Copper import templates
Import people
into Copper
Copper ignores a row whose email it already has unless you ask it to match, and an import that overwrites can’t be reverted. Here are its import screens, what each choice does to people you have, and a template for your export.
Each template page checks your export first, in your browser, for what Copper would skip. Nothing is uploaded.
Only need the columns? Blank Copper CSV
FreeNo accountFor Copper People
500 rows, no errors,
214 people left as they were
Manage matching records, a box on Copper’s field-matching step, was left unchecked. Here is the summary Copper showed after it ran.
Your data was imported with no errors.
- Rows uploaded
- 500
- People
- 286view records
- Companies
- 41view records
What the summary doesn’t show
214rows had an email that Copper already stores on a person. The box was unchecked, so Copper ignored each of those rows, and the new titles and notes in them never reached anyone.
41companies came from the Company column, one for each spelling. Copper’s help says a stray space makes a separate company, so “Brightwell Dental” and the same name with a space at the end are now two.
286new people carry this import’s tag, so Revert Import can delete them all. That only works because nothing was overwritten.
An invented import. Each outcome follows Copper’s help on importing data, updating records on import and managing duplicates.
Copper’s importer,
from Import Data to the summary
Six screens under Settings. Copper numbers its own steps only to 3: matching opens inside Step 3, and Import Details comes up over it. This is a later run than the one above, with Overwrite on.
Import DataExport Data
Import data into Copper from Google Contacts, CSV files, or Excel files.
Import data into Copper from Google Contacts, CSV files, or Excel files.
Download our pre-formatted CSV template and follow the formatting for the best results.
CANCEL
Step 3: Match your CSV fields to Copper fields
Here is a preview of your data file. Match the columns in your file to your Copper fields.
File Name: partner-referrals-q3.csv Total Columns: 5 Total Rows: 361
Noor Haddad
Owen Tallis
Ines Carvalho
Kofi Mensah
Lotte Brink
Marek Dvorak
Aiko Tanabe
Ruth Okoye
noor@cedarline.io
owen@harborpine.io
ines@lumenbikes.pt
kofi@asantegold.co
lotte@brinkdesign.eu
marek@vltavaprint.cz
aiko@tanabeglass.jp
ruth@kestrelhomes.co
Cedarline Tiles
Harbor & Pine
Lumen Bikes
Asante Gold
Brink Design
Vltava Print
Tanabe Glass
Kestrel Homes
+44 20 7946 0218
+44 7700 900412 / +44 20 7946 0377
+351 21 555 0143
+233 30 255 0190
+31 20 555 0168
+420 2 5555 0151
+81 3 5550 0174
+1 604 555 0136
Asked for samples
Met at Expo North
Fleet order in Q4
–
Wants a demo
–
Reorder due
New showroom
Step 3: Match your CSV fields to Copper fields
Here is a preview of your data file. Match the columns in your file to your Copper fields.
File Name: partner-referrals-q3.csv Total Columns: 5 Total Rows: 361
Noor Haddad
Owen Tallis
Ines Carvalho
Kofi Mensah
noor@cedarline.io
owen@harborpine.io
ines@lumenbikes.pt
kofi@asantegold.co
Cedarline Tiles
Harbor & Pine
Lumen Bikes
Asante Gold
+44 20 7946 0218
+44 7700 900412
+351 21 555 0143
+233 30 255 0190
Asked for samples
Met at Expo North
Fleet order in Q4
–
Step 3: Match your CSV fields to Copper fields
Here is a preview of your data file. Match the columns in your file to your Copper fields.
Below you can customize what will be associated with all records created during this import.
Records created during this import will receive the following tag
- We will automatically create an Excel backup file of any data that is overwritten. You can download this file once the import has completed.
To confirm that you understand and accept the above, type IMPORT to confirm:IMPORT
Import data into Copper from Google Contacts, CSV files, or Excel files.
Your data was imported with no errors.
Redrawn from Copper’s help-article screenshots of the importer. Some of those screenshots are a few years old, so labels may have moved. Every point is from Copper’s help.
What Overwrite does
to a person you have
Noor Haddad is already in Copper, and a webinar sign-up list has her too. A different run from the one above: Manage matching records checked, Overwrite chosen, Email as the key, and Append tags unchecked.
- Replaced
- Tags and Interests. With Append tags unchecked, the file’s one tag took the place of her two. Interests, a multi-select custom field, took the file’s option and lost hers.
- Added
- Phone. An import can’t replace a phone number, so Copper added the file’s as a second one. She now has the same line twice, written two ways.
- Untouched
- Owned By. The file had no column for it, so Sam stays her owner.
When two records share the email
Say Copper also held a card scan of Noor with the same address saved as a second email. Its help says an Email key is checked against every email on a person.
noor@cedarline.io
Her main record, with her main email. Last changed in March.
noor@cedarline.io
A business card scan from a trade show, with her address as its second email. Changed two days ago.
When the key matches two people, Copper updates the one changed most recently, so the webinar values would go to the card scan and her main record would stay as it was. Merge duplicates before an Overwrite run; Copper’s help says a merge is final.
A row Copper reads
without a fix
Step 3 holds the import until each column is matched or ignored and each flagged cell is fixed. A file in this shape gets through on the first pass.
Assignee is there to show its format. Our templates write the other five, plus title and address.
Map one column to Name, or map First Name and Last Name and Copper joins them into the full name.
Copper tells people apart by email. Map this column to Email, not Work Email, so Skip and Overwrite can use it as the key.
Import companies first, as Copper suggests, then spell each one the same way, with no spaces at the end.
Copper’s screens flag anything over 30 characters. A second number goes in its own column named for its type, such as Work Phone.
The Assignee column, Owned By on the record, only takes users in your Copper account, each name written exactly as Copper has it.
Free text about the person. Our templates put anything without a field of its own here.
Copper’s other import rules
- File
- CSV or Excel, 3 MB at most. Google Sheets and some CRMs have their own tiles
- Rows
- No row limit in Copper’s help, so the file size is what to watch
- Tags
- One per column, each headed Tag. A tag over 50 characters fails its row
- Multi-select
- One column, values split by semicolons with no spaces: Tiles;Grout
- Dates
- DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY
- Checkboxes
- TRUE or FALSE, 1 or 0, checked or unchecked
- Addresses
- One per person
- Repeats in the file
- Without Overwrite the first row is kept. With it, the last row is what the person ends up with
The columns our Copper templates write
Our 14 Copper templates write up to these 11 columns. The names are ours, so on Step 3 pick the Copper field shown beside each one.
nameemailcompany_namephone_numbertitledetailsaddress_streetaddress_cityaddress_stateaddress_postal_codeaddress_countryWhat each Copper plan
lets you hold
The importer is the same on the three plans on Copper’s pricing page. The plan sets how many contacts the account keeps and whether it has leads to import at all.
Overwrite on import is open to anyone allowed to import, though Copper recommends leaving it to admins.
A Copper template
for your export
14 exports set out for Copper People. A free Excel workbook comes with each one and sets the export out under the columns above.
Apollo.io
ZoomInfo
Cognism
Lusha User DataLusha Prospecting
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Mailchimp
Google Contacts
Outlook / Microsoft 365
Shopify
HubSpot
Salesforce
Pipedrive
Zoho CRMGoogle Contacts each month, prospect lists each Friday
Each run keeps the columns in Copper’s shape. For people already in Copper, check Manage matching records and choose Overwrite on Email.
Before you upload
to Copper again
Repeated emails and stray spaces start in the file, where they’re easiest to catch.
Copper import questions
Why didn’t my import update people already in Copper?
Copper ignores a row whose email it already has unless you check Manage matching records and choose Overwrite. With the box unchecked, or with Skip, the person stays as they were and the summary still says no errors.
Can I undo an import in Copper?
Revert Import sits next to each import under Past Imports. Copper’s revert screen says it permanently deletes every record with that import’s tag, and that at busy times it can take a few hours. It isn’t available for an import that overwrote records; for that one, Copper creates an Excel backup of the old values that you can use to put them back.
Why is the same company in Copper twice?
Copper treats a company name with an extra space as a different name and makes a new company. Clean the Company column before the import, then merge the ones already split. A merge can’t be undone.
Which email does Copper match on?
Any email on a person, not only the first. If two people match, Copper updates the one changed most recently.
Why didn’t the owner come through?
Copper only assigns records to users in your account, and the name in the file has to match the user’s name in Copper exactly.
Why can’t I click Continue Import?
A column still has no Copper field, or a cell is invalid, such as a phone number over 30 characters. Pick a field or Ignore for each column, or check Ignore all unselected fields, and use FIX on each flagged cell.
Which fields are required to import people into Copper?
No required field documented.
Will importing create duplicate people in Copper?
If you import the file yourself, Copper uses a person’s email as the key, and an update import can also match on phone or Copper ID.
Fix the file first, then Overwrite.
The CRM Formatter turns any export into Copper’s People fields and gives you a CSV at no cost on any plan. After that, check Manage matching records, match on Email, and keep Append tags checked so existing tags stay.