Why bulk import/export matters
DR
Dana Reyes · Sales Operations
"We just came back from a trade show with 5,000 business cards' worth of leads sitting in a spreadsheet. Nobody has time to type those into the CRM one record at a time before they go cold."
Manual, one-record-at-a-time entry doesn't scale past a handful of rows — and a single bad row shouldn't hold the other 4,999 hostage.
Business outcome
Thousands of records loaded in minutes instead of days, with full visibility into exactly which rows need manual attention — nothing silently lost.Anatomy of the Import Wizard
📄 Upload CSV
→
🔗 Map Columns
→
✅ Run Import
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| Header detection | The backend reads the CSV's header row and returns the column names for mapping |
| Field mapping | Each CSV column is mapped to an object field (or skipped) — done client-side before the final import call |
| Per-row processing | Each row runs through the normal createRecord pipeline — type coercion, required-field checks, validation rules, and workflows all apply |
| Result report | Total rows, success count, fail count, and a per-row error list with the reason each failure occurred |
One bad row ≠ a failed batch
Import is per-record transactional. A single row failing a required-field check doesn't roll back or block any of the other rows — you get a clear list of exactly what to fix.Import a trade-show lead list
Prepare a CSVMake a small test file with columns: Company, First Name, Last Name, Email — include one row with a missing required field on purpose.
Open the Import WizardImport → pick object: Lead → upload your CSV.
Map the columnsMap "Company" →
company, "First Name" → first_name, "Email" → email, etc.Run the importReview the result: success count, fail count, and the specific error for your intentionally-broken row.
Export it back outGo to Export → pick Lead → download the CSV and confirm your imported records are in it.
Test what you learned
1. Row 42 of a 1,000-row CSV import fails a required-field check. What happens to the other 999 rows?
The entire import is rolled back
They still process normally — only row 42 is reported as failed
2. Does a record created via CSV import trigger the same Workflow Rules as one entered manually?
Yes — each row goes through the same createRecord pipeline as manual entry
No — imported records skip workflows and validation rules