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monday CRM import templates

Import contacts
into monday CRM

monday adds every row of a file as a new item unless you tell it otherwise, so contacts already on the board arrive a second time. This page walks through its import screens, the one choice that prevents that, and a template made for your export.

Intomonday CRM
Get the template →

Each template page checks your export first, in your browser, for what monday CRM would skip. Nothing is uploaded.

Only need the columns? Blank Contacts CSV

FreeNo accountFor the Contacts board

By Operelio teamUpdated October 3, 2026

1,200 contacts imported,
860 of them twice

For a row that’s already on the board, monday’s importer can add it, skip it or update it. Add is selected when the step opens, and it adds every row.

On the Contacts board, after Import Now
✓1,200 items have been imported successfully.Download CSV summary

What the green banner leaves out

860of the 1,200 were on the board already. Add as new items was left selected, and it doesn’t check for matches, so each of them is now there twice.

860pairs to merge in Manage duplicates, keeping one item from each. The tool comes with Standard and Pro. Basic doesn’t have it.

340new contacts get an account once the import ends. monday CRM links each one by its email domain and creates an account when none matches, so a mistyped domain gets an account of its own.

Sample figures. What happens in the import follows monday’s support articles on importing, account association and managing duplicates.

Where monday’s importer
asks you to decide

The board before, the three steps of the import window, and the board after. Handle matches is where you add, skip or update.

monday CRM🔔✉?
Contacts ▾
⇩ ImportIntegrateAutomate / 3
Main TableCards+
New contact▾⚲ Search☻ Person▿ Filter⇅ SortHideGroup by
☷ New group of contacts
⇩ Import contacts

Active Contacts

ContactAccountsCompanyPriorityPhoneEmailOwner
Ana RuizBrisa FoodsBrisa FoodsHigh+34 612 300 418ana@brisafoods.coMarc Dubois
Hana SatoKiriko TeaKiriko TeaMedium+81 3 5550 0192hana@kirikotea.jpMarc Dubois
Yusuf DemirAnkara LoomAnkara LoomLow+90 312 555 0144yusuf@ankaraloom.comRosa Lind
Clara MossFenwick HallFenwick HallMedium+44 20 7946 0611c.moss@fenwickhall.coRosa Lind
Ivo PetrovVarna FreightVarna Freight+359 2 555 0187ivo@varnafreight.bgMarc Dubois
Import file×
1Upload2Map columns3Handle matches

1 of 4

Drawn from the screenshots in monday’s support articles on importing. The points come from those articles and screenshots.

What Update does
to a contact you have

Ana Ruiz has one item on a clean Contacts board. A trade fair’s badge scan has her too, and this time Update is picked, matched by Email.

On the board now
Ana Ruizana@brisafoods.co
TitleHead of Buying
Phone+34 612 300 418
CompanyBrisa Foods
OwnerMarc Dubois
PriorityHigh
Row 318 of your file
fair-visitors.csvfrom the badge scanner
TitleVisitor
Phone612 300 418
CompanyBrisa Foods
Ownernot mapped
Prioritynot mapped
On the board after
Ana Ruizana@brisafoods.co
TitleVisitorwas Head of Buying
Phone612 300 418was +34 612 300 418
CompanyBrisa Foodssame value
OwnerMarc Duboisnot in the import
PriorityHighnot in the import
Overwritten
Title and Phone. Any value in the file that differs wins, even a worse one. The scanner’s badge type replaced her title, and her number lost its +34.
Untouched
Owner and Priority. Neither column was in the import, so there was nothing to write. Leave out any column you want kept.
Not documented
Empty cells. monday’s help doesn’t say whether an empty cell clears a value on Update. Try it on one item before a full import.

The rows Update can’t match

Update looks for the same value in the one column you chose. These two rows are Ana as well, under emails the board doesn’t have.

Row 702

ana.ruiz@mail.example

Her personal address, from the badge scan. No item has it, so the row becomes a new item.

Row 955

ana@brisafood.co

One letter short. To the match it’s a different email, so this is a new item too.

Rows with no match are added as new items, so the board now has three Ana Ruizes. Before you import, look for people already on the board under another email.

A row that lands in
the right board columns

Each file column needs a board column of the right type. One left to Create new column arrives as plain Text, and the features built on that column stop working.

Xmonday-contacts.csv
ABCDEF1NameEmailPhoneCompanyOwnerNotes2Ana Ruiz1ana@brisafoods.co2+34 612 300 4183Brisa Foods4Marc Dubois5Asked for a demo in May6

Owner is there to show the People format. Our templates fill the other five, in this order.

1
The name becomes the item

On Map columns, the first row picks the file column that names each item. On a Contacts board that’s the Contact column.

2
Email into the Email column

Use the board’s built-in Email column. Skip and Update match on it, and monday CRM links accounts from it. As a new Text column, it does neither.

3
Phone into the Phone column

Map it to the board’s Phone column. Left to Create new column, the numbers land in a Text column instead.

4
Company as text

A Text column. The Accounts link isn’t something the importer can fill; monday CRM sets it from the email domain afterward.

5
Owners by name

monday’s help matches People values by name. Where a person and a team share one, put user: or team: in front.

6
Notes as long text

Map them to a Long text column, which holds a paragraph without cutting it short in the table.

monday’s other import rules

File
.csv, .xlsx or .xls, up to 10 MB. Only the first tab is read
Size
Under 8,000 rows and 50 columns
Types it fills
Text, Long text, Status, Date, Numbers, Link, Email, Phone and People
Status columns
More than 40 different values for one Status column and the import fails. Map it to Text instead
Column names
Put them in row 1 of the sheet
Pace
One file at a time per board, and 100 files an hour per account

The columns our monday templates write

The five columns our 15 monday templates write, and the kind of board column each one should map to.

Download the Contacts CSV
Email,Name,Notes,Phone,Company
The built-in Email columnEmail
The item (Contact)Name
A Long text columnNotes
The Phone columnPhone
A Text columnCompany

How much monday CRM
takes on each plan

Every plan takes the same file. How many records the account holds, how many columns a board has, and whether you can merge duplicates depend on the plan.

8,000rows per file
1,000contacts, leads and deals
5columns per board
NoManage duplicates

Files go up to 10 MB on every plan. On Pro, up to five boards can hold 100,000 items each. Once a board or plan is full, nothing more can be added, from an import or anywhere else.

See every CRM’s import limits side by side →

A monday template
for your export

15 exports mapped to monday’s Contacts board. Each comes with a free Excel workbook that turns the export into the columns above.

Apollo.ioZoomInfoCognismLusha User DataLusha ProspectingLinkedIn ConnectionsMailchimpGoogle ContactsEventbriteCalendlyTypeformHubSpotSalesforcePipedriveZoho CRM

A form export every week, a list after every event

These get the columns right every time. To keep out contacts the board already has, pick Skip or Update, matched on Email.

The Excel template5 to 10 minPaste in the export, save the monday tab as a CSV, then import it from the board. Free, no account.→CRM FormatterUnder 5 minLines any export up with the Contacts board’s columns and hands back a CSV to upload. No charge on any plan.→Trails0 minBuilt one time. From then on each export is tidied, its emails checked on paid plans, and saved as a monday-ready file.→

Before the next import
into monday

Most of what goes wrong is already in the file. These help you find it.

How to compare two Excel files for differencesHow to remove duplicates in ExcelHow to split a large file for a CRM importCombining Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism and Lusha exportsHow to clean up messy column headers12 best CRM import tools in 2026Comparison

monday CRM import questions

Why is every contact on my board twice?

Add as new items was selected on the Handle matches step. It’s the default, and it adds every row whether or not the contact is already there. Next time, pick Skip or Update and match on Email.

How do I update contacts that are already on the board?

On Handle matches, pick Update and choose Email as the column to match on. Matched items take the file’s values. New rows are added as new items, so check the file’s emails first.

Does an empty cell clear a value on Update?

monday’s help doesn’t say. Update one item with an empty cell first and look at the result, or leave that column out of the import.

Can I undo an import in monday?

There’s no undo for an import. With Add as new items, the rows arrive in their own group, so you can delete that group; deleted items stay in the trash for 30 days. Duplicates can be merged with Manage duplicates on Standard and Pro.

Why do my imported contacts have accounts I didn’t add?

monday CRM’s account association links each contact by the domain in its Email column once the import ends, and creates an account when none matches. Gmail and other personal addresses are skipped. An admin can turn it off.

Why did my imported leads change to New Lead?

monday’s help says active automations on the Leads board set imported items to New Lead. Turn the automation off before you import.

Which fields are required to import contacts into monday CRM?

One column becomes the item Name; a file needs at least 2 columns.

monday CRM import templates

Map it right, then pick Update.

The CRM Formatter sorts any export into the Contacts board’s columns, with Email where matching and account links can use it, and gives you a CSV. On every plan. Then match on Email in Handle matches.

Get started freeSee the CRM Formatter