Overview:
Lookup Fields are essential in establishing the relation between Records from two modules, and it is important to bring those records when you are migrating from different CRM to Zoho CRM while keeping the association of the Records intact.
There are two options to update the lookup field via import:
- Data Migration (Import from setup)
- Module Level Import.
Use case:
Let us consider the scenario of importing the Deals module and updating the Account lookup with a value in it.
Method 1 (Data Migration):
Data migration can be used when you have both the Accounts module data and Deals module data in a separate files. Since Accounts has to be associated with Deals, we will consider Accounts as the parent module here, and Deals as the Child module.
In Data migration, kindly note that MIGRATION ID plays an important role. For every Account Record that is being migrated, it should contain a unique identifier which will be the MIGRATION ID during the migration. Also, Data Migration only allows you to add the data in bulk or create Records.
Note:
You can either import the files separately or you can migrate both the files at once as the Data Migration tool would accept the all files in the respective order.
Sample file preparation for the import:
Accounts.csv File :
Contacts.csv File :
Where, Account ID - contains the MIGRATION ID of the Accounts file.
Now, we have prepared all the files necessary for the Data Migration, and we can proceed to Migrate them using the Migration Wizard of Zoho CRM under Data Administration
Steps to import using Data Migration:
1. Navigate to setup > Data administration > Import.
2. Click on the respective CRM (Zoho CRM) and then browse all the files.
3. After the data is progressed, the next step would be module mapping, where we need to locate each file in the respective file folder.
4. Then, comes the field mapping where we will map the respective field in CRM with the respective field in the File.
Accounts Field Mapping:
Deals Field Mapping
5. Once the mapping is done, click the start migration. If everything is set perfect, all the files will get migrated without any issues.
Video Example & Sample Files:
Method 1 - You can access the detailed screen recording demonstrating the complete migration process and results in this
link and the sample files
here.
Note:
Using the above method, you will be able to add only new records. Let us say, you already have the Account records in the system and only Deals to be imported. In that case, you can make use of the other method - Module level import.
Method 2 (Module Level Import):
File preparation:
1) Since we are trying to update the existing Deals with the Accounts association, we will only be preparing the Deals file. In the file, to update the Account lookup, create a column for the same and pass the SYSTEM GENERATED ID's of the existing Accounts.
Record ID as unique identifier
Important : Format of the ID starts with "zcrm_"
Steps to import using Module Level Import
1. Click on the Import option inside the Deals module and browse the files.
Choose the Type of Import that you want to perform as "Update existing Deals only" or "Both", since our intention is to update the existing Records with the Lookup Value to create the association and perform the Lookup Data migration.
2. Field mapping will be shown and map the respective field in CRM with the respective field in the File.
3. Choose the appropriate data type for the field mapping if you have Date Fields or Currency fields, etc., and initiate the import. Once all are set properly, the data will be imported.
Video Example & Sample Files:
Method 2 - You can access the detailed screen recording demonstrating the complete migration process and results in this
link and the sample files
here.
Note:
You can import / update the lookup either via id / name / any other unique field setup in the respective module.
In the above recording, we have mapped accounts with id. We can also use email field in case if the field was marked as unique field.
Common Errors that might account for this migration:
- Parent Record / ID not found :
This occurs when the record for the parent module is not migrated. For example, in this case, we have Deals module records to be associated with the Accounts. Hence, if the account data was either not migrated or the Ids that we used in the Accounts file were not the same as the ones we had stored in the Accounts column of Quotes file, this error would occur.

- Mandatory Fields are not found :
This type of error occurs when the defined mandatory field's are left empty in the file.

Custom Solution Created by Sakthi Priya | Zoho Partner Support.