Importing People

Coherence makes it easy to bring in your existing people data from spreadsheets, other tools, or any data source.

Supported Formats

Basic Import

Step 1: Prepare Your File

Ensure your file has:

• Column headers in the first row
• One person per row
• Consistent data formatting

Example CSV:

Name,Email,Phone,Company,Person Type
John Smith,[email protected],555-0100,Acme Corp,Customer
Jane Doe,[email protected],555-0200,Beta Inc,Vendor
Bob Wilson,[email protected],555-0300,Partner Co,Partner

Step 2: Upload

1. Go to People
2. Click Import in the toolbar
3. Drag and drop your file or click to browse
4. Click Continue

Step 3: Map Fields

Match your columns to Coherence fields:

Step 4: Review

Before importing, you'll see:

• Total records to import
• Fields that will be populated
• Any validation warnings

Step 5: Import

Click Import People to begin. You'll receive a notification when complete.

Person Types in Import

Mapping Person Types

When importing, you can include a Person Type column:

Name,Email,Person Type
John Smith,[email protected],Customer
Jane Doe,[email protected],Vendor
Bob Wilson,[email protected],Partner
Sue Brown,[email protected],Employee

Valid Type Values

Map to your configured person types:

Handling Duplicates

Detection

On the Validate step, the Duplicate Handling section's Match on fields (optional) setting picks the field used to find an existing person, such as Email. A row is a duplicate when its value in that field exactly matches an existing person. With No duplicate check, rows are not matched to existing people.

Options

When duplicates are found:

Reference Fields

Matching Accounts

When importing an "Account" or "Company" column:

1. Coherence searches existing Accounts
2. If found, links to that record
3. If not found, creates a new Account

Matching Users

For "Owner" or assignment fields:

• Match by user email or name
• Unmatched values are skipped
• You can reassign after import

Advanced Import

Multi-Value Fields

For multi-select fields like tags, use comma-separated values:

Name,Email,Tags
John Smith,[email protected],"Enterprise, VIP, Newsletter"

Date Formats

Coherence accepts multiple date formats:

• 2024-01-15 (ISO - recommended)
• 01/15/2024 (US)
• 15/01/2024 (International)
• January 15, 2024 (Written)

First and Last Name

You can import names in multiple formats:

Single column:

Name
John Smith
Jane Doe

Separate columns:

First Name,Last Name
John,Smith
Jane,Doe

Both formats work - Coherence auto-parses full names into first/last.

Import from Other Tools

Salesforce

1. Export Contacts/Leads from Salesforce as CSV
2. Map Salesforce fields to Coherence:
   • Name → Name
   • Email → Email
   • Account Name → Account
   • Contact Owner → Owner
   • Lead Status → Person Type (optional mapping)

HubSpot

1. Export contacts from HubSpot
2. Map HubSpot properties:
   • firstname + lastname → Name
   • company → Account
   • lifecyclestage → Person Type
   • hubspot_owner_id → Owner

Pipedrive

1. Export from Pipedrive
2. Map Pipedrive fields:
   • Person - Name → Name
   • Organization → Account
   • Owner → Owner

Troubleshooting

"Some rows failed to import"

Common causes:

• Missing required fields
• Invalid email format
• Unrecognized person type values

Download the error report to see which rows failed and why.

"A record with matching … already exists" or "Potential duplicate record detected"

The row matched a uniqueness constraint on the People module. Remove the duplicate from your file, or choose Merge with existing records with a Match on fields value so the row updates the existing person instead.

"Account not found"

If you don't want new accounts created:

1. Import accounts first
2. Then import people with account references

Next: Learn about data enrichment to fill in missing information.