Contacts Only Import

The Contacts Only import is used to attach individual names to existing entries in the customer, vendor, partner, or other name list. Contacts also can be imported without reference to an entity. These names can later be linked to one or more businesses in these lists.

For details about fields that can be mapped in the contact record, see the SOAP Schema Browser’s contact reference page. You can use the field definitions here as a basis for creating your own CSV import template file. For information about working with this tool, see SOAP Schema Browser.

Review the following guidelines for Contacts imports:

• Supported Contact Sublist Imports

• Importing Contacts for Existing Entity Data

• Importing Contacts and New Entities Data

• Setting the Global Subscription Status Field for Contacts

• Contacts Subsidiary Field Required for NetSuite OneWorld

Note:

If you want to update the Company field for a contact record, you need to use a key of internal ID or external ID, rather than name. To set up this key, click the edit icon for the Company field on the Import Assistant Field Mapping page, and select from the Choose Reference Type list. Otherwise the import job creates a new contact record with the same name and the Company field populated, instead of updating the existing contact record.

Supported Contact Sublist Imports

The Contacts import supports the import of the following sublist data:

Sublist	Notes
Address	Selectively updatable based on Internal ID or Label key field. By default, the sublist Address field is read-only, and data from other sublist fields is copied into it. If you map the Override field and set it to Yes (meaning true), you can import data for the Address field.
Subscriptions	Selectively updatable based on Subscription key field.

For imports that update existing Contact records, handling of sublist data updates depends upon the setting for the Overwrite Sublists advanced option, and on whether the sublist is keyed. Complete deletion of sublist data currently is not supported. For more information, see Sublist Data Import.

Importing Contacts for Existing Entity Data

If you want to import contacts for entities (Customers, Leads, Prospects, or Vendors) that already exist in NetSuite, include entity names in the Company column of Contacts CSV file data.

Importing Contacts and New Entities Data

You can import Contacts with their related Customers, Leads, or Prospects in a single Import Assistant job. For more information, see Importing Entities and Contacts Together.

The Import Assistant also supports a two-step import of Contacts and entities.

• You should import Contacts data first, use External ID as a reference type, and do not import values for the Contacts' Company field.

• After the Contacts data exists in your account, then import the entities data.

  • You should use External ID as a reference type.

  • Make sure the entities CSV file includes contact names in the Primary Contact column. When the entities data is imported with the Primary Contact field completed, the system links the Contact record with the entity record.

  • Note that you cannot set a role relationship in a two-step import; contacts can be set as primary or with no role.

Setting the Global Subscription Status Field for Contacts

The Global Subscription Status field on contact records determines whether a contact can receive email sent through campaigns and email merge operations.

• Four values are possible: Confirmed Opt-In, Soft Opt-In, Soft Opt-Out, and Confirmed Opt-Out, but only the soft values are available to be set by import.

• If you want to send campaign email to a contact, set this field's value to Soft Opt-In, because you cannot send campaign email to users with Soft Opt-Out status; you can only send opt-in email.

  Note:

  Certain jurisdictions, such as the European Union (EU), have regulations regarding whether you can contact entities if you do not have their explicit permission to do so. You should check that your global subscription status adheres to the regulations in the recipient’s jurisdiction.

• If you do not include this field in an import, its value is defaulted, based on the Unsubscribed to Marketing By Default option at Setup > Marketing > Marketing Preferences. By default, this option is disabled, and the Global Subscription Status field defaults to Soft Opt-Out. When this option is enabled, the field defaults to Soft Opt-In.

• After an import, you can change the value of the Global Subscription Status between Soft Opt-In and Soft Opt-Out manually in the user interface and through mass updates. Only recipients themselves can change the value to Confirmed Opt-In or Confirmed Opt-Out.

For more information about global subscription statuses, see Subscription Management.

Contacts Subsidiary Field Required for NetSuite OneWorld

If your account is using NetSuite OneWorld, the Subsidiary field is a required field for Contacts Only imports. You must map the NetSuite Subsidiary field to a field in your CSV file, or the import will fail. CSV file values for subsidiaries should be hierarchical names, in the format grandparent : parent : child, for example, Consolidated Parent Company : UK Subsidiary : Euro Subsidiary.

Contacts Only CSV File Example

The following example uses three files to import contacts only information: main contact file, address sublist, and contact subscriptions sublist.

Contact

External ID	First Name	Last Name	Subsidiary	Job Title	Main Phone	Email	Category
SSE_CON_14	Sandra	Johnson	ACME Corp : U.K. Subsidiary	Regional Manager	1 958 555 0100	[e-mail]	Tradeshow
SSE_CON_18	Andrew	Wilson	ACME Corp : German sub	CEO	1 958 555 0199	[e-mail]	Website
SSE_CON_20	Angela	Wolfe	ACME Corp : Canada subsidiary	Regional Sales Manager	1 958 555 0121	[e-mail]	Phone

We are importing contacts to associate with entities later, so there is no Company column in the file. If you want to associate the contact with an existing entity by the import, add a Company column to the file. The Subsidiary column is required for OneWorld accounts. Use the format parent : child.

Categories must exist in NetSuite or an error will occur.

Contact Address

Contact Address: External ID	Contact Address: ID	Contact Address: Country	Contact Address: Address	Contact Address: City	Contact Address: State	Contact Address: Zip	Contact Address: Default Billing	Contact Address: Default Shipping
SSE_CON_14	83923	United States	123 Elm Street	Chicago	Illinois	60604	Yes	Yes
SSE_CON_18	38733	Czechia	Trnitá 123/45	Prague	—	602 00	Yes	No
SSE_CON_20	36366	Australia	Level 2, 15 King Street	Sydney	NSW	3048	No	Yes

Contact Subscriptions

Contact Subscriptions: External ID	Contact Subscriptions: Subscription	Contact Subscriptions: Subscribed
SSE_CON_14	Newsletters	Yes
SSE_CON_14	Marketing	Yes
SSE_CON_18	Surveys	Yes
SSE_CON_20	Newsletters	No
SSE_CON_20	Marketing	Yes

The Import Assistant is available at Setup > Import/Export > Import Tasks > Import CSV Records. After you select the record type, you choose the import character encoding. For information, see Select a Record Type for Import and Choose Import Character Encoding.

Additional Information

Importing CSV Files with the Import Assistant

Guidelines for CSV Import Files

Tips for Successful CSV Imports

Importing Entities and Contacts Together

Understanding Leads, Prospects, and Customers

Related Topics

Relationships Import Type

General Notices