CRM Formatter·3 min read

Column mapping

How auto-detection works, how to adjust mappings manually, and how cleanup options affect your data.

By Operelio team

On this page5
  1. 1.How auto-detection works
  2. 2.Adjusting mappings
  3. 3.Merging columns into one field
  4. 4.Columns that do more than fill a field
  5. 5.Cleanup options

How auto-detection works

Operelio matches your column names to CRM field names using common patterns. "First Name" maps to the first name field. "Email Address" maps to email. "Phone Number" maps to phone. Variations like "fname", "e-mail", and "tel" are also recognized.

The matcher is case-insensitive and ignores underscores versus spaces, so "first_name", "First Name", and "FIRST NAME" all resolve to the same field. If your column header uses unusual notation (camelCase plus dot notation, like contact.firstName), it may not auto-match. Check the mapping before running.

Auto-detection is a starting point. Always check the mappings before running, especially if your column names are unusual.

Adjusting mappings

Click any mapped field to change it. A dropdown shows all available CRM fields for the record type you chose. You can also mark a column as "Skip" to leave it out of the export entirely. Required fields are marked with an asterisk. Operelio warns you if a required column is unmapped or empty in any row, but does not block export.

Those warnings are about the shape of your file. If you are pushing rather than downloading, the report on the push screen goes further and checks your values against the CRM account you connected: a value that isn't on a restricted picklist, text longer than the field allows, a field your account doesn't have, a field your user can't write to. Each one arrives with a row count and an example, before anything is written.

Merging columns into one field

If your data has separate columns that should combine into a single CRM field (like "street", "city", "state" into "address"), you can merge them during mapping. Pick the target field, select the source columns, and choose a separator. Operelio combines them in order.

The common case is names. Where the CRM has one Name field, as Pipedrive does, the mapping screen offers "First & Last Name (combined)" as a single column you can map to it. Both halves reach the CRM, joined with a space.

Columns that do more than fill a field

Three columns are worth pointing at deliberately when you are pushing to HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.

An owner column sets who owns each record, matched to a user in your CRM; you can also assign the whole push to one rep instead. A notes column is attached as a note in HubSpot and Pipedrive on records the push creates, rather than written into a field; a record the push matches keeps the notes it has. A company column finds or creates the Pipedrive organization, or the Salesforce account, and links the contact to it.

None of the three is a plain field mapping, so none of them counts as a column that got left behind.

Cleanup options

Several cleanup toggles run during export:

Use the Remove unmapped columns toggle to keep notes or internal columns in the export when you are debugging. Turn it off and any column you did not map still appears in the output file alongside the CRM-mapped columns.

OptionDefaultWhat it does
Trim whitespaceOnRemoves leading and trailing spaces from every cell.
Standardize emailOnLowercases and trims email addresses.
Standardize phoneOnStrips non-numeric characters except a leading +.
Standardize countryOffNormalizes country names and codes ("United States" and "US" both become the standard form).
Title-case namesOnConverts name fields to title case. Preserves all-caps abbreviations (CEO, VP, LLC).
Split full nameOnIf you map a "full name" column but the CRM has separate first/last fields, Operelio splits them. Handles "Last, First" and "First Last" formats.
Combine namesOffThe reverse of split: joins separate first and last name columns into one Name field, for a CRM like Pipedrive that has only one. Turning it on puts a "First & Last Name (combined)" column on the mapping screen for you to map.
Remove blank rowsOnDrops rows where all mapped fields are empty.
Basic deduplicationOnRemoves duplicate rows (by email if available, otherwise full-row match).
Remove unmapped columnsOnDrops any columns from the output that were not mapped to a CRM field. Turn off to keep extra columns in the export.

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