How do I prepare my CSV contacts file before I upload it into Cloze?

Importing formats:

• Excel - The first tab/worksheet will be used for import. All other tabs/worksheets will not be imported. Please save each tab/worksheet as its own import file. 
• CSV - For best results please use the UTF-8 format. You can import contacts using a CSV (comma-separated value) in Microsoft Outlook's export format without any additional mapping of column headers, but if your import file is from another system you will need to check each column header first.

Terminology:

A mapping correlates columns of data in a CSV or Excel file with their equivalent field in Cloze. When importing, Cloze will analyze the file and then automatically maps standard fields like First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone number, and other details for you. Cloze creates a mapping each time you import a file. 

An Excel spreadsheet or CSV file includes a header, rows, and columns. 

• Header Row - The first row in the spreadsheet is called a "header". The labels in each column of the header row define the data found in the rows below. 
  • Each column header represents data that will be mapped during import. 
  • For example, a column header may be called "Last Name". In the rows below in this column, you find the last name for each contact.

The example below shows the column headers (Row 1 - Bolded text) being renamed to match the fields in Cloze. 

• Rows - Each row contains a unique record (like a contact record and their details including their phone number, email address, and other details)
  • A single row in the input file can be mapped to one or more records in Cloze. 
  • After Cloze analyzes the file you'll see what Cloze records will be created.
• Columns - Each column contains a unique value or field associated with the corresponding rows below.
  • Columns are mapped to Cloze fields during your data import. 
  • After the initial analysis of the file, you'll see the columns Cloze has mapped for you. 
  • You can override an existing import mapping or create a new mapping if needed.

You can choose to reassign these fields if you do not want to map them how Cloze tries to map them for you. Cloze includes a number of default "mappings" that make importing data from other systems easy. With a saved mapping Cloze will remember your field mappings to help speed up the process the next time you import a file from the same source. 

Importing Tips

• We recommend exporting a template out of your Cloze account to help guide you. This template will be customized to your account and include any Custom Fields you have added to Cloze. 
• The first row of the spreadsheet must contain the column header names (First Name, Last Name, Company, Stage, Segment etc). Please remove all extra rows above these labels. 
• Check all column headers in your original CSV or Excel file and make any necessary changes to map them to their equivalent name in Cloze. 
• All upload records (each row) must contain at least: 
  • an email address or 
  • mobile phone number or 
  • a name and phone number
  • a name and complete delivery postal address:
    • street number and name or post office box number and secondary descriptor and number (e.g., suite or apartment number, floor) if needed
    • city and state
    • postal code
    • country
•  After you've prepared your Excel or CSV, upload a small sample file of 2-3 rows of contact information to make sure everything is imported as expected.
• Contact support by clicking on the red "Contact Support" button below if you have questions, before you upload. We're happy to review your prepared file and provide recommendations. 

Formatting Example:

1. Each column/cell should have a unique value. If you have multiple people in a household, their names and information should be separated. For example, if you have a husband and wife, you can separate them by adding "Spouse First Name" and  "Spouse Last Name" columns. 
2. Only one phone number per column.



3. Address values should be separated - Street, City, State, Postal Code, Country

Below is a complete list of Column Headers available for your import Excel or CSV file. Not all are required but are included to provide flexibility. 

Stage

• Lead (or Warm)
• Potential (or Hot)
• Active (or In Contract)
• Inactive (or Past or Closed)
• Lost

Segment 

• This sets who the person is to you. For example, a customer, a partner, a supplier, an adviser, or any number of customizable Segments.
• More details about Segments are available here.

Next Step

• Next Steps are customizable and should exactly match what you have created in Settings. Please read more about creating Next Steps here.  

Custom Fields

• Custom Fields are available in all Stages of a single Segment. Examples include Type, Role, Department, Lead Source and any others you create. Cloze offers custom fields to help your further classify your People, Companies and Projects (or Deals).
• When enabled, custom fields appear in the Relationship section for People and Companies and in the Project (or Deal) Status section.
• Here are step-by-step instructions on how to include Custom Fields in your import file. 

Tags

• Tags allow you organize People, Projects, Deals or Companies. Tags are helpful when you are trying to organize your contacts across many traits or characteristics.
• Tags (plural) - your tags must be separated by commas. When importing tags, please separate each tag by a comma and replace extra characters and spaces with a dash. Other characters such as periods, slashes, ampersand etc will be replaced with a space and create two keywords. 

Please read more about creating and searching with tags here.

Column Headers

Each item below is a column header label that can be used to map your information when imported into Cloze. 

first name 
last name 
name
suffix 
birthday 
gender
title
job title 
department
headline 

location
location country 

company
notes 
web page
web page 2
web page 3 

Assigned To (use this to assign contacts to specific team members)

business address 1 
business address 2 
business street 
business pobox 
business suite 
business city 
business state 
business zip 
business zipcode
business postal code 
business country 

business Latitude
business Longitude

home address 1
home address 2
home street 
home pobox 
home suite 
home city 
home state 
home zip 
home zipcode 
home postal code 
home country 

home Latitude
home Longitude

other address 1 
other address 2 
other street 
other pobox 
other suite 
other city 
other state
other zip 
other zipcode 
other postal code
other country 

other Latitude
other Longitude

address 1 
address 2 
street 
pobox 
suite 
city 
state 
zip 
zipcode 
postal code 
country 

email 
email address
e-mail address 
e-mail 1 address
e-mail 2 address 
e-mail 3 address 
e-mail 4 address 
e-mail 5 address 
e-mail 6 address 
e-mail 7 address 
e-mail 8 address 
e-mail 9 address 
e-mail 10 address 

home email
home email 2
home email 3

business email
business email 2
business email 3

business fax 
business phone 
business phone 2 
company main phone 

mobile 
mobile phone 
mobile phone 2 

home fax 
other fax

home phone 
home phone 2 

phone 

other phone 
other phone 2 

pager 
primary phone 
tty/tdd phone 
telex 
callback
car phone