Salesforce Magical Import Overview

Insycle supports the following Salesforce record types:

• Contacts
• Accounts
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Custom record types

You can select the record type you would like to import at the top of the module.

Navigate to Data Management > Magical Import. 

Select the database and the record type in the top menu. Then choose the CSV file that you would like to import.

Select a template if you or someone on your team has already saved one that handles importing from the same source.

After uploading your CSV data into Insycle, Step 1 will populate with a column for each field in the CSV. Insycle automatically looks for the matching CRM fields and maps them for you. You'll need to manually map any fields it can't figure out.

Next, tell Insycle how to use the data on a field-by-field basis by selecting the Import Mode for each column—update existing records, create new records, or do both depending on what data is in your CSV.

There are four Import Modes:

• Update: Import CSV values into Salesforce, overwriting existing CRM values (will skip empty CSV values).
• Fill: Import CSV values only when there is no existing value in Salesforce (will not overwrite existing CRM values).
• Overwrite: Import CSV values, including empty CSV values, into Salesforce (will overwrite existing CRM values).
• Append: Add CSV values to existing values in Salesforce. For example, append notes from a CSV to existing notes or add values on multi-select fields (checkboxes or picklists).

Set Matching Criteria

Insycle uses Matching Criteria to compare the CSV with your Salesforce data and identify existing records for the same entity. Matching Criteria are rules based on unique identifiers that typically belong to only one entity, such as:

• Email address
• Account domain (for business records)
• Phone number
• ID number
• Street address

You can set multiple matching rules that are evaluated in order from top to bottom. This allows you to find matches based on various criteria, all in one step. 

For example, you could use the following criteria to match contact records:

1. Email
2. First Name + Last Name + Account ID
3. First Name + Last Name + Phone Number

Insycle attempts to match each CSV record using the first rule. If no match is found, it proceeds to the next rule, continuing until either a match is found or all rules are exhausted (in which case the CSV record is considered new or unique).

For best results, place your most precise matching criteria at the top of your rule list. Additionally, keep in mind that while names can be included as part of the matching criteria, they should be used in conjunction with other identifiers, as multiple individuals may have the same name.

There are four actions in Step 2 to choose from: 

Import CSV Data into Salesforce

Use the Import feature to enrich existing records or create net new records from data you have in a CSV (without adding duplicates). Learn more about importing from a CSV.

Select the Records Mode to tell Insycle how the imported data should be handled during the import process. 

• Update existing and create net new – If Insycle is unable to find a corresponding record, a new record will be created in Salesforce.
• Only update existing – If a corresponding record is found, it will be updated with the data from your CSV import. Records that are not matched with an existing Salesforce record will not be imported.
• Only create net new – Only records that can not be matched with an existing record in your database will be imported. Records that already exist in Salesforce will not be updated.

Look for Duplicates and Compare Values

Use the Compare (Preview) feature when you want a side-by-side comparison of CSV data against matching items in Salesforce. This is a read-only operation.

Compare features: 

• Create a new CSV report comparing your import CSV values to Salesforce.
• See how many contacts from a file are net-new versus already existing in Salesforce.
• Show CSV data side-by-side with Salesforce data so you can preview how your CSV import would change data for existing records.
• Check unsubscribes against your Salesforce database.

Learn more about using Magical Import to compare CSV data to existing records in Salesforce.

Delete Listed Items from Salesforce

Use the Delete feature when you have a CSV containing records you know need to be deleted. You can match the CSV rows to Salesforce records and easily delete the data in bulk.

Learn more about using a CSV to specify records to delete from Salesforce.

Export Salesforce Data Side-by-Side with CSV Values

Use the Export feature when you want more information from Salesforce about items you have in an external list. Put the items you want to look up in a CSV—you really only need a Matching Field used to look for matches in your database. Then select the Salesforce fields you want to export for the matching records.

Export features:

• Create a new CSV report comparing your import CSV values to Salesforce.
• Select the Salesforce field values to include in the export using the Fields to Export.
• See how many contacts from a file are net-new versus already existing in Salesforce.

This is a read-only operation.

Learn more about exporting CRM data for CSV comparison or enrichment.

Under Step 3, you can make bulk changes to the CSV data or filter out rows before it is uploaded to Salesforce. The options selected and applied here will be reflected in the table view of the data in Step 1; they are not done directly in your Salesforce data.

Use Functions to Transform CSV Data

On the Functions tab, you can select fields from your CSV and apply formatting and transformation changes to the field data. You could clean up, format, add or remove text, copy values to other fields, or make other updates before it is uploaded to Salesforce. These are the same functions found in the Transform Data module, which you can learn more about here. 

When finished, click Apply and view the changes under Step 1. 

Find & Replace Values before Importing

Using the Find & Replace tab, you can bulk update values in the Step 1 table so they are ready to go when you import. This eliminates the need to edit the original CSV and set it up in Insycle again.

Filter Out Rows in Your CSV

The Filter tab allows you to limit which rows from your CSV are imported based on criteria you define. You may want to do this to import in segments that are handled differently or if there are just some junk rows you don't want to import.

Add Contacts to Salesforce Campaigns

When importing Salesforce contacts or leads, the Campaign tab will appear. From here, you can add the imported records to an exisitng campaign from Salesforce.

Type to search campaigns and make a selection, then select the Campaign Member Status. Use the Show link to open the campaign in Salesforce for a preview.

Make Bulk Changes to a Field 

On the Bulk Update tab, you can add a value to Salesforce records even if the field is not in the CSV. This will add the same value for all the imported records.

Link Imported Rows to Records in Salesforce

The Link tab allows you to create relationships between CSV records and existing records in your database when you import. 

Learn more about creating relationships when importing.

Set Format for Dates Tied to Records

The Date Format tab allows you to reformat dates before the data is imported into Salesforce.

Learn more about reformatting dates before the data is imported into your CRM.

By default, Insycle will attempt to import all of your CSV data into your database. If there are only a few records you want to import, return to the table under Step 1 and check the boxes beside the select records. 

When you click the Import [X] Contacts button under Step 5, you'll be prompted to confirm.

⚠️ Note that there is no preview step. Once you confirm, the changes will be applied to Salesforce immediately.

After the import runs, the Import Result breaks down the import information—how many records you tried to import and how many succeeded, failed, were updated, deleted, or unmodified. Click the Run ID to open a CSV record of the import.

Insycle will generate a CSV report of these changes and email it to you. If you open the CSV file, you can look at the Result column to see how each row of your import was handled.

The Result column may show:

• Created - A new record was created in Salesforce
• Updated - An existing record was found and updated with data from the CSV
• Failed - If there is an issue, the Message field will give you details so you can troubleshoot

You can also see the (Before) and (After Update) values side-by-side for each field in your import.

After you've seen the results in the CRM and are satisfied with how the import runs, you can save all of the configurations as a template to use each time you import a CSV with the same source and format. With a template, all of your settings are saved, including field mapping, actions, functions etc., so you will have minimal work for future imports.

Return to the Template menu at the top of the page and click the disk icon to save this as a new template, giving it an informative name.

Insycle uses Matching Criteria to compare your CSV to your Salesforce data. Matching Criteria must be "unique identifiers." These are data points that could only belong to a single entity—such as email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, or ID numbers.

Additionally, when using an email field, Insycle will automatically cross-reference any additional email fields in the records for a match. If using a domain field, Insycle will check additional domain fields. 

When you configure your Matching Criteria rules, the data under Step 1 will refresh, and you'll be able to see which records are already in your Salesforce data. The records that Insycle found will become blue links that will open the record in Salesforce.

If you rely on URLs to match imported data with records in Salesforce, the formatting of those values can be key. Perhaps the data in Salesforce is inconsistent, with different representatives entering URLs differently, or maybe website addresses are formatted differently in an external data source.

For example:

• https://www.acme.com
• http://acme.com
• acme.com
• www.acme.com

When importing, a CSV with varied URL formats might look like this:

Insycle lets you easily clean and format values from a CSV before they are imported. All the cleanup happens on the Insycle side, ensuring the import has standardized data.

By using the Functions under Step 3, you can make bulk changes to the CSV data before it is uploaded. The options selected and applied here will be reflected in the table view of the data in Step 1, not done directly in Salesforce.

To eliminate format variants, you can isolate the second-level domain. Under Step 3, select the website or URL column, then select the Extract: Domain from URL function. This will keep just the second-level and top-level domain (acme.com). If you need to take it a step further, and remove the top-level domain (keeping "acme"), add a second function to the column, Remove Top-level domain. 

Click Apply, then review the changes to the column data under Step 1 to verify that the column data matches the needed format. In this example, the domain has been extracted from the URL, so only the second-level and top-level domains remain. These are the values that will be imported into Salesforce.

Learn more about cleaning data before vs. after importing it into Salesforce.

Insycle attempts to match date values using multiple formats in the following order:

1. Date time with timezone: 2018-07-19T23:25:45.671-0400
2. Date time in UTC timezone: 2018-07-19T10:15:30Z 
3. YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
4. Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2018-07-19 or 2018/07/09
5. Date (M-D-YYYY): 07-19-2018 or 7/19/2018

All the above formats work with and without the - or / symbols.

Learn more about reformatting dates before the data is imported into Salesforce.

With the Activity Tracker, you have a complete audit trail and history of changes made through Insycle. You can also download a CSV report at any time to see all of the changes made during an import operation.

Navigate to Operations > Activity Tracker, enter "import" to search for the Magic Import module, or look for a template name, then click the Run ID for the operation.

If you've configured the Insycle Run ID property in Salesforce, you can cross-reference these operations in the CRM records.

If there are issues with a CSV row, the red warning icon will be shown on the left side of the record. Records that have errors in them will not be imported.

To learn what the problem is and determine steps to resolve it, hover over the red exclamation mark—an explanation of the error will display. 

If a field in Salesforce includes picklist values and the data included in your CSV does not match, the row will display an "Invalid picklist value" error. This value needs to be changed to match the options used in Salesforce.

You can make quick fixes to the import data directly in Insycle by hovering over a value and clicking the pencil icon.

If a record in your CSV is not being matched to a CRM record and you know that it should be, there are several potential causes:

1. The Matching Criteria you chose does not match between the CSV and CRM

   Insycle depends on your Matching Field selection to compare your CSV to your Salesforce data. If Insycle can't find matches between the two sources, you may need to find a more reliable but unique field.

   Have a look at the data in Salesforce using the Grid Edit module, adding columns to the layout so you can explore the fields and values. Then, compare this against the columns and values in your CSV to find a reliable but unique field that matches the two sources. 

2. You are using too many fields in Matching Criteria rule

   You can select more than one field in each Matching Criteria rule; however, ALL of the fields must match, not just one or some of them. If you include five fields and four of them match, but one doesn't, Insycle will not consider the rule a match.

   Typically, it is best to use a single field for your first Matching Criteria to improve the likelihood of finding existing records in Salesforce. Then you can add additional rules to match multiple fields.

   

3. Your Matching Criteria is too broad

   Insycle uses Matching Criteria to compare your CSV to your Salesforce data. If you're using a field that is not truly unique as Matching Criteria, it's likely that Insycle won't be able to identify one single record as a match. For instance, there could be many people with the first name, "John" in Salesforce. This is why uniqueness is key.

   When selecting your Matching Criteria, make sure it is truly a "unique identifier." These are data points that would only belong to a single record—such as email address, phone number, street address, or ID number. For companies, it could also be company name, or company domain.

   

4. There is a syncing issue

   To refresh the data in Insycle, navigate to Settings > Sync Status, and next to the account name, click the Sync changes from last day button (lightning bolt icon).

   

   Alternatively, you could log out of Insycle and then log back in.

   For help re-syncing a specific field, contact support.

If you have set up formatting or standardization functions in Step 3, but aren't seeing those changes reflected after importing your data, make sure that you click the Apply button.

You must apply these updates to your CSV data before importing it into Salesforce. You will see these changes reflected in the data under Step 1.

Yes, Insycle will automatically map fields that it is able to identify. However, if there are cases where it can't figure out what a field should map to, a warning icon will appear, and the CRM field dropdown will say "Not Mapped." You should select the corresponding CRM field to ensure the field is included in the import.

Yes, you can easily add to existing data using the Fill or Append Import Modes in Step 1.

• Fill: Import CSV values only when there is no existing value in CRM (will not overwrite existing CRM values).
• Append: Add CSV values to existing values in your Salesforce data. For example, append notes from a CSV to existing notes, or add values on multi-select fields (checkboxes or picklists).

Yes, Insycle provides many functions that can clean, format, and standardize data from your CSV before it's imported into your database. The options selected and applied here will be reflected in the table view of the data in Step 1; they are not done directly in Salesforce.

Under Step 3, on the Functions tab, you can select fields and apply formatting and transformation changes to the field data. These are the same functions found in the Transform Data module, which you can learn more about here.

Yes, Insycle allows you to link records while importing data from a CSV in Step 4 using the Link tab. 

Yes, Insycle allows you to compare the CSV to existing data in your Salesforce records. The Compare (Preview) tab under Step 2 will create a simple CSV report showing the values from your original CSV next to the values currently in Salesforce.

To learn more, see the Compare CSV Data to Existing Records In Your CRM article.

Yes, the Magical Import module can handle up to 100k rows for each CSV import. Keep in mind that the more rows and fields you have in your CSV, the slower the import process will be. If you run into any issues, try breaking the CSV into segments and removing any extraneous fields.

If you have set up the Insycle Run ID property in your CRM, every Insycle operation that updates or creates a record will update the Run ID in the record. This can be used to look up process reports in the Activity Tracker or to get help from support.

Note: To see the history in Salesforce records, the field history tracking must be enabled for each object type you use with Insycle. 

When using an Insycle Recipe that includes templates for more than one object type, such as companies and contacts, the same Run ID will appear in both CRM records.

Learn how to set up the Insycle Run ID custom field for each object type in your CRM.