Import clients, leads, and price book from CSV

Nobody re-types 300 clients. The importer takes CSV exports from your old CRM, spreadsheet, or accounting tool and turns them into real WorkZen records, with a validation pass first, so bad data never gets halfway in.

You can import three things, each with its own tab under Settings > Data Import:

Import	Each row becomes	Duplicates skipped by
Clients	A client, exactly as if typed into the client form (address columns create their primary property)	Email
Leads	A lead ready to claim and convert, with source recorded as "import"	Email
Price Book Items	A product, service, or warranty you can drop into estimates and invoices	SKU

Prepare your file

Pick the tab for what you're importing and click Download example CSV.
The page lists every column: its name, type, whether it's Required, Optional, or Leave blank, and an example value. Your file's header row must use these exact column names.
Export from your old system and rearrange columns to match.

The essentials per entity: clients need first and last name plus an email or phone; leads need a first name plus an email or phone; price book items take plain-number prices in your company currency ("2499.00"), and their categories are created automatically if they don't exist yet.

Tip

For price book taxes, the page shows Your Tax Codes with the exact code to type in the tax_code column. You only ever type the code; the rate always comes from your tax settings, so a rate change later never depends on an old import file.

Check, then import

Upload the file and click Check file first. Every row is parsed and validated with nothing written, and problems come back per row ("Row 41: phone is not a valid phone number"). Fix the file and check again until it's clean.

Then click Import. The summary reports rows read, created, and skipped as duplicates.

Big migrations

Files are capped at 500 rows, so split larger exports and upload the parts one after another. Because duplicates are skipped by email or SKU, overlapping files and re-uploads are harmless; the importer only ever creates what isn't there yet.

Step by step

Download the example CSV

In Settings > Data Import, choose Clients, Leads, or Price Book Items and click Download example CSV to get a file with the exact column names.

Fill it with your data

Export from your old system and arrange the columns to match. The page lists every column with its type, whether it's required, and an example.

Check the file

Upload and click Check file. Every row is validated and nothing is written; you get a per-row list of anything that needs fixing.

Import

Click Import. The summary tells you how many rows were read, created, and skipped as duplicates.

Frequently Asked Questions

500 rows per file. Bigger migration? Split the export and upload the files one after another; duplicate skipping makes repeated uploads safe.

Nothing bad. Rows whose email already belongs to a client or lead (or whose SKU already exists, for price book items) are skipped, so re-uploading a corrected file only creates what's missing.

First and last name, plus either an email or a phone number. If you fill the address columns, WorkZen also creates the client's primary property, which doubles as their billing address.

The import page shows your company's tax codes. Type only the code into the tax_code column; the rate always comes from your tax settings, never from the file. No tax codes set up yet? Leave the column empty, or add your tax rates on the company profile first.

Importing is creating records, so it follows the same permissions, Manage Clients for clients, Manage Leads for leads, Manage Price Book for items.