, so match it to your file.
• Tags are comma-separated and multi-select picklist values are semicolon-separated.
• Encoding is chosen at upload; Zoho says the default Auto-Detect works for most files, and the older FAQ names UTF-8 as the usual format.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module, Zoho Help: Import FAQs

Who owns the imported records

Zoho lets you tick "Assign owner based on Assignment rules" at import. The older FAQ says that if no owner is given, the record is assigned to the user doing the import. Decide ownership before you import, not after.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module, Zoho Help: Import FAQs

Finding the skipped-records report

Zoho says the skipped and error report is available only for imports in the last 7 days, under Setup, Data Administration, Import, Import History. Download it promptly if records were skipped.

Source: Zoho Help: Import data into a CRM module

Before you import (practical advice)

This section is advice from experience, not vendor documentation.

• Import a ten-row sample first and inspect every field in the CRM.
• De-duplicate the spreadsheet itself before it goes near the CRM.
• Use one clean value per field (one date format, one spelling per picklist option).
• Export a backup of the existing module before any update-style import.
• If the data comes from another CRM, plan field mapping on paper first; a migration is easier to get right than to repair.

Already imported something messy?

Skyfall Labs can audit the data and plan a clean-up or a proper migration. Because we are a Zoho Partner, treat our view with the interest we have disclosed.