Troubleshooting Data Import and Export

Troubleshooting Data Import and Export

1. When I try to import leads, I get an error message which says "Duplicate record exist in system: Email."
I've checked my CRM data and there is no duplicate record with the same email address. How do I resolve this?

Once you have ensured there is no duplicate record with the same email address, check the Approve Leads list by navigating to Leads > Actions > Approve Leads.
Since the records in the Approve Leads section are not available in the global search, there may be duplicate records that are not being displayed when you search. The records in this list are added to CRM via webform, API, or import only. Records added manually will not be present here. 

2. I recently imported data and there were skipped records. I don't see the Download list of records with error option. How can I download a list of the skipped records?

The option to download the list of records with errors will only be displayed if there are fewer than 10,000 skipped records. If there are more than 10,000, then the option will not be available on the Import Status page.


3. I imported leads into our CRM account but the leads are assigned to me rather than the lead owners I mapped them to during import. How do I fix this?
Import File:

After importing the leads into CRM:

This is because the file you imported has the names of the users in the Lead Owner column instead of using their email addresses or Lead Owner IDs. The system will not be able to detect and match the name, so the leads will be assigned to the user who initiated the import instead. To obtain users' Lead Owner IDs to use in import files, you need to export the user data, where it will appear as the User ID.

4. Despite importing leads with lead owner data as email, the record is not getting associated with the appropriate user.
In the screenshot below, the lead "Natasha" was supposed to be assigned to Karl but instead she was assigned to Androse, who initiated the import.


This is because Karl Anderson is an inactive user in CRM. If you import records and try to associate them with an inactive user, then the system will ignore the inactive user and the records will automatically be associated with the user who imported them.


5. I am unable to trigger automation and other process management features while importing records in CRM.
The option to trigger automation and process management will only be displayed if there are fewer than 10,000 rows in the import file. If the option is not available, it means the import file has more than 10,000 rows. In that case, you will have to split the import file and import the records in batches in order to use process management features (e.g. import two files with 6000 rows in each instead of importing one file with 12,000 rows).
6. I imported records which contain Eastern European names like "Øya Festival" and characters like the "Ø" did not appear correctly in in the imported records.



This is due to character encoding. Please save the .csv file as a UTF-8 encoded file and then import it into Zoho CRM. You can find all the characters supported in UTF-8 here: https://www.fileformat.info/info/charset/UTF-8/list.htm
7. The Undo Import option is not available next to the import summary in CRM.
The availability of this option depends on what you had selected under "What do you want to do with the records in the file?" during import. If you had chosen either of the three options, you will get the following:

Add as new Leads: You can undo the import process and remove the imported records from Zoho CRM within 30 days of importing them.


Update existing Leads only: The option to undo will not be available.


Both: The option to undo will be available, but it will only remove the newly added records, it will not reverse changes made to updated records.


8. The option to trigger assignment rules during import is not available.

This is because you selected Update existing Leads only while importing the records. When an existing record is updated via import, the option to trigger assignment rules and assign follow-up tasks will not be available.

9. I exported data from my Zoho CRM account and the data is garbled when I open the file in MS Excel.
We support the Unicode character set UTF-8, so you will need to select this character set to view the exported files properly in MS Excel. Follow the steps below:

For Excel 2003
  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. Navigate to Data > Import External Data > Import Data.
  3. Select the import file.
  4. The Text Import Wizard will open.
  5. Select Delimited as the Original data type.
  6. Select UTF-8 in the File origin dropdown.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Choose Comma as the Delimiters.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Select Text as the Column data format and select each column in the Data Preview.
  11. Click Finish and open in New Work Sheet.
For Excel 2007 and 2010
  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. Go to Data and select From Text.
  3. Choose the import file.
  4. The Text Import Wizard will open.
  5. Choose Delimited as the Original data type.
  6. Choose UTF-8 from the File origin dropdown.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Choose Comma as the Delimiter.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Choose Text as the Column data format and select each column from the Data Preview.
  11. Click Finish and open in New Work Sheet.
10. The special characters or columns aren't displayed correctly in the file I exported from Zoho CRM or there is data missing from some columns.
Try importing the same exported file into Zoho Sheets to see if the same issue occurs there. If it does, then email us at support@zohocrm.com explaining your issue and include a screenshot which shows the broken field values or modified special characters. Please include the record ID and the export ID so that we can check from the backend.



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