Pipedrive CSV Import: Column Names, Field Types, and Common Errors

Pipedrive’s import wizard is more forgiving than Salesforce’s, but it has its own rules. Break them and you get the same result: missing data, silent failures, and hours of cleanup after the fact.

Getting a CSV into Pipedrive cleanly means knowing which objects you can import, how columns need to be named, how each field type behaves, and what to do when things go wrong.

What you can import via CSV in Pipedrive

Pipedrive supports CSV imports for:

Persons (Contacts)
Organizations
Deals
Activities
Products
Leads (from the Leads Inbox)

Each object type has its own required fields and column name conventions. You can’t mix object types in a single import file, one CSV, one object type.

Column naming

Pipedrive’s import mapper lets you match your column headers to Pipedrive fields, so your headers don’t need to match exactly. But the closer they are to Pipedrive’s own labels, the fewer manual matches you’ll need — and the less risk that a column gets accidentally skipped.

The column labels Pipedrive uses in its own exports are the safest to copy.

Persons

Column name	Notes
`Name`	Required
`First name`	Used if Name is split
`Last name`	Used if Name is split
`Email`	Can have multiple: `Email - Work`, `Email - Home`
`Phone`	Can have multiple: `Phone - Work`, `Phone - Mobile`
`Organization`	Links to an existing org by name
`Job title`
`Owner`	Email address of the Pipedrive user

Organizations

Column name	Notes
`Name`	Required
`Address`	Full address as a single string
`Owner`	Email address of the Pipedrive user

Deals

Column name	Notes
`Title`	Required
`Value`	Numeric
`Currency`	3-letter code: `USD`, `EUR`, `GBP`
`Status`	`Open`, `Won`, `Lost`
`Stage`	Must match the stage name in your pipeline exactly
`Pipeline`	Must match your pipeline name exactly
`Person`	Name of the associated person
`Organization`	Name of the associated organization
`Expected close date`	`YYYY-MM-DD`
`Owner`	Email address of the Pipedrive user

Activities

Column name	Notes
`Subject`	Required
`Type`	Must match an existing activity type
`Due date`	`YYYY-MM-DD`
`Due time`	`HH:MM`
`Duration`	`HH:MM`
`Person`	Name of the associated person
`Organization`	Name of the associated organization
`Deal`	Title of the associated deal
`Owner`	Email address of the Pipedrive user
`Note`	Free text
`Done`	`1` for done, `0` for not done

Custom fields

Pipedrive supports custom fields on every object type. During import, you map a column to a custom field through the import wizard dropdown, the same way you map standard fields. The column name in your CSV doesn’t need to match the custom field name.

What matters is knowing what custom fields exist in your account and what type each one is, because the accepted values differ by field type.

Field types and what they accept

Most Pipedrive imports break silently here, not at the column naming stage.

Text / Large text: Free input. Any string value is accepted.

Number: Numeric values only. Commas as thousands separators cause failures on some locales. Use 1000, not 1,000.

Monetary: Numeric value only. Handle the currency separately using the Currency column.

Date: Must be YYYY-MM-DD. 01/15/2024, Jan 15 2024, and 15-01-2024 will all import as blank.

Date range: Two date values, both YYYY-MM-DD. Check your Pipedrive version for whether this expects two separate columns or a combined format.

Time / Time range: HH:MM format.

Single option (dropdown): Accepts one value from a predefined list. The value must match the option label exactly (case-sensitive). Unrecognised values are silently dropped.

Multiple options (checkboxes): Accepts one or more values separated by a comma. Each value must match an option label exactly. Example: Enterprise, Inbound, Marketing. If one value in the list is unrecognised, that value is dropped but the others may still import correctly.

User: Must be the email address of an active Pipedrive user in your account. Display names are not accepted.

Person / Organization / Deal: Relationship fields. Pipedrive matches by name against existing records. If the name matches, the records are linked. If it doesn’t, Pipedrive may create a new record or leave the field blank depending on your import settings.

Phone / Email: Use labelled column names (Email - Work, Phone - Mobile) to import multiple values with the correct label assigned. A generic Email column imports the value without a label.

Picklist values: single option and multiple option fields

Like HubSpot and Salesforce, Pipedrive’s option fields only accept values from the predefined option list. The match is exact and case-sensitive.

Before importing, go to Pipedrive Settings → Data Fields → [Object] → [Field Name] and copy the exact option labels. Never assume the values, especially on custom fields that have been added or renamed over time.

Common patterns that cause silent failures:

enterprise instead of Enterprise
inbound instead of Inbound
A deal stage name that existed in an old pipeline but has since been renamed
A stage that exists in Pipeline A but not in Pipeline B (Pipedrive stages are pipeline-specific)

For the standard deal status field, Pipedrive uses Open, Won, and Lost. That said, you can’t import a deal as Won the same way you set other fields. Won/Lost status is managed through deal outcomes in Pipedrive’s UI; importing a deal with Status = Won will work for the status column, but pipeline stage and close date still need to be set correctly.

Date format

Pipedrive expects YYYY-MM-DD for all date fields. This applies to:

Expected close date (Deals)
Due date (Activities)
Any custom date field

If your export is in MM/DD/YYYY (common US format) or DD/MM/YYYY (common European format), convert before importing. A wrong date format typically causes the field to import as blank rather than throwing an error.

In Google Sheets: =TEXT(A1,"YYYY-MM-DD")

In Excel: use =TEXT(A1,"YYYY-MM-DD") or apply a custom format to the column.

Common Pipedrive import errors and what they mean

“Some records could not be imported” Pipedrive’s generic error for rows it couldn’t process. Download the error file from the import results screen; it lists the specific rows and the failure reason for each. This is your primary debugging tool.

Fields importing as blank on option columns The value in your CSV doesn’t match any option label for that field. Check for case differences, trailing spaces, or values that have been removed from the option list since the last import.

“Owner not found” The value in the Owner column doesn’t match the email address of any active user in your Pipedrive account. Pipedrive identifies users by email, not by display name.

Deals going to the wrong pipeline Stage names are not globally unique in Pipedrive. The same stage name can exist in multiple pipelines, and if you only include Stage (not Pipeline) in your file, Pipedrive defaults to the first matching stage it finds. Always include both columns on deal imports.

Duplicate records created Pipedrive checks for duplicates on Person imports based on email address. If your file has multiple rows with the same email, Pipedrive creates multiple records unless you enable the deduplication option in the import settings. For Organizations, deduplication is based on name.

Phone and email importing without labels Using a generic Phone or Email column imports the value without a label. Use Phone - Work, Phone - Mobile, Email - Work, or Email - Home as column names to import the label alongside the value.

Before you import: the checklist

One object type per file (Persons, Deals, Organizations, Activities, or Products)
Required fields present and non-empty (Name for Persons/Organizations, Title for Deals, Subject for Activities)
Owner column contains email addresses, not display names
All dates in YYYY-MM-DD format
Single option and multiple option field values match the exact labels in Pipedrive Settings → Data Fields
Both Pipeline and Stage columns included on Deal imports
Custom field columns mapped correctly in the import wizard
File saved as UTF-8 (Excel’s default CSV encoding can cause character issues on non-ASCII names)

Picklist normalisation is usually the step that takes the most time, especially when importing from a source that uses free text for fields your Pipedrive account has as option fields. If you’re doing this regularly, Asphorem’s CSV Importer maps the normalisation once and reuses it on every subsequent import from the same source, including AI-assisted matching for values that don’t have an exact string match.

Pipedrive CSV import: frequently asked questions

What date format does Pipedrive accept for CSV imports?

Pipedrive expects YYYY-MM-DD for all date fields, including expected close date, due date, and any custom date column. Other formats (MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, Jan 15 2024) typically import as blank without throwing an error. See how to standardise date formats in a CSV for the conversion steps.

Why are my Pipedrive deal stages importing as blank?

The stage name in your CSV doesn’t match an existing stage label exactly (case-sensitive), or the stage exists in a different pipeline than the one Pipedrive defaulted to. Always include both Pipeline and Stage columns on deal imports, and copy the exact label from Settings → Pipelines.

How do I import multiple email addresses or phone numbers in Pipedrive?

Use labelled column names: Email - Work, Email - Home, Phone - Work, Phone - Mobile. Each labelled column imports as a separate value with the correct label assigned. A generic Email or Phone column imports the value with no label.

Can you bulk import deals to specific Pipedrive pipelines?

Yes, but you need both the Pipeline and Stage columns in the file. Stage names are not unique across pipelines: if you only include Stage, Pipedrive picks the first matching stage it finds, which may be in the wrong pipeline.

How do I fix picklist values that are silently dropping in Pipedrive?

Pipedrive matches single-option and multi-option fields against the exact option label, case-sensitive. Pull the canonical labels from Settings → Data Fields and normalise your CSV values to match. See how to standardise picklist values before a CRM import for the full process.