Importing leads from Excel and CSV

How to move a database into X10 CRM: preparing the file, mapping columns onto lead fields, handling duplicates and checking the result afterwards.

8 min readUpdated August 10, 2026

You need the import in two situations: when moving from another system or from spreadsheets, and when you regularly receive databases from partners. The process has three steps — upload the file, map the columns, confirm.

#Step 1. Prepare the file

Requirement	Details
Format	Excel (`.xlsx`, `.xlsm`) or `.csv`
First row	Column headers — these are what you map the fields by
One sheet	The active sheet of the workbook is processed
CSV encoding	UTF-8 is supported directly; files in Windows encodings are read too
CSV separator	Comma or semicolon — detected automatically

#Step 2. Map the columns

The system shows the headers from your file, and for each one you say which lead field it goes into. Columns you don’t need can be left unmapped — they are simply not imported.

Fields available for mapping

Customer: Phonetextrequired
The key field. Duplicates are detected by it and the customer contact is created from it.
Customer: Nametext
The customer’s full name.
Commenttext
Free text that ends up in the lead.
Sourcetext
Where the lead came from. Handy for reports on how well each base performs.
Projecttext
If the project is given as a separate column in the file.
Statustext
If the base already has stages that need to be preserved.
Amountnumber
The order total.
Citytext
The customer’s town or city.
Regiontext
The region or province.

#Step 3. Status and owner

Before confirming you can set which status the leads are created with and who they are assigned to straight away.

If no status is set, the leads get the starting new status and join the shared queue.
You can force a status for the whole batch: for example, loading an old base directly into “Repeat sale”.
The owner can also be set for the whole batch — handy when a base is handed to a specific manager.

#What happens to duplicates

Duplicates are detected by phone number. The system does not discard them silently — they are imported but marked with a separate status so that you can decide for yourself.

Result	What it means
Imported	New leads, created successfully
Duplicates	A customer with this number already exists — the lead is marked as a duplicate
Skipped	Rows with no phone number or unreadable data

#After the import

Compare the number of created leads with the number of rows in the file
Open a few leads and check that the phone numbers are intact
Check that leading zeros in numbers have not been lost
Review the duplicates and decide what to do with them
Make sure the leads are visible in the right project and in the dashboard filters

#Permissions

The import requires a dedicated permission and access to the project the data is loaded into. Regular operators are usually not given it: uploading a base in bulk is a manager’s or administrator’s job.