SalesSheet.ai's import wizard walks you through bringing contacts into your CRM in three simple steps: upload your file, map your columns, and confirm the import. The wizard supports five CRM source presets and uses a 2-pass auto-mapping engine that matches your CSV columns to SalesSheet fields with high accuracy, so most imports require zero manual configuration.
Behind the scenes, the import process includes built-in safeguards like email deduplication, exponential backoff retry for large files, and a circuit breaker that pauses the import if too many rows fail validation. These features ensure your data arrives cleanly and completely, even when importing thousands of records at once.
Before You Begin
- An active SalesSheet.ai account with admin or import permissions
- A CSV file exported from your current CRM or contact management tool
- Column headers in the first row of your CSV (the wizard requires headers to map fields)
- For CRM-specific exports, see our Importing from Specific CRMs guide
Upload Your File and Select a Source Preset
Navigate to Contacts > Import from the left sidebar. On the first screen of the wizard, you will see a file upload area and a source preset selector. Choose one of the 5 available presets before uploading your file:
- Generic CSV: Works with any CSV file that has column headers. Best for custom exports or files from tools without a dedicated preset.
- HubSpot: Optimized for HubSpot contact exports. Automatically recognizes HubSpot-specific column names like "Contact owner" and "Lifecycle stage."
- Pipedrive: Maps Pipedrive fields including "Organization" and "Label" to their SalesSheet equivalents.
- Copper: Handles Copper CRM exports with fields like "Company Name" and "Contact Type."
- Salesforce: Recognizes Salesforce export columns such as "Account Name," "Lead Source," and custom field API names.
After selecting a preset, drag and drop your CSV file onto the upload area or click to browse. The wizard accepts files up to 50 MB, which typically covers up to 500,000 contact records.
Review and Adjust Column Mapping
Once the file is uploaded, the wizard runs a 2-pass auto-mapping process. The first pass matches column headers by exact name (for example, "Email" maps to the Email field). The second pass uses fuzzy matching to catch variations like "E-mail Address," "email_address," or "EmailAddress" and map them to the correct SalesSheet field.
The mapping screen displays every column from your CSV alongside the suggested SalesSheet field. Green checkmarks indicate confident matches, yellow indicators mean the wizard made a best guess, and red markers show unmapped columns. Review any yellow or red items and use the dropdown to select the correct field or choose "Skip this column" to exclude it from the import.
If your CSV contains a single "Full Name" column, click the Name Split button to automatically separate it into First Name and Last Name fields. The splitter handles common formats including "First Last," "Last, First," and names with middle initials or suffixes.
Confirm and Start the Import
The final screen shows a summary of your import: total rows detected, number of mapped fields, and any potential issues like missing email addresses or duplicate entries. The email deduplication engine compares every email address in your file against existing contacts in SalesSheet. Duplicates are flagged and you can choose to skip them, update existing records, or create duplicates.
Click Start Import to begin processing. For large files, the import runs in the background with an exponential backoff retry mechanism. If a batch of rows fails due to a temporary server issue, the system waits and retries with increasing intervals (1 second, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, and so on) up to five attempts. A circuit breaker monitors the overall failure rate and pauses the import if more than 10% of rows fail consecutively, preventing bad data from flooding your CRM.
You can monitor progress from the import status bar at the top of the Contacts page. When the import completes, SalesSheet sends a notification with a summary including total imported, skipped, and failed records along with a downloadable error log for any rows that could not be processed.
Pro Tip
Before importing a large file, test with a small sample first. Export 10 to 20 rows from your source CRM, run them through the wizard, and verify that the mapping is correct. This saves time and prevents issues when you import the full dataset.
Important
Imports cannot be undone in bulk. If you accidentally import incorrect data, you will need to manually delete the affected records or contact support for assistance. Always review the mapping summary carefully before clicking Start Import.
Troubleshooting
The wizard says "No columns detected" after uploading my file. What is wrong?
This usually means your CSV file does not have column headers in the first row, or the file uses a delimiter other than a comma (such as semicolons or tabs). Open the file in a text editor to verify the format. If your file uses semicolons, save a copy with commas as the delimiter before uploading. Also ensure the file is saved with UTF-8 encoding.
Many columns show as "Unmapped" even though I selected the right preset. Why?
The preset expects specific column header names from the source CRM. If your export was customized or columns were renamed, the auto-mapper may not recognize them. Try switching to the Generic CSV preset, which uses broader fuzzy matching. You can also manually map each column using the dropdown selectors on the mapping screen.
My import was paused by the circuit breaker. How do I resume it?
The circuit breaker pauses imports when the failure rate exceeds 10% of consecutive rows. Download the error log from the import status bar to identify the issue. Common causes include invalid email formats, missing required fields, or special characters that break CSV parsing. Fix the issues in your source file and re-upload to resume from where the import stopped.