Migrating from Spreadsheets to a Real CRM (Without Losing Your Data)

You have decided to move from spreadsheets to a real CRM. That is a good call. But now comes the part that keeps people in spreadsheet limbo for months: actually doing it.

The fear is that migration will be painful. That you will lose data, break formatting, or spend an entire weekend manually re-entering contacts. The reality is much simpler. If you can export a CSV file, you can migrate your data in about 15 minutes.

This guide covers the full process, from preparing your spreadsheet to verifying your data in Sambandh. If you are looking for reasons to make the switch in the first place, read 5 Signs You Have Outgrown Spreadsheets first. This post is all about the how.

Preparing Your Spreadsheet

Before you export anything, spend 10 to 15 minutes cleaning up your data. A little preparation here saves significant time during import.

Standardize Your Column Names

CRM import tools work by matching your column headers to built-in fields. The closer your column names are to standard conventions, the smoother the mapping will be.

Sambandh's import tool auto-detects these column names:

• First Name (or "first_name" or "firstName")
• Last Name (or "last_name" or "lastName")
• Email (or "email_address" or "Email Address")
• Phone (or "phone_number" or "Phone Number")
• Company (or "company_name" or "Organization")
• Job Title (or "title" or "Position")
• Notes
• Tags (or "Labels" or "Categories")

If your spreadsheet uses non-standard headers like "Person" or "Org" or "Cell," rename them before exporting. It takes two minutes and eliminates guesswork during the mapping step.

Clean Up Your Data

Go through your spreadsheet and handle these common issues.

Remove obvious duplicates. Sort by email address and look for repeats. If the same person appears twice with slightly different information, merge the rows manually. Pick the most complete version of each field.

Standardize phone number formats. If some numbers include country codes and others do not, pick one format and apply it consistently. Dashes, spaces, and parentheses do not matter, but the underlying number should be consistent.

Fix empty or incomplete rows. If you have rows with just a first name and nothing else, decide whether to keep or delete them. Contacts without an email address or phone number will import fine, but they are not very useful in a CRM.

Consolidate multiple tabs. If your spreadsheet has separate tabs for Clients, Leads, Partners, and Vendors, you have two options. You can export each tab as a separate CSV and import them one at a time with different tags. Or you can add a "Category" column, combine everything into one tab, and do a single import. Either approach works.

Remove Columns You Do Not Need

If your spreadsheet has columns like "Row ID" or "Last Modified By" or "Internal Notes DO NOT SHARE," remove them before export. Every column in your CSV will need to be mapped to a field in Sambandh or explicitly skipped. Fewer columns means a faster, cleaner import.

Exporting as CSV

From Google Sheets

Open your spreadsheet. Go to File, then Download, then Comma-separated values (.csv). If you have multiple tabs, Google Sheets will only export the currently active tab. Switch to each tab and export separately if needed.

From Microsoft Excel

Open your file. Go to File, then Save As. Choose "CSV (Comma delimited)" from the format dropdown. If Excel warns you about features that are not compatible with CSV format, click Yes. You are only exporting the data, not the formatting.

From Apple Numbers

Open the spreadsheet. Go to File, then Export To, then CSV. Click Next and choose a save location.

Regardless of which tool you use, open the exported CSV in a text editor and do a quick sanity check. Make sure the first row contains your column headers and the data looks reasonable. Encoding issues can occasionally turn special characters into garbage, so a quick visual scan catches those early.

Importing into Sambandh

With your clean CSV file ready, head to moveto.sambandh.io/from/spreadsheet.

Upload Your File

Drag your CSV onto the upload area or click to browse. The tool will parse your file and show you a preview of the first few rows so you can verify it read the data correctly.

Map Your Fields

This is the step people worry about most, and it is usually the easiest. The migration tool displays each column from your CSV alongside a dropdown of Sambandh fields.

Auto-detected fields will already be mapped. For standard column names like "First Name," "Email," and "Company," this happens automatically. For non-standard names, select the correct Sambandh field from the dropdown.

If your spreadsheet has columns that do not match any standard CRM field, you have two options: skip the column (it will not be imported) or create a custom field. Sambandh supports custom fields for contacts, so your "Preferred Communication Channel" or "Lead Source" columns can come along for the ride.

Preview and Confirm

Before the import starts, you will see a summary of how many records will be created, how fields are mapped, and whether any potential issues were detected. Review this carefully. It is much easier to fix a mapping error now than to clean up data after import.

Start the Import

Click "Start Import" and let it run. For a typical spreadsheet with a few hundred contacts, the import takes 2 to 5 minutes. You will see a progress indicator and a final summary when it completes.

What Happens to Your Custom Columns

This is one of the most common questions, and the answer is straightforward. Any column from your spreadsheet that does not map to a standard Sambandh field (like name, email, phone, or company) can be imported as a custom field.

Custom fields in Sambandh appear on contact records just like standard fields. They are searchable, filterable, and available in reports. So if you had a "Referral Source" or "Contract Value" or "Birthday" column in your spreadsheet, those become first-class fields in your CRM.

The migration tool will prompt you to confirm custom field creation during the mapping step. You can name the fields whatever you want and choose the field type (text, number, date, or dropdown).

After Migration: Getting Set Up

Your contacts are in Sambandh. Now what? Here are the first things to do to make your CRM immediately useful.

Set Up Your First Pipeline

Go to the Pipelines section and create a pipeline that matches your sales process. Common stages include Lead, Contacted, Meeting Scheduled, Proposal Sent, Negotiation, and Closed Won / Closed Lost. Keep it simple to start. You can always add stages later.

Tag Your Contacts

If your spreadsheet had categories or groups, use Sambandh tags to replicate that organization. Tags are flexible and a single contact can have multiple tags. Common tags include "Client," "Lead," "Partner," "VIP," and "Referral Source."

Connect Your Email

Link your Gmail or Outlook account to enable automatic email logging. Once connected, every email you send or receive will be attached to the relevant contact record. This is the feature that makes the biggest difference in day-to-day CRM usage and eliminates the manual data entry that probably drove you away from spreadsheets in the first place.

Configure Lead Scoring

If you are on the Pro plan, set up lead scoring rules to automatically prioritize your contacts. You can score based on engagement (opened your emails, clicked links), attributes (job title, company size), and activity (meetings booked, forms filled). Lead scoring turns your contact list from a static directory into a ranked queue of people worth your attention.

You Will Not Miss the Spreadsheet

The first few days after switching might feel unfamiliar. You will reach for a keyboard shortcut that does not exist or look for a tab that is not there. That is normal.

But within a week, you will notice something. You are spending less time on data entry and more time on actual conversations. Your follow-ups are happening on time. You know exactly where every deal stands without scrolling through a hundred rows.

That is the whole point. The CRM works for you instead of the other way around.

Ready to start? Head to moveto.sambandh.io/from/spreadsheet and bring your data with you.