Information can be imported from a text file, where each line in the text represents a new record, and each piece of information in a record is separated by some character such as a comma, tab, or semi-colon. Most programs can export their data or save their data as text files.
Permissions are required for the Setup and importing and exporting.
If you want to enter information into PerfectMind from some other program or from a leads or mailing list, there is a good chance that the information will be in a text file format. A text file is simply a file where the information has been entered as plain text and numbers and uses a certain character to separate the information.
Data can be imported from text files including .CSV (comma separated values), tab, space, or semi-colon delimited files. A comma delimited file might look like:
First Name, Address, Phone
Bob, 10th Street, 555-1212
John, 1st Avenue, 555-9898
Note: Importing Address Information. Address records are stored separately. When importing new data you can import directly into the an object and it's address field(s). If you want to update or upsert address information, you need to export the Address information, then use the Address Id to link it to the address records that need to be updated.
Most spreadsheet programs can open these kinds of text files, where it will display the information in columns. Spreadsheet programs can also save their information as different types of text files as well, which can be useful if you are creating your own list for importing. PerfectMind can read a regular Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file, so saving that as a text file is optional.
To begin importing data, you will need your source text file.
Start from Setup > Development > Import.
Click Browse to go to the Import File. This is the source of the data, and may be a text file or from another program or application.
Select the Desired Action for the imported records.
Insert: PerfectMind will add the records from the source file into PerfectMind, creating new records. This may cause duplicates if the information is already in PerfectMind.
Update: PerfectMind will attempt to match the source record with one in PerfectMind. If it finds a match it will update the record in PerfectMind with the information from the source file. It will not insert a new record if it does not find a match.
Upsert: Updates or inserts. PerfectMind first searches for a match and will update the PerfectMind record if it finds one. If no matching record is found it will add the record to PerfectMind from the source file.
If the first row in the text file contains the names of the columns, check the "First Row is Column Header" box.
First Name
Address
Phone
Bob
10th Street
555-1212
John
1st Avenue
555-9898
You do not need to have an Import Template to import data. If you have created one that you use for this type of import, then select it from the list. An import template speeds up your import by automatically setting and matching columns for you.
Select the delimiter that is being used in the source file. The delimiter shows where one item of information ends and the next item starts. Text files separate the columns of data (such as name, address, phone, etc.) using different characters to show the end of the column. Depending on your source file it could be a comma, a tab, a space character, or some other character used to show that the column ends.
Advanced formatting options: with text files you may need to let PerfectMind know how it is formatted as well as what the delimiter character is.
Text Qualifier: Sometimes each piece of information is enclosed in quotation or other symbols to indicate that everything enclosed is text and part of the same record. For example, if the text qualifier is ", then a record might look like "Bob", "10th Street", "555-1212". To ensure PerfectMind enters the information as 555-1212 and not "555-1212", select " as the text qualifier. If this is the case, you need to select the text qualifier so PerfectMind will be able to show the information correctly, other wise it will include the quotation or other symbols as part of the data.
Enable Custom Date Format: Select the date format that matches the date format in your data.
Date Order: Select how the date elements (months, days, years) are ordered in your information.
Date Delimeter: A character used to separate the date elements. E.g. 10/14/2007, 10-14-2007, etc.
Time Delimeter: A character used to separate the time elements. E.g. 12:00:00.
Four Digit Year: How the year is displayed. 2007 as a four digit year is 2007, as a two digit year is 07.
Leading Zeros in Dates: Zero is used as a place holder for single digit days, months, and years. E.g. January 2nd, 2007 can be written as 01/02/2007 or 1/2/07.
Decimal Symbol: The character used to show the decimal position in a number. E.g. 12.5 or 12,5.
When you select the file, a preview of the information will be displayed at the bottom of the page so that you can see what the data will look like before being imported. This allows you to make corrections to the data and import formatting options before running the actual import.
Click the Next tab.
Field Mapping is where you map the information from the source data to the PerfectMind fields.
Note that if an object in PerfectMind has a field that is marked as Required (must have data), it must have something mapped to it from the source data.
Select the Primary Object, which is what the information will be inserted or updated to. E.g. If you have contact information, you may be copying it to a Customer or Lead.
If you are doing an Update or Upsert operation, you can specify which of the fields in the PerfectMind data make the record unique - that is, what fields identify that exact record from any other. The PerfectMind generated ID is usually a good choice. This lets PerfectMind match the file information to the records that are already in PerfectMind.
You can create a Filter that will only accept the records that meet certain conditions. So if you only wanted to import contact records where the City was "New York", only the source data records that met that condition would be imported. See: Filters Overview.
Translation allows you to change the source data as it is being imported. You can do this for every field, and you can do this more than once on every field. This allows you to clean up and make the source data consistent and regular, and what you want to see in PerfectMind. When you create a data translation, simply pick the column, type in what is in that column (Translate From - what PerfectMind is looking for), then type in what you want PerfectMind to import as the value (Translate To). For example, if the source data has a City column, and the city name is "City 1" and you want to change is to "City One", you would select the City column, type in "City 1" as the Translate From information, and "City One" as the Translate To information. You could then create another translation on the City column for changing "City 2" to "City Two", and so on.
Click Save if you want to save all of these settings as a template to use with future imports. This is useful if you will be importing the same type of data from the same source more than once. If this is a one time import you do not have to save a template.
Click Import to begin the import operation.
When the operation is complete, PerfectMind will create files that you can click on and save that show successful and unsuccessful record operations.
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