If you have an existing list of Users (for example, in a CRM tool, customer database, legacy helpdesk or a spreadsheet) you can import that list into Deskpro in Comma Separated Values (CSV) format.

CSV is a simple format that is widely available as an export option from spreadsheet or database software.

Here’s an example of how a user data CSV file might look in your spreadsheet program:

and in a text editor:

Brian Wolf,coyote1@example.com,Aardvark Inc.,enter
Maria User,maria1961@example.com,DreadCo,rando
Davey,daveyh2@example.com,,extra
Sue Cheam,suey333@example.com,Alpha,junk
 copy

Some programs output CSV files with a semicolon instead of a comma as the field delimiter in between values, or with values enclosed in quotes. Deskpro can handle both of these variations in the CSV format.

When you import your data, you can map each column to one of Deskpro’s user fields:

• Basic Information

  • First Name

  • Last Name

  • Name

  • Title (Mr., Mrs., etc)

  • Primary Email (required)

  • Secondary Email

  • Password

  • Organization

  • Organization Position

  • Language (use the language ID number which you can obtain from Setup > Languages using the small gear icon at the top right of the language list)

  • Brand

• Contact Details

  • Phone Number (unspaced and prefixed with country code e.g. +447700900315, +12025550156)

  • Website URL

  • IM

  • Twitter account

  • LinkedIn profile URL

  • Facebook profile URL

  • Address Line 1

  • Address Line 2

  • City

  • State

  • Post Code

  • Country

• Person Custom Fields

  • either existing custom User fields, or a new one that you define.

The only required field is Primary Email.

• Users without a valid email address will not be imported.

• If an account already exists with a User’s primary email address, no details from the User will be imported.

If you do not map a password field, a random password will be generated automatically for each User.

• Organization Custom Fields

  • either existing custom Organization fields, or a new one that you define.

::: info It is not possible to only import Organization data using this CSV importer.

• To import Organizations, you must also import the Primary Email of at least one User per Organization that you wish to import (as User's Primary Email is the only required field that must be included within any import).

• To import Organization custom fields, you must also import Primary Email and the User's Organization.

:::

To import CSV:

1. In CRM > CSV import, click Select CSV File and select the CSV file with your data.

2. Set the Field Delimiter value (i.e. whether fields are separated by commas or semicolons).

3. Set the Field Enclosure value (i.e. whether the fields are enclosed by quotes).

1. Click Prepare File.

Once the file is uploaded, you can use the next screen to select a DeskPRO field for each CSV column.

By default, the importer assumes that the first row of your data consists of labels like “Name”, “Email” etc. If that is not the case (as in this example) you should select the Import the first row option.

You can select what the importer does when the CSV contains an entry for a User who already exists in Deskpro (i.e. with the same email address): you can choose to either skip the entry entirely so that the User’s record is not changed, or update the User from the CSV.

You can optionally choose to send each imported User a welcome email including their password.

Once you have the configuration that you want, you can start the import. The import will be automatically scheduled and done for you in the background. You do not need to keep your browser on the page except to get status updates as the import happens.

Once the import is complete, you will see an Import Log. You will also be able to download a CSV file of any items that were skipped during the import (for example, because they were in the wrong format), or undo the import.

All the Users created by an import get a label identifying which import created them.

Importing into custom fields

If your data set has fields that you can’t map to standard Deskpro fields, you can import them into custom User or Organization fields. If you haven’t created the fields ahead of time, you can create them when configuring the import by selecting the New Custom Field mapping option.

If you create a new choice-based field, new choices will be automatically created as new values are found for the field. If you import into an existing choice-based custom field, you can control whether new choices will be automatically created.

To import into a date-based custom field, the data you are importing must either be a UNIX timestamp or in the format YYYY-MM-DD (for example, 2012-10-24).

Importing contact data

The CSV importer supports importing contact data such as phone numbers and addresses and assigning a “label” to them. This label can be used to indicate, for example, a business phone versus a home phone. The label is optional in most cases.

However, when importing addresses, the label field is used to group related address parts together. If your data set has two or more sets of addresses, you need to enter a distinct label for each set of address fields that make up an address.

For example, if your CSV data has fields for “Business Street Address”, “Business City”, “Home Street Address” and “Home City”, then you would need to use labels to group them correctly.

You could apply the label Business to “Business Street Address” and “Business City”, and Home to “Home Street Address” and “Home City”.

Undoing an import

If you decide you don’t like the results of an import, you can undo it by deleting all of the imported Users.

Go to the Import Logs section at the bottom of CRM > CSV Import. In the Undo column at the far right, click the Delete Imported Users link.

If an imported User is converted into an Agent, they will not be deleted if you later undo the import.