How to import your data into Affinity

Help center reference: How to import data into Affinity

How-to — task-oriented recipe.

You can import in New Lists and in Classic Lists. Both use the same import engine, so results, error reports, and undo work the same way. The steps for New Lists come first; the Classic steps follow.

Given that your Excel/CSV files can have different formats, please make sure to clean up and properly format your data before starting the import process (see Cleaning up your data before importing into Affinity). Once you do so, feel free to proceed with this video walkthrough:

Note: This video shows the Classic importer and the old navigation bar on the top. The New Lists importer below covers the same choices in a guided, step-by-step wizard.

Import into a New List

1. Clean up your CSV file first (see Cleaning up your data before importing into Affinity).
2. Open the list you want to import into, click List Options (the gear icon, top right), then click Import data.

The importer walks you through six steps, shown in a tracker at the top: Upload file, Map identity, Map columns, Match rows, Manage conflicts, and Import started. Click Continue to move on or Back to go back. If you leave partway through, your progress isn’t saved.

Step 1: Upload file

Review the checklist, then drag and drop or browse for your CSV file. Before you upload, make sure:

• You removed unwanted duplicate rows, and any unnecessary rows or columns.
• You separated multiple values in a cell with a semicolon.
• Your file is under 10 MB.
• You included an email column for people and a website column for organizations.

Not sure how to lay out your file? Download the People, Organizations, or Opportunities list template from this step.

Step 2: Map identity

Tell Affinity which columns identify each record. These are how your rows are matched to records that already exist.

• People lists: the email column, plus either the full name column or the first name and last name columns.
• Organization lists: the name and domain columns. Rows without a domain or a name aren’t imported.
• Opportunity lists: the opportunity name column. Opportunity names must be unique within each opportunity list.

The Details column flags invalid or missing data in each column you pick.

Step 3: Map columns

Affinity reads your file and suggests an Affinity field for each remaining column. Confirm or change each one from the Affinity field dropdown. Columns you leave unmapped aren’t imported. You can also map a column to Notes or Date added.

• Global fields are shared across your whole organization, so changes to them affect everyone.
• Enriched fields are filled in automatically. If you map a column to one, Affinity asks you to confirm, because it breaks the automatic sync for that field for your whole team. Map the column to a different field or skip it to keep enrichment working.

A warning appears next to any column with invalid or missing data. Recognized dates may be corrected automatically.

Step 4: Match rows

Choose how Affinity decides whether a row updates a record already on the list or adds a new one:

• Match by email and name (people), Match by website and name (organizations), or Match by opportunity name (opportunities): a row updates the record it matches, and adds a new one when it matches none.
• Match by Affinity Row ID: recommended for a file you exported from Affinity, which carries an Affinity Row ID column. Each row updates the exact list row it belongs to. See How to import by Affinity Row ID.

Step 5: Manage conflicts

Choose what happens when a row matches a record that already has values. Affinity applies your choice to every matching row in the file:

• Append adds the values from your file without replacing any existing value. Single-value, list-specific fields are only filled if they’re empty; multi-value fields get the new values added.
• Overwrite replaces the existing values with the values from your file.
• Skip leaves the existing record as it is and imports nothing from the matching row.
• Duplicate adds the row as a new entry on the list and leaves the existing one unchanged. Not offered for opportunity lists.

When you match by Affinity Row ID, only Append and Overwrite are offered. If you mapped any global fields, you make a second choice for them under Shared with your organization (Append, Overwrite, or Skip), because that choice reaches beyond this list. If you’re not sure, choose Append.

These are the same options as the Classic importer’s Add new values, Overwrite existing values, Skip duplicate entries, and Create duplicate entries.

Step 6: Start import

Click Start import. The import runs in the background, and you get an email when it’s complete. Enriched fields may take a little longer to fill in. Click Done to close the importer.

To review the results or undo the import, open List Options → Manage imports. It takes you to Settings → Manage Imports, where you can see errors and skipped rows and undo an import within 3 days (see Viewing your data import history and How to undo imports in Affinity).

Import into a Classic List

1. Uploading your CSV file onto an Affinity list

1. Once you’ve cleaned up your CSV file, click into the list you plan to import into. For this example, we will import into an organization list.
2. Click List Options on the top-right corner, then click Import data.

3. Make sure to read through all bullet points to ensure the data in your CSV file are formatted correctly, then click the checkbox to confirm you’ve reviewed your CSV file.

4. Drag and drop or browse for a CSV file, then click Continue.

5. Receiving an error message when trying to upload your CSV file? You can refer back to the common troubleshooting tips found in the section titled “Other Important Callouts” within this article: Cleaning up your data before importing into Affinity

2. Choosing your preferred import option

Once you’ve successfully uploaded the CSV file, select one of the following import options:

1. Add new values from the CSV file to existing contacts:
   • This will add any additional values to a field if it is a multi-value field.
   • If it is a single value field, we will add the values if the cell is empty, but skip if the cell already contains a value.
2. Create duplicate entries of contacts in your Affinity list:
   • This will create a new entry for every imported row.
3. Skip duplicate entries of contacts from the CSV file:
   • This will skip any rows from your CSV file that already exist on the list.
   • For example, if Company A is on Row 4 in your CSV file and Company A is an entry on your Affinity list, then Row 4 will be skipped entirely and Company A on the Affinity list will remain untouched.
   • Tip: This option is useful when you’re importing data from another source frequently and only want to add new companies to your list and not update any existing ones.
4. Overwrite existing values with values from the CSV file:
   • This will overwrite all cells in Affinity with the ones you import from your CSV file.

For this example, we only want to add new values from the CSV file, so we will choose to Add new values from the CSV file to existing contacts, then click Next.

3. Mapping the primary fields

1. Map the Website column from the CSV file to the Website field in Affinity (required since the Website is the unique identifier when matching organizations from your CSV file to the organizations already existing in your account).
   • For People lists, the unique identifier would be the Email Address column from the CSV file.
   • For Opportunity lists, the unique identifier would be the Opportunity Name from the CSV file.

2. Map the Organization Name column from your CSV file to the Organization Name field in Affinity (the Organization Name is required when importing into organization lists).
   • The Full Name column from the CSV file is required when importing into people lists.
   • The Opportunity Name column from the CSV file is required when importing into opportunity lists.

4. Mapping the remaining fields

Now that we have determined which specific organizations to import data into, map the rest of the columns from the CSV file to the relevant Affinity field.

1. Select the relevant Affinity Field for each CSV column by clicking on the dropdown. You can also type the name of the column you are looking for after clicking on the dropdown.
2. Please note, some fields will be auto-mapped for your convenience, but we will not auto-map to people-type, organization-type, and location-type fields since they require multiple fields to map to specific attributes:
   1. Person - Full Name, Email Address
   2. Organization - Name, Domain
   3. Location - City, Address, Country
3. If there are any global fields that you are mapping to, you will be asked which method you’d like to choose for updating global fields. Feel free to refer back to the explanations found in Section: 2. Choosing your preferred import option.
4. Now, remove any columns from your CSV that you don’t want to upload by clicking on the Trash icon.
5. Use the Backspace button on your keyboard to remove a selection from the dropdown.
6. Once you’re finished mapping, click Begin import.

Please note that you may perform imports into more than a one list at a given time.

After importing

Whichever experience you imported from, here’s what you can expect:

1. Most imports average 5 to 15 minutes to process. For larger files, it may take up to 24 hrs for your data to process.
2. Once your import finishes, you will receive an email notification and an in-product notification under the Notification icon in the top right corner.
3. View your import history to see the results of your import where you can view or download:
   • Skipped Rows
   • Errors
   • Original CSV file
4. For any errors or skipped rows above, download the CSV to fix the issues and import those separately to complete your import.

5. If you need to undo an import, you can find out more in our Undo Imports article.