Import & Export

How to get data into HotCRM (bulk imports, migrations) and out (exports, GDPR, backups).

Importing from CSV / Excel

The simplest route. Works for: leads, accounts, contacts, products, opportunities, cases, contracts.

Step-by-step

1. Go to Setup → Data → Import Wizard.
2. Pick the object to import into.
3. Upload the CSV or Excel file (max 50 MB per upload; split larger files).
4. Map columns to fields — the wizard auto-suggests matches by header name.
5. Choose conflict behaviour:
   • Insert only — skip rows that match an existing record.
   • Insert and update — update existing records (matched by Email / External ID).
   • Update only — fail if not found.
6. Run a dry-run — the wizard reports how many would succeed / fail without writing.
7. Commit — execute the import. You'll see a progress bar; large imports run in the background and you get an email when complete.

Field mapping tips

• Owners — provide the user's email; the importer resolves to the user ID.
• Lookups — provide the referenced record's Name or External ID; the importer resolves.
• Picklists — values must match the picklist's defined values exactly (case-insensitive).
• Dates — ISO format (2025-03-15) works everywhere; otherwise specify the format.
• Multi-select — separate values with semicolons.

External IDs (recommended)

Add an external_id column (e.g., legacy_account_id = ACME-001) and mark it as the matching key. This lets you:

• Re-run the import idempotently without creating duplicates.
• Cross-reference between objects (e.g., import leads with their original account's external ID, and the importer links them).

Migrating from Salesforce

A purpose-built migration wizard ships in the box.

1. Setup → Data → Migrate from Salesforce.

2. Authorise via OAuth — the wizard reads from your Salesforce sandbox or production.

3. The wizard auto-maps Salesforce objects to HotCRM equivalents:

   Salesforce	HotCRM
   Account	account
   Contact	contact
   Lead	lead
   Opportunity	opportunity
   OpportunityLineItem	opportunity_line_item
   Quote / QuoteLineItem	quote / quote_line_item
   Contract	contract
   Case	case
   Campaign / CampaignMember	campaign / campaign_member
   Product2	product
   Task / Event	task / event
   User	user (matched by email or invited)

4. Field mapping — defaults are sensible; review and adjust custom fields.

5. Picklist mapping — map Salesforce values to HotCRM values (especially stages, statuses, priorities).

6. Owner mapping — map Salesforce users to HotCRM users by email.

7. Pick the slice — all-time, or a date range (for staged cutover).

8. Dry-run, review report, commit.

The wizard preserves Salesforce IDs as external_id for traceability.

Migrating from HubSpot

Similar wizard at Setup → Data → Migrate from HubSpot. Map Hub object types to HotCRM:

Deal pipelines map to opportunity stages — review the picklist mapping carefully.

Migration playbook

1. Map roles & users first — without owners, everything is orphaned.
2. Dry-run in sandbox — never run a first migration against production.
3. Migrate in this order to keep references intact:
   1. Users
   2. Products
   3. Accounts (+ External ID)
   4. Contacts (+ link to accounts)
   5. Leads
   6. Opportunities (+ link to accounts + contacts)
   7. Opportunity line items
   8. Quotes / Quote line items
   9. Contracts
   10. Cases
   11. Campaigns
   12. Campaign members
   13. Tasks / Events / Notes / Files
4. Reconcile counts — totals from the source system vs. HotCRM. Investigate any gap >0.1%.
5. Spot-check 10 records end-to-end manually.
6. Sign-off with sales / service leadership before go-live.

Exporting data

Ad-hoc export

From any list view or report → Export → CSV or Excel. Subject to user permissions and FLS.

Scheduled export

For data warehouse loads (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift):

• Setup → Data → Scheduled Exports → pick object, fields, filters, schedule, destination.
• Destinations: S3 / Azure Blob / GCS / SFTP.
• Format: CSV, Parquet, or JSON Lines.
• Incremental — only changed since the last run.

Bulk API export

For programmatic export — use the API reference. Query any object with ObjectQL; results paginate.

GDPR / data deletion requests

When a customer requests "delete all my personal data":

1. Setup → Privacy → Data Subject Requests → New.
2. Identify the person — by email or contact ID.
3. The wizard shows everything linked to them: contact record, leads, cases, emails logged, campaign memberships, files.
4. Choose Delete or Anonymise (replace name/email with [redacted] while keeping records for analytics).
5. Confirm — the system processes and produces an audit certificate you can hand the customer.

Anonymisation is usually preferred — it preserves the integrity of historical reports without keeping PII.

Backups & disaster recovery

Backup behaviour depends on how HotCRM is hosted:

• SaaS — backups are managed by the platform (typically daily snapshots, 30-day retention).
• Self-hosted — your responsibility; back up the database and the file-storage bucket. See Administration › Setup for recommended cadence.

For a tested disaster recovery runbook, see Reference › Security & Compliance.

Tips

• ✅ Always dry-run large imports.
• ✅ Always add an External ID column — saves you from duplicates forever.
• ✅ Migrate in sandbox first, then run a final delta migration on cutover weekend.
• ✅ For exports, use scheduled exports rather than ad-hoc — repeatable, monitored, retried on failure.
• ✅ Use anonymisation rather than deletion for GDPR — keeps reports honest.