Moving from another CRM - importing clients from Excel and what to do if it goes wrong

The client base is the main reason not to change CRMs. Moving it by hand is impossible, and losing it is frightening. Import in BeeSection is built so you can move in one evening and, if something is wrong, roll back.

Where it is in the CRM

• Import and export: Settings → Integrations → Import and export.

What can be uploaded

In this order, because each depends on the previous: clients, service categories, services, specialists, products, leads, visits. The file is CSV or Excel, up to 64 MB; split a larger one into parts.

Three steps

Upload. You choose the entity and the file. The system detects the delimiter and encoding, shows the first 20 rows and suggests which file column matches which field. Matching goes by column names and by contents: a column of numbers that look like phones becomes the phone, even if it is called "contact". If the same file was uploaded before, you see a warning.

Check the columns. You fix the matching where it erred and save a profile. Next time a file with the same headers picks up the profile by itself. Ready profiles exist for exports from Altegio and YCLIENTS, and Booksy; for Fresha and DIKIDI too, but those are marked unverified.

Run. First a dry run: the system walks the file, finds errors in rows and writes nothing. Then the real one. Up to 2000 rows import immediately; more goes into a queue, and you see the progress.

Duplicates

For clients a duplicate is determined by phone number. Three strategies:

• skip: keep what exists; for a first move;
• update: write the file's values into the card; for topping up;
• create: a deliberate duplicate.

Rollback

Every import records what exactly it created and what it changed. The "Roll back" button deletes created records and returns changed ones to their previous values. A created client already referenced by a booking or a visit is not deleted: they stay and appear in the rollback report as skipped. That way a rollback does not break what you managed to do after the import.

Export

Your data can be exported to CSV or Excel at any time, with a choice of columns and filters. Excel is limited to 50,000 rows; for more, take CSV. The Clients, Appointments and Leads sections have an Export button: it exports exactly what is on the screen, with the current filters — the client segment, the period and specialist of appointments, the lead manager. A large export is prepared in the background: the system estimates the size and time in advance, the file appears in Data transfer → Exports and you get a notification; a ready file is kept for seven days. The export right is separate from the import right: a file with the whole base carries it out of the salon entirely, and not everyone should have it.

Sample first, transfer later

While there is no base yet, an empty CRM shows nothing: neither what a busy week looks like nor why packages exist. The empty dashboard and Settings → Company have a "Fill with sample data" button: it creates demo specialists, clients and bookings for your salon type. Demo rows are marked separately, and once real clients arrive the "Remove demo" button clears them — starter services and products stay, and rows already referenced by payments or stock are left alone.