Our import tool makes it easy and efficient to import a spreadsheet of your contacts (saved as a CSV file) directly into Nutshell.

To save an Excel sheet as a CSV, simply choose the Comma Separated Values file type from the Save as... window in Excel.
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Any Nutshell user with permission to do so can upload a CSV file (easily attainable from Excel, Google Sheets, or another CRM), then map the columns to Nutshell. By importing your spreadsheet, you can quickly add (or update) hundreds, or even thousands, of new companies, people, and leads all at once.

Before getting started with an import, you'll want to create any tags and company types that are part of the import. If you have custom fields that don't exist yet in Nutshell, no worries — you can create them right from the mapping step during the import process. If you plan to assign your companies, people, and leads to team members, you'll need to ensure that their usernames in Nutshell match the names in your file exactly.

For some best practices on preparing Nutshell to match with the data in your file, check out this article.

Go to Settings > Data > Import in your Nutshell account to get started with the import process. Once you've selected the "Click to upload" button, selected your CSV file, and clicked "Continue," you'll be taken to the matching screen.
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Click here for a full list of fields you can map your data to during an import. The mapping step is where you tell Nutshell what each column in your CSV should become. Nutshell will do its best to match your columns automatically — you'll see a green checkmark next to any column that's already been mapped, but since your file contains information that's unique to your business, you will want to double check that all fields are correctly mapped during the Mapping stage.

Columns that couldn't be matched will show "Don't import," so you can either map them to an existing field or skip them entirely.
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The Fields mapped panel on the right gives you a running count of how many Company, Person, and Lead fields are mapped, so you can see at a glance how your import is shaping up.
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You'll also see helpful counts below certain mapped fields — for example, if a column maps to a tag or industry field, Nutshell will show you how many items will be created from that column. This makes it easy to catch anything unexpected before you begin.
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If a column in your CSV doesn't match any existing field in Nutshell, you can create a brand-new custom field for it right here — no need to leave the import and set it up in Settings first.

To do this, use the Match to dropdown for that column and select the option to create or map it to a custom field. Once created, you'll see an Edit new custom field link appear below the dropdown. Click that link to open a panel where you can set the field's name, which entity it belongs to (Company, Person, or Lead), its field type, and an optional description.
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If you choose Decision as the field type, you don't need to add the options manually — Nutshell will scan the column and automatically build the dropdown choices from the unique values it finds in your CSV.
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If you're mapping to an existing decision custom field, Nutshell will automatically add any new values from your CSV that aren't already options in that field — no manual cleanup needed. Keep in mind that any custom fields you create here won't be officially saved in Nutshell until the import begins.

​Existing companies and people

If your CSV includes a Legacy ID or Nutshell ID column that you mapped during the previous step, Nutshell will use those to automatically match and update existing records. You'll see a note at the top of this section confirming that.

You can also toggle on Also match companies by name to catch any additional matches that weren't covered by ID — this won't affect records already matched by Legacy ID or Nutshell ID.

For people, use the Update existing people matched by option to choose a fallback matching method for any records that don't have a Legacy ID or Nutshell ID:

Lead creation

Toggle on Create leads from this import for each to have Nutshell automatically create a lead for every record brought in. You can choose whether a lead is created for each:

You can also toggle on Create leads for updated companies and people if you've already imported your contacts but want to create leads for the records that get updated by this import.
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New lead status:

Leads created via CSV import will be Open by default. If you want your imported leads in a different status, be sure to include a status column in your CSV. The status column can contain one of the following values for each row:

Note: you can always open leads in a bulk edit to choose a smaller group to start working on!

When you're happy with your settings, click Begin import and you're all set!

Checking your import status

After clicking Begin import, you can keep an eye on how things are going by clicking the View status button.
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This takes you to the Import status page, where you'll see a live timeline of your import moving through the following stages:

Once complete, the Import results panel on the right gives you a full breakdown of what was created and what was updated across Companies, People, and Leads.
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You can also use the tabs at the top of the page to dig into the details:

Don't worry if you made a mistake—imports can be reverted!

Once your import has completed, you'll find a Revert this import button in the top right corner of the Import status page. Click it to undo the import and remove all data that was added.
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You can also get back to a past import at any time by going to Settings > Data > Import and clicking on any import in your Import History.

Reverting an import will remove all the data that was added during that import.

Note: Reverting an import will not delete any updates you've made to companies and people such as new notes, contact information, and custom field data.

Don't want to re-map all the fields for a new import? If the CSV columns in another file are the same as a previous import, click the Import with a new file button in the top right corner of the Import status page. Nutshell will carry over your column mappings from the previous import so you can skip straight to reviewing your settings.

Depending on the size of your spreadsheet, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours for your contacts and leads to fully upload. Once you've kicked off your import, click the View status button to follow along — or head to the Checking your import status section above for a full walkthrough of what you'll find there.

Excel automatically uses semi-colons as delimiters if you're in a European country. Since you can only import comma-separated files into Nutshell, you have to update your separator settings. For instructions, click here.

​Some of my records didn't import — how do I find out what went wrong?

If any rows in your CSV ran into issues during the import, you'll see an Errors tab on the Import status page with a count of how many rows were affected. Click that tab to see a breakdown of which rows failed and why, so you can correct the data in your file and re-import just those records if needed.

This can sometimes happen if there's an issue with your file—for example, if your file has too many columns, or if the file isn't in UTF-8 format. If you come across this error, make sure that your file is saved in UTF-8 format. You can also try splitting the file up into smaller pieces to import each one separately, which will help you troubleshoot the problem area of the file. Contact us for assistance!