Import customers and work orders from a file

Upload a customer or work order file from another tool, match its columns, check customer matches, preview the import, then run it and check the result on Import jobs.

In the sidebar, open Administration, then choose Imports under Data. The Import From File page opens at /settings/org/imports on its Start import tab. The other tabs are Import jobs (/settings/org/imports/jobs), Saved mappings (/settings/org/imports/saved-mappings) and Restore Nova export (/settings/org/imports/restore-nova-export).

Before you start

• Export the customer list from your old tool as a CSV or Excel file. Move a customer list from another tool shows what to export and how the columns line up.
• Import customers first. Contacts, addresses and work orders in separate files come after, and each row needs a customer number, account number, email, phone, or name and address that Nova can match.
• Nothing is written until you confirm the live import. Every file starts as a preview, called a dry run.

Steps

1. On What are you importing?, choose Customers or Work orders, then press Continue to upload. Customers covers phones, emails, contacts and addresses in the same file.
2. Under Upload your file, pick the file: CSV, TSV, TXT, Excel .xlsx, older Excel .xls, JSON or JSONL. Type the old tool's name in File came from; Old company / branch and Notes are optional. Press Preview file and continue.
3. For an Excel file, Confirm Excel tab/header row appears. Press Use recommended setup, or set Excel tab and Header row yourself, then press Continue to match columns.
4. On Match columns, open any column marked Needs review or Blocked and pick the Nova field it belongs to, or press Ignore, Add to notes, Matching only or Custom field. Press Apply column choices after changes. To reuse the choices next time, type a name and press Save column choices.
5. Press Continue to customer matches (it reads Continue to review issues when no rows need a customer). On Check customer matches, each row that needs a decision offers the suggested customer, Choose a different Nova customer or Do not import this row. Then press Continue to review issues.
6. On Review issues, read Rows ready to include, Rows needing review and Rows blocked. Clear everything under Must fix; Download issue report lists every affected row. Press Continue to preview.
7. On Preview import, set When records already exist. Review first is the default; Create only and Skip existing never overwrite; Update Nova value changes existing records. Leave Run choice on Preview, then import and press Preview import.
8. On Review preview and import, wait for the dry run. When it reports no blocking issues, press Continue to live import. If your organization requires an approval, add a Decision note and press Approve and queue import, or wait for another admin to approve it from Import jobs.
9. Press View job details to follow the live import on Import jobs.

What you see

• The step buttons across the top show where you are. Finished steps turn green and you can go back to any of them.
• Unfinished import drafts lists uploads you stopped part-way, each with Resume and Discard.
• Each column card shows Sample values and the Suggested Nova field with a confidence score. The strip above reads All required fields matched when nothing is missing.
• On Import jobs, the buttons All jobs, Queued, Running, Awaiting approval, Completed, Failed and Canceled narrow the list. A row reads Ready to start live import when its preview passed. Open a run for Start live import, Resume import, Rerun dry-run, Retry or Cancel. Its Validation, Conflicts, Approvals, Plan, Mappings and Audit tabs sit below; on a run that is ready to start they fold away behind Review details.

If something looks different

• Your file is a zip that Nova exported: use the Restore Nova export tab instead. Under Nova export zip choose the file and leave Restore plan on Use restore details from file. Dry-run only starts on and gives you a report only; switch it off when you mean to restore the records. Press Upload and start dry-run. Nova checks the file first either way, and a run you can restore shows Start live import on Import jobs once its check has passed.
• A notice says a live import is already running: Nova waits for that run to finish or be canceled before starting another, so customers are never written twice.
• Preview import is greyed out: the line under it says what is still missing, usually a required field with no column, a Blocked column or customer matches you have not checked yet.
• An old bookmark opens /settings/org/imports/spreadsheet/create or /settings/org/imports/package/create: those addresses now send you to Start import and Restore Nova export.

Start an import