Introduction to data importing

Importing data into Attio is very straightforward. All you need is a .csv file containing your data, which is a very common export option available on most platforms.

This article gives an overview, but for full information and a walkthrough of CSV imports in Attio, see the Import data into Attio via CSV article in our Reference section.

Preparing for your import

To get started, you’ll need to decide whether to import into an object or a list. You should also ensure that your file’s data aligns with required formatting and best practices, which you’ll find in our importing guide.

The import process

Navigate to the list or object you are going to import into. In this example, we'll be importing Company data, so we’ll navigate to Companies in the sidebar and select Import / Export at the top right corner, then Import companies.

Upload the CSV file containing your company data.

Unique identifiers and mapping attributes

When you import either companies or people into Attio, each record type has a unique identifier to prevent duplicates. For companies, this unique identifier is Domain. Each domain can only be associated with a single company record. Similarly, for people records, the unique identifier is the Email address, and each email can only be linked to a single person record.

In our example CSV file, we'll be importing three fields for each company: Domain, Company Name, and LinkedIn. As long as you have a domain for each company, you can include any additional relevant information about the companies in your import file to import into additional attributes.

After uploading your CSV file, Attio will display a screen where you can map the columns from your file to the corresponding attributes in Attio.

It’s worth noting that if you can’t find the attribute you want to map to, you can also create a new attribute by clicking + Create new attribute in the dropdown menu.

Review values and resolve issues

Once we’re happy with our mapping, we can click Continue to then review our data. Attio will flag any inconsistencies or issues it detects before final import, so you can fix any invalid values.

Preview import

After confirming all columns, click Continue. On this page, you can see all updates the import will attempt to make to records and attributes.

When you’re ready to proceed, click Start import. You will see the import’s progress, and a table showing records as they are being added or updated.

If we check the Companies page, we can see our newly imported companies have been added to Attio.

Learn more

For full information and a walkthrough of CSV imports in Attio, see the Import data into Attio via CSV article in our Reference section.

Up next

Next, learn how Attio's data model works.