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Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

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Posted on by CU01081947-0 4

Hello CRM Community, 

I need to update a single field on existing records in the CRM and would like some advice on how to do this please. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have 1000 records in the CRM. I only want to update the field “Status Reason”.

I have an Excel document, constructed by a colleague, that has 1500 rows on it. 1000 of those rows are records in the CRM and 500 I want to ignore. The 1000 all have the various “Status Reason” values that I want to put into the CRM. The Excel document contains three columns: column A is GUID, column B is Email, column C is Status Reason.

I know how to export the data using Excel Online, update it then push it back in, but this seems a rather manual process for 1000 records.

I know how to export the data using the Export Data button, amend it in Excel, and then re-import it, but again this seems like a lot of manual steps and my Excel skills are not the highlight of my CV, so trying to write a lookup formula etc is not for me.

My previous CRM, nowhere near as great as Dynamics 365, allowed me to import a document with the GUIDs and new values and it would update the records, no problem.

I tried the above in Dynamics 365, so just uploading my colleague's Excel document with the GUIDs and the new Status Reason values, but I received an error saying records already exist. I think doing it like this would be the simplest way, but I keep facing the duplicate records failure.

Does anyone know how I can import an Excel document with only the GUID and Status Reason and update existing records without having to do tricks in Excel or buy and learn how to use something like Scribe?

Thanks very much,

Garry

  • Suggested answer
    Deepthi H Profile Picture
    Deepthi H 230 on at
    RE: Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

    Hi Gary,

    The system can only recognize the record using GUID while importing the records. Since you have removed it from Excel, the new records were created. As I have mentioned earlier it will be easy if you write a  simple console application or even you can user SSIS package where you can define the unique identifier as Contact Name.

    If you need i can give you how to connect with CRM and Update using Console Application or SSIS Package.

    Regards

    Deepthi H

  • CU01081947-0 Profile Picture
    CU01081947-0 4 on at
    RE: Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

    Hello Deepthi,

    Thanks for the reply and the tip about the GUID. I will remember that. I removed the GUID from my Excel document and used another unique identifier: Contact Name. I was then able to import, but rather than update the existing record and change the "Status Reason" value to what was in the file, it created a new record.

    Thanks,

    Garry

  • Suggested answer
    Deepthi H Profile Picture
    Deepthi H 230 on at
    RE: Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

    If you map GUID while importing the data, it will try to create a new record with the guid you provided in excel and so it failed in your case.

    If you are not willing to write Vlookup and create an excel then try writing a simple console application which reads data from excel and search in CRM with guid ID and then update status for the record.

  • Suggested answer
    Alex Fun Wei Jie Profile Picture
    Alex Fun Wei Jie 33,626 on at
    RE: Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

    Hi,

    When during the import, choose allow for duplicate.

    Besides that, you also can create a on demand workflow, and filter the record, and run the workflow.

  • Suggested answer
    diegompc Profile Picture
    diegompc 798 on at
    RE: Update existing records from an Excel document not exported from the CRM

    Hi Garry Pope!!

    Maybe a Duplicate Detection Rule is avoiding the update.

    Try to disable it.

    Captura4.JPG

    Regards.

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