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

Coherence checks for duplicates by:

1. Email match - Same email address
2. Name + Account - Same name at same company
3. Phone match - Same phone number

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.

"Duplicate detected"

Review your duplicate settings. If you want to update existing records, choose "Update" mode.

"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.