General CSV File Conventions

To be successfully imported, CSV files must contain values separated by commas or other supported column separators, such as the semicolon, pipe, space, and tab.

CSV files typically include a top row with column names as headers, and multiple rows of data below.

Review the following tips as you are setting up CSV files for the Import Assistant:

The Import Assistant has a limit of 25,000 records or 50 MB per import job. For a multiple file upload, all files combined must be under these limits.

You should break large import jobs into smaller chunks to improve performance.
The Import Assistant attempts to map each CSV file's column headers to field names for the selected NetSuite record type, so that data can be imported into the appropriate NetSuite fields. The Assistant includes a Field Mapping page where you can review and edit its mappings, and define mappings for columns that the Assistant was unable to map.

If a file contains fields of data without column headers, the Import Assistant does not import the trailing fields' data.
Blank lines at the end of an imported CSV file are not included in the import.
You can specify name references in a CSV file, but reference types such as External ID or Internal ID are preferable. Data values for fields used as reference types must be written exactly as they appear in dropdown lists in the NetSuite record form. For more information, see Select Reference Types, Name References, and Effects of Auto-Generated Numbers during Imports.
If your account is using NetSuite OneWorld, the Subsidiary field is a required field for the following record types: Chart of Accounts, Contacts, Customers, Employees, Jobs, Leads, Partners, Prospects, and Vendors. For imports of these record types, you must include in your CSV file a field that can be mapped to the NetSuite Subsidiary field. If the import attempts to add or update records in a OneWorld account without identifying the subsidiary, 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.
If your system's regional settings designate commas as decimal separators, CSV files that you generate with Microsoft Excel use semi-colons as CSV value separators. To learn more about the number formats supported for CSV imports, see Tips for Using Numbers in CSV Files.
Go to Home > Set Preferences. On the General tab, scroll down to Formatting. Make sure that the CSV Column Delimiter option is set to the column separator used in the CSV files you are planning to import.
If you are importing CSV data in a language different from your NetSuite language preferences, the data import might be slow. To improve the import speed, change your NetSuite language settings at Home > Set Preferences before importing CSV data, so that your language settings match the language of the CSV file you are importing.

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