Introduction to data importing

Your customer data already exists somewhere — an Excel sheet, a Google Sheet, an export from a CRM you are leaving behind. Importing is how that history moves into Winston, and it is designed around one promise: you should not lose a row, a column, or a relationship on the way in. This article covers what you can import, how mapping works, and what Winston does with the data once it lands.

What you can import

Winston imports CSV files — which in practice means anything, because Excel, Google Sheets, and every mainstream CRM can export to CSV. Each import targets one object, and each row becomes one record:

If your old CRM export comes as several files — one for contacts, one for companies, one for deals — that is normal: you run one import per file, and Winston reconnects the records to each other using the shared columns (like email address or company name).

Mapping columns

After you upload a file, Winston shows every column it found and asks where each one should go. Most columns match automatically — a column called Email maps to the email attribute without your help — and for the rest you choose from a dropdown:

• Map it to an existing attribute, like phone number or deal value.
• Create a new attribute on the spot when the column is something Winston has not seen — Dietary requirements, Preferred table, whatever your spreadsheet tracked.
• Skip it if the column is noise you do not want to carry over.

Nothing is written until you confirm the mapping, so you can take your time on this screen — it is a preview, not a commitment. For a column-by-column walkthrough of mapping, including formats for dates and multi-value fields, see the Imports & exports section.

After the import

An import is not a dump into an empty database — Winston reconciles what arrives with what is already there:

• Duplicates merge instead of piling up. A person in your CSV who already exists in Winston — say, because email sync created them last week — is matched by email address and enriched, not duplicated. Your import fills in their empty fields rather than creating a second copy.
• AI attributes fill the gaps. Columns your spreadsheet never had can populate themselves: Winston reads each record's conversation history and fills attributes like inquiry type or event date, so imported records catch up with the ones that grew up inside Winston.
• Imported records behave like every other record. They show up in lists and views, workflows act on them, and new emails from those contacts start landing on their timelines immediately.

A good first milestone: import your main contact sheet, open a few records, and check the mapping looks right. Once email is connected too, the timelines start filling in on their own — see Introduction to email sync for that half of the setup.