Importer — Overview

The Importer lets you bulk-create and update People and Organisations (the record types under Contacts) by uploading a CSV or Excel file, mapping your spreadsheet columns to SwiftFox fields, and reviewing every row before anything is written to your account.

It is built for both first-time data migrations and recurring imports — for example, syncing a membership list, loading event registrations, or topping up records from another system.

Where to find it

The Importer lives under the plus (+) button at the top-right of SwiftFox. The + opens the Create panel, and Import Data sits at the bottom of that panel, below Add Person or Scan Business Card and Add Organisation.

• You need the Import people and organisations permission to see Import Data. It sits under List Management in Settings → User groups.
• If Import Data is not in your Create panel, ask your system administrator to add that permission to your user group.

The three-step flow

Every import runs through the same guided process, shown as three numbered steps across the top of the screen:

1. Import data — choose what you are importing and upload your file.
2. Match columns — confirm the sheet, choose how rows should be matched to existing records, set your import options, and check how each column has been mapped to a SwiftFox field.
3. Review — check how every row will be treated, resolve rows with more than one possible match, deal with errors, choose which rows to include, then run the import.

Nothing is written to your account until you click Import in Step 3. You can move back to an earlier step at any point before then.

What the Importer can do

• Create new People and Organisation records, and update existing ones.
• Map your columns for you. On upload, columns whose headings match a SwiftFox field are mapped automatically — you only adjust what it missed or got wrong.
• Map to Default Fields, Address Fields, your account's custom fields, and record fields.
• Save your mappings and settings as a reusable mapping profile, which everyone in your account can then use.
• Show you every existing record a row could match, and let you pick one, create a new record, or skip the row.
• Flag data problems — such as an invalid email or a select value that does not exist in your account — before you import.
• Show you what will change on the records you are updating, with the existing value alongside the incoming one.
• Let you deselect rows you do not want to import.
• Finish on an Import Overview page with summary counts, a downloadable report, and an automatic Post on your profile.

Key concepts

• Matching strategy — the rule that decides whether an uploaded row updates an existing record or creates a new one. You choose it in Step 2.
• Column-to-field mapping — the link between each spreadsheet column and the SwiftFox field it fills. Any column left without a SwiftFox field is not imported.
• Mapping profile — a saved set of column mappings and settings you can reapply to future imports. Profiles are shared across your account, not private to you.
• Profile match — the review-table column that tells you how many existing records a row matched: No matches, 1 Match, or a count such as 3 Matches.
• Import status — the review-table column that tells you what will happen to a row: New (a new record will be created) or Selected (the row will update the record chosen for it).

Related guides

• Starting an import & the three-step flow
• Choosing what to import & the Guidelines / sample CSV
• Matching strategies
• Column-to-field mapping
• Mapping profiles
• Reviewing & resolving duplicate matches
• Validating data & fixing errors
• Running the import & the Import Overview