Importing Relationships

To import relationships using contact names

For example, an individual is the "Employee of" an "Organization".

1. Set up the csv file with First Name, Last Name, Organization Name.
2. Import the file as Individual records as an Update Import.
3. Select the First Name and Last Name to be matched to those Individual fields. On the Organization field, select "Employee of". In the dropdown that appears below, select Organization Name.

To check, do an advanced search by Employee of.

To import relationships using ID numbers

Sometimes you need to import contacts that might have similar names in the database. In this case, you'll want to use internal and external IDs.

1. Export out all of your contacts with their internal IDs.
2. Make a column called External ID and populate each contact with a unique # (using Excel's auto-fill is a good option).
3. Do an Update Import to add these External IDs to your contacts.

Now you can import relationships to your heart's content. Here's an example with Households.

1. Setup your Excel file as follows:

• Column A: Internal Contact ID Household
• Column B: External ID of the Individual.

2. Start as a Household type of import

3. Select Update Import

4. Map Column A to Internal Contact ID.

5. Map Column B to Household Member is and select External Identifier from the new dropdown that appears.

See our Sample CiviCRM Import Structure file for more assistance.