Importing data

Settings → Imports brings records into your current Arbour organisation. Choose the guide for your previous CRM, or use Custom CSV to match your own spreadsheet columns to contacts and jobs. CRM exports contain different information, and some require several downloads.

Choose your export guide

The source-specific export and import guide link stays available throughout each importer. It opens separately so you can follow the export steps while keeping your place.

Prepare a CRM export

1. 01

   Export from the correct business in your previous CRM. Clear searches and filters, include the required contact types and choose dates covering your history and future bookings.

2. 02

   Follow the source guide to collect every required CSV and PDF. Check that downloads finished and open a copy of each file to check it is readable. Preserve the original contents and column headings.

3. 03

   For Dubsado, Pixieset or Sprout Studio, put the downloads in one folder. In Finder, select the folder and choose Compress. In Windows, use Compress to ZIP file. Upload that ZIP. Studio Ninja already supplies a ZIP, so keep it as downloaded.

4. 04

   Keep a copy of your export until you have checked the imported records. An export only contains what the previous CRM makes available, so keep access to anything its export omits.

Review a CRM archive

1. 01

   Check the organisation shown in Arbour, open Settings → Imports, and choose your previous CRM.

2. 02

   Upload the ZIP. Arbour reads the archive and shows a preview before creating records. Compare its counts with your exports and read every warning.

3. 03

   Choose the stages for imported records and review the source's invoice or package options. A missing date or document cannot be recovered by choosing a different stage.

4. 04

   Start the import and keep the page open until it finishes. Progress and individual failures appear on the page.

5. 05

   Open a few imported contacts and jobs. Compare dates, documents, invoice totals and paid balances with the original CRM, including a partially paid and an unpaid invoice if you have them.

Imported history does not send invoices or other documents to clients. A downloaded contract remains an attached document; importing it does not request a new signature. The source guides explain which financial records can be reconstructed and which files remain attachments.

Custom CSV

Choose Custom CSV when you have your own spreadsheet or an export that does not match one of the CRM guides above. Save it as a UTF-8 CSV first: Excel workbooks and ZIP files are not accepted by this importer. A file can contain up to 10,000 records and 250 columns, with a maximum size of 20 MiB.

1. 01

   Choose Sales for enquiries or Bookings for confirmed jobs, then upload the CSV. Each included row creates one job. Check the detected delimiter and header row, and correct them if the preview does not show your columns properly.

2. 02

   Under Match columns, review the suggested matches or choose Map columns myself. Match the job title, contact details, dates and any other values you want to retain. You can add contact groups, choose fixed values and map custom fields. Review proposed new fields and options before creating them; your role needs the relevant field-management permission.

3. 03

   Check date formats, choice translations and amounts. If the source has a stable record ID, map it and choose the same Dataset for later exports of those records. Without external IDs, only repeats of the exact same file can be recognised reliably.

4. 04

   Press Validate and preview. Arbour checks every record, including those outside the preview. Correct errors or explicitly exclude the invalid records. Confirm that the Import button's record count matches what you intend to bring across.

5. 05

   Start the import and keep the browser open. Inspect the created contacts and jobs, including their dates, fields and assignments. If interrupted, re-upload the same CSV from Past imports to recover the reviewed mapping and continue without repeating successful rows.

Automatic column matching is optional. If it is unavailable, you can still map the columns yourself. Suggestions never create records on their own.

Recognised repeats are skipped, not updated. Contacts match by an unambiguous email address; imported values fill empty fields and preserve existing values. Matching a name alone does not reuse a contact.

Custom CSV brings across contacts and jobs with their mapped values and notes. It does not import attachments, invoices, payments, contracts, questionnaire answers or run-sheet entries. It sends no customer emails or historical automations. Stopping an import keeps the records and reviewed fields already created; there is no bulk undo.

Custom fields and export differences

Dubsado, Pixieset and Sprout Studio columns are matched by their headings, so their order can vary. Optional columns can be absent. Required columns, duplicate headings and incomplete rows are checked before the import starts. Keep the original headings even when your export differs from an example screenshot.

Read the preview's field notes. Extra contact or project columns can be retained as text fields or labelled notes, depending on the CRM and Arbour's field limits. A date, choice list or number retained as text keeps its exported value, but does not become an editable field of that original type. The source guide explains where to find it after importing.

An unfamiliar financial column may require review before reconstruction. Arbour checks supported amounts and payment records rather than guessing how an extra amount changes an invoice. A PDF whose layout cannot be read safely may need the source's document-only import path.

If two source records cannot be distinguished, correct their identifying details in the original CRM and export again. Do not delete a row simply to make the import pass. Keep the complete export and attach unmatched documents manually when needed.

Stop, retry or return later

Large imports may pause briefly when the request limit is reached. Keep the tab open. The countdown shows when importing will continue automatically.

Stop import waits for requests already in progress. Records that have finished remain in Arbour. Choose Import remaining to continue, or use the retry action for failed records after checking their errors.

If Retry finishing import appears, use it to close the existing run. Past imports on the imports page shows recent runs. A stopped run can show records as not imported. After a page reload or interrupted session, stop a stranded run there before uploading again.

Re-importing an unchanged export skips records already imported from that source while their linked records still exist. It does not update those existing records with changes from a later export. Review source-specific identity limitations before renaming records or changing an export.

Common problems

Imports add records as they progress. Stopping a run does not undo the records already written.