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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Exporting/Importing Da...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

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Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

Hi there,

I have a number of contacts in Microsoft Dynamics 2011 that have fields missing and/or data that is not formatted correctly.

I had planned to export the contacts in question into Excel, 'clean' the data in Excel, and then import them back into the system, in such a way that only the fields that have been changed in some way are updated e.g. phone numbers that have been reformatted, job titles added/removed, etc.

I am new to Microsoft Dynamics but have used other systems where it was possible to create import instructions that identified contacts based on one or more fields/identifiers and allowed you to map the various fields from the import file into the system.

So, for example, you could import contacts into the system, map them to existing contacts in the database, and specify that the fields in the CRM system should be overwritten by what is in the import file.

I hope all of the makes sense but any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

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  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Thanks so much for your help Alex.

  • Suggested answer
    sandeepc Profile Picture
    sandeepc 5,005 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    crmbusiness.wordpress.com/.../crm-2013-exporting-you-changes-in-a-solution-from-your-crm-2013-trial

    crmbook.powerobjects.com/.../the-data-import-wizard-in-dynamics-crm

  • Verified answer
    ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    You should just keep it as xml.. otherwise, that linkage will be lost.. That's unless excel is forcing you to change the format somehow..

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Hi Alex. You are absolutely right. When I export the file, the default format is .xml. If I do not open it, and try to re-import it as is, there is no "mapping" step.

    However, if instead I try to save the file as a .xls file, I get an error when I open the file that says "the file format and extension don't match".

    If I open the file anyway, and try to save the amended file as a .csv file, when I try to re-import it again, I am presented with the "mapping" step again...

    I know I'm not doing a very good job explaining that but I hope it makes sense!

  • ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Hi,

     some things have changed between 2011 and 365, so can't really try exactly the same process now.. But I think you are right - there should be no "mapping" step when you are reimporting that file.

     Can you try something.. Export the file again, do not open it, try to re-import. Will you still see that "mapping" step? If it works (sure there will be no changes in the data), I am wondering if, maybe, you have occasionally made a change to the file format somehow (for example, excel may have complained about older file format version at some point etc)

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Thanks Alex. I enabled that checkbox alright but still no luck. I notice on the screenshots there that there is no screenshot demonstrating the process of selecting a data map and then mapping the various fields...which is what I'm presented with during the import. Should I not see those steps if I'm doing it properly?

  • ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Hi,

     on the screenshots there, there is a small checkbox:

    "Make this data available for re-importing..."

     Not sure if you enabled the checkbox. If you did not - that would be the reason for all those duplicates.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Thanks for responding so quickly Alex. I have tried to follow the instructions in the attached link, however I seem to have created duplicates for all of the contacts involved during the import process--which makes me think that there might be an issue with my duplicate detection settings and/or duplicate detection rules? Or if I'm not mapping the source fields to the CRM fields correctly?

  • Inogic Profile Picture
    Inogic 24,094 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Follow this blog:  http://www.inogic.com/blog/2015/07/immersive-excel-experience-with-dynamics-crm-2015-online-update-1/

     

    If this answered your question, please make sure to Mark this as an Answer.

    Thanks !

  • Suggested answer
    ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Exporting/Importing Data in Dynamics 2011

    Hi,

     you can use this article for the walkthrough:

    www.powerobjects.com/.../mass-editing-dynamics-crm-2011-records-using-microsoft-excel

     Basically, you can create a view to include all the contacts you want to change that way, then you can export them, modify contacts data directly in Excel, and, then, import them back.

     There is no need for the additional mapping steps etc..

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