Organizations using Salesforce may have to import additional accounts and/or contacts to their respective systems as needed. Luckily, loading these new accounts and contacts to the Salesforce system is possible. A user dubbed as a Salesforce administrator is eligible to import these kinds of data onto the system. The Import Wizard for accounts and contacts can help accomplish this task.
Starting the Import
From the Salesforce Setup Page, go to Administer then select Data Management. Click on the Import Account/Contacts option. Navigate to a new screen. Scan and understand the important points presented on the home screen then click on the Start the Import Wizard link.
Uploading the Data
A new window will open after launching the Start the Import link. Start the data upload by choosing the file containing the needed data. Ideal file type should be in CSV format. After that, click on next.
Select the type of encoding you plan to use then hit Next. Select the Contact Matching type and Account Matching type option. This feature identifies duplicate records of contacts and/or accounts, and prevents them from being uploaded multiple times to the system.
There is a checkbox below the Account Matching Type that asks the user whether he wants to trigger workflow rules for new and updated records. Tick the checkbox if that functionality is to be used. Click Next.
Mapping the Data
The next step is to map the data in the CSV file against the Salesforce fields. Salesforce usually maps the data automatically. You need to scan the fields for any unmapped ones. Should you find unmapped fields, you can manually map it. Also, if there are certain custom fields to be uploaded, you can map them here as well.
You can choose to update the existing data in Salesforce.com with the new data in the import file. To do this, tick the checkbox that says Overwrite Existing Account Values. After doing the mapping, click on Next, then hit the Import Now button. Salesforce will start the importing process.
Finishing and Checking the Import Status
Once the import process starts, a dialog box is displayed to confirm the import process. Information about the length of time required to finish the import is also included here. Click on the Finish button to close the dialog box. You can track your import status via the Import Queue, and you will also receive email confirmation after the completion of the import process.