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Updating records via the Import function

In order to be able to import data ensure that you have permission to do so. To see how to modify User Permissions in RealtimeCRM see the following article.

The primary way to update records within RealtimeCRM is to use a filtered List view of records (Company, Contacts, Tasks etc) and use the “Manage Selected” menu. We have a variety of articles on how to do just that, for example how to update your Tags or Activity.

To be able to update records via the import method you must first find out the unique id of the record you wish to update, this is necessary as then when you come to import your updates they will need to be mapped to the correct record.

The procedure will be described here and then worked through below. We will first export the list of records you wish to update. RealtimeCRM exports your records as a CSV file and within that CSV file you will find an id field which is unique to each record. It allows you to map updates to the correct existing record otherwise a new record will be created.

Once you’ve made the relevant updates in the CSV file simply import it into RealtimeCRM as normal and the updates will be applied to the relevant records.

First, export the records you want to update

You can export records of any type whether they be Company or Project records from RealtimeCRM in a matter of a few clicks. In this example we will export a selection of Contact records whose Tags we wish to update and then import the amended CSV file back into RealtimeCRM.

  • Click on the Contacts panel in the left hand sidebar
  • Now select the records you wish to export, you can do this by clicking the checkbox next to the relevant record or you can filter your list of records by some attribute by clicking the Add filter button and then clicking the top most check box next to the grey menu bar to select all the records in this filtered list
  • Once you’ve made the selection click the Manage selected button and from the drop-down menu select ‘Export selected records’
  • Your records should now be downloaded onto your system as a CSV file

Note: Take a look at the Tags assigned to these Contact records in the bubbles such Marketing and Priority for Francois Elan. It’s these that we will change with our import update.

Now enter your updates into the downloaded CSV file

Once you’ve downloaded the CSV file you should open it and then under the relevant column and in the relevant record row make the changes you wish to make, in this example we will be altering all the Tags for all the records to ‘Closed’ and ‘Won’.

Once you’ve made the changes make sure to save them. Also you can see in the CSV file above that the ‘id’ column is first, this was generated by RealtimeCRM when you first created the record and is used to identify the record when you come to import this updated CSV file back into RealtimeCRM.

Tip When saving the CSV file we’d recommend saving it under a different name just so you can revert your records back to their original state if anything goes wrong or you change your mind, that way you have copies of each version of your records.

Importing your updated CSV file back into RealtimeCRM

You now should have a modified CSV file saved and ready to use.

  • Firstly, click on your Username and select ‘Settings’ from the drop-down menu
  • Now click on the ‘Import Data’ panel
  • Here you can select the record type you wish to import, in our example we will be importing Contact records so from the Select a record type drop-down menu we will pick ‘Contacts’
  • Next under Import Type make sure you have selected ‘Update’ this will ensure the importer will know to update records instead of inserting new ones. Furthermore by selecting Update the available CSV file that you can download will be one suitable for updating records but as we have already set up our CSV file we do not need to worry about that at this stage
  • Now click Select a CSV file and a dialog box will open allowing you to select the relevant CSV file to import into RealtimeCRM
  • Once you’ve done that you’ll be given options of what fields to import or not import. We recommend importing all the fields for which you already have a value otherwise these fields will be left blank when you come to import the CSV file, also your field names should be identical in both the CSV file and in RealtimeCRM so they should match up

  • Once you’ve matched all the fields simply click Import data
  • Your records should now be updated

Note: Always check your records after an update to make sure they were imported correctly!

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