Data Import Template for Product Planning

CSV. It covers 80%+ of import use cases because every tool can export CSV. Add XLSX support second (many business users work in Excel and should not have to convert). JSON is important for developer-facing products. Prioritize based on your customer profile. The [glossary entry on data portability](/glossary/prioritization) covers the broader context.

Switch to async processing with email notification. Show a progress page with live counters (processed, succeeded, failed, remaining) and estimated time. Let users navigate away and return to the progress page. Send an email when complete with a summary and link to results. For very large imports (1M+ records), consider a dedicated queue with lower priority than real-time operations.

In v1, import entities independently and let users link them after import. Cross-entity imports (e.g., contacts with their associated deals) require a relationship mapping step that doubles the complexity. For v2, support a multi-entity import where the user maps a foreign key column (e.g., "Company Domain" in contacts maps to the Domain field in companies). The [Multi-Tenant Design Template](/templates/multi-tenant-design-template) covers entity relationship patterns.

Custom fields appear in the mapping dropdown alongside built-in fields. The mapping interface must show the custom field type so users know what format to use. If a column maps to a select-type custom field and the CSV contains values not in the option list, offer to auto-create new options or skip those values. See the [Custom Fields Template](/templates/custom-fields-template) for the full custom fields design. ---