Hi All
Still trying to nut out the best way to import and then preferably keep my contacts synched with SmartSuite.
I have Apple products. I have a nifty little utility (App) that sits on my iPhone and automatically synchs between Apple Contacts and Google Contacts. Works extremely well.
I can export a CSV of my contacts from Google and using the new SmartSuite Importer (which is great by the way) I can basically map all the fields from the import to the SmartSuite CRM.
This is where I become stuck. The issue is that Apple and Google Contacts seem to "treat" phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and websites as "types", and, these "types" have associated labels that will also need to be imported, otherwise I cannot see it working too well.
For example:
Mr Joe Bloggs has only a Mobile Number in my Apple/Google Contacts. So according to those programs, his mobile number is "Phone 1 - Type" = "Mobile" and "Phone 1 - Value" = (the actual mobile number). While all that is fine, the next contact, Mr John Bloggs has a work number so the program/s (Apple/Google) have defined that data as "Phone 1 - Type" = "Work" and "Phone 1 - Value" = (the actual work number). But, he ALSO has a mobile phone too. So, just to complicate things, the program/s (Apple/Google) have nominated "Phone 2 - Type" = "Mobile" and "Phone 2 - Value" = (the actual mobile number). So these two clients have different mapping for their phone number numbers.
The same issue applies to addresses (eg: Work, Home, Postal etc), Email Addresses (eg: Work, Home/Private etc) and also even applies to Web Addresses.
So when I use the advanced importer, it (rightly?) wants me to "nominate" a single name/label for Phone 1 - Type etc. That can't work because sometimes Phone 1 - Type is classed as a Mobile, sometimes as a Work Number, sometimes as a Private/Home Number etc. The same applies to other fields (like address/es) too.
I don't have the time to export contacts and then go through nearly 1000 of them to make it uniform only to then potentially have sync issues when I get around to setting up either Zapier or Make to keep it all updated.
I can only think of one way to deal with this issue, and that is to bring in ALL of the necessary CRM fields to SmartSuite. Eg: Bring in "Phone 1 - Type" literally in the raw form as its own field and do the same for all the fields I want to keep in SmartSuite. Do the same for "Phone 2 - Type" and "Phone 3 - Type" etc, etc.
Does anyone have any better ideas or a smarter way of doing this? It is a bit frustrating that Apple and/or Google don't seem to have correctly mapped fields. Eg: That "Phone 1 - Type" is ALWAYS a Mobile Number and "Phone 2 - Type" is ALWAYS a Work Number.
Anyway, I am still experimenting at the moment but I am looking for some help/advice/input if anyone has something to add.
I will report back if/when I sort out the best way forward.
PS: Below is a dump of ALL the fields from a Google Contacts spreadsheet (CSV format). As you can see (scrolling down) the list is considerable.
I probably wouldn't use about 30% of these, but the conundrum comes about when dealing with the "multiple" addresses, emails etc.
Google Contacts field list (sorry, it's very long):
Name
Given Name
Additional Name
Family Name
Yomi Name
Given Name Yomi
Additional Name Yomi
Family Name Yomi
Name Prefix
Name Suffix
Initials
Nickname
Short Name
Maiden Name
Birthday
Gender
Location
Billing Information
Directory Server
Mileage
Occupation
Hobby
Sensitivity
Priority
Subject
Notes
Language
Photo
Group Membership
E-mail 1 - Type
E-mail 1 - Value
E-mail 2 - Type
E-mail 2 - Value
IM 1 - Type
IM 1 - Service
IM 1 - Value
Phone 1 - Type
Phone 1 - Value
Phone 2 - Type
Phone 2 - Value
Phone 3 - Type
Phone 3 - Value
Address 1 - Type
Address 1 - Formatted
Address 1 - Street
Address 1 - City
Address 1 - PO Box
Address 1 - Region
Address 1 - Postal Code
Address 1 - Country
Address 1 - Extended Address
Address 2 - Type
Address 2 - Formatted
Address 2 - Street
Address 2 - City
Address 2 - PO Box
Address 2 - Region
Address 2 - Postal Code
Address 2 - Country
Address 2 - Extended Address
Address 3 - Type
Address 3 - Formatted
Address 3 - Street
Address 3 - City
Address 3 - PO Box
Address 3 - Region
Address 3 - Postal Code
Address 3 - Country
Address 3 - Extended Address
Organization 1 - Type
Organization 1 - Name
Organization 1 - Yomi Name
Organization 1 - Title
Organization 1 - Department
Organization 1 - Symbol
Organization 1 - Location
Organization 1 - Job Description
Relation 1 - Type
Relation 1 - Value
Website 1 - Type
Website 1 - Value
Website 2 - Type
Website 2 - Value
Event 1 - Type
Event 1 - Value
Custom Field 1 - Type
Custom Field 1 - Value
Custom Field 2 - Type
Custom Field 2 - Value