Contact Import Masterclass: From Spreadsheet to CRM in 5 Minutes

The 5-Minute Import

You've signed up for 365clients. You have a spreadsheet with 200 customers. You don't want to type them all in.

You don't have to. 365clients imports contacts from a CSV file, the plain spreadsheet format that Excel, Google Sheets, Google Contacts and Outlook can all save. Here's how to do it cleanly.

Step 1: Get Your Contacts into a CSV

From Excel: File → Save As and choose CSV (Comma delimited).

From Google Sheets: File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv).

From Google Contacts: select your contacts, Export, and choose Google CSV.

From Outlook: File → Open & Export → Import/Export → Export to a file → Comma Separated Values.

From Xero: Contacts → All contacts → Export. Upload that file as it comes; no renaming needed (see below).

Step 2: Name Your Columns

365clients reads the first row as column names and recognises these (upper or lower case):

Put this in row 1What it fills in

First NameFirst name
Last NameLast name
Name, Full Name or Contact NameSplit into first and last name
Email or Email AddressEmail
Phone, Phone Number or TelephonePhone
Mobile, Mobile Number or CellPhone (a mobile wins, since it can take texts)
Statuslead, prospect, active or inactive (anything else becomes lead)
TagsSeveral tags separated by commas, e.g. referral, vip

Other columns are ignored, so you don't need to delete them.

Spaces, underscores and capitals don't matter: EmailAddress, email_address and Email Address all work.

Google and Outlook exports use their own column names, like "E-mail 1 - Value" or "Mobile Phone". Before importing, open the file and rename the columns you want to keep to the names above (for example "E-mail 1 - Value" → Email). It takes a minute and saves a lot of cleanup.

Xero exports work as they are. And because most Xero contacts are businesses, a Xero file is sorted for you. A business ("Acme Plumbing LLC", "Bayview HOA") becomes a company, and the person at it becomes a contact linked to it. A company you already have in 365clients is reused, not duplicated. Other files are imported as people only.

A clean file looks like this:

First Name,Last Name,Email,Phone,Status,Tags
John,Smith,john@example.com,555-123-4567,prospect,"referral, vip"
Jane,Doe,jane@example.com,555-765-4321,active,website

Tip: tags that contain a comma need quotes around them, as in the first row. Spreadsheet programs add the quotes for you when they save.

Step 3: Upload

1. Go to Contacts and click Import contacts.
2. Drop your CSV in (or browse for it).
3. Click Import contacts.

When it's done you'll see how many contacts were imported. Imported contacts are assigned to you; if you have a team, change the assignee on a contact's edit form.

What Gets Skipped, and Why

365clients keeps your list clean on the way in:

• Duplicates. If a row's email already belongs to a contact, or appears earlier in the same file, that row is skipped. Rows without an email can't be checked, so they're always imported.
• Invalid emails. A row with a malformed email address is skipped rather than imported half-broken.
• Empty rows. A row needs at least a first name, a last name or an email. A row with only a phone number is skipped, so add a name.
• Starter plan limit. Starter includes up to 50 contacts. If an import would go over, the extra rows are skipped and you'll be told how many.

Limits per import: 5 MB and 10,000 rows. For more, split the file and import it in parts.

Phone numbers are stored as you typed them, and also in a standard international format when they can be read, which is what lets texts and replies match up with the right contact.

Tag Your Imports

Tags make an import useful later. Add a Tags column before you upload:

• trade-show-2026: met at a specific event
• website: came in through your site
• referral: sent by a happy customer
• past-customer: worth a "time for your annual service?" message

Tags show on each contact and in the contacts list. Imported contacts aren't put into Action Plans automatically, which is on purpose: nobody wants 200 "welcome!" emails at once. Enroll the ones you want from their contact page.

After You Import

• [ ] Spot-check a few contacts: names split correctly, emails and phones in the right place
• [ ] Set the right status on your best customers (active) so they're not treated as new leads
• [ ] Link business customers to their company (edit the contact and pick the company)
• [ ] Log a first activity or note on anyone you're actively talking to
• [ ] On Pro, score your open leads and sort the list by Highest score first

Troubleshooting

Some contacts didn't import.
Check for rows with no name and no email, malformed emails, or emails that already exist in your CRM. On Starter, you may have hit the 50-contact limit.

Names came in all in the "first name" field.
Your column was probably called Name. 365clients splits it at the first space: "Mary Ann Lee" becomes first name "Mary", last name "Ann Lee". For exact results, use separate First Name and Last Name columns.

Emails or phones are missing.
The column names weren't recognised. The contacts from that import came in without them, so a second import would create doubles. Select them in the contacts list, click Delete selected, rename the columns to Email and Phone (see Step 2), and import again.

Can I import companies, invoices or products?
From Xero, yes. Companies come in with a Xero contacts file (above). Your invoice history comes in on Invoices → Import (Xero: Sales → Invoices → Export), and your products and services on Pricebook → Import (Xero: Products and services → Export). Deals and custom fields can't be imported yet.

Next Steps

1. Set up your pipeline: Pipeline Setup Guide
2. Put follow-ups on autopilot: Follow-Up Guide
3. Know who to call first: Lead Scoring 101

Need help? Email us at manny.agents@gmail.com and tell us where your contacts are coming from.