How to use CSV format related contacts and company import?

UPDATE: A new method,
via an import tool is available on this explanation:
How to import easily
data in Simple CRM?

You can now import a file of contacts and related companies into Simple CRM.

Warning: if you are working on Mac, you must, from the preparation of the file to import, work with the Libre Office spreadsheet for Mac. Thank you for reading this article.

Import procedure
1) Go to the Admin module (top menu -> Admin) and click on the Data import tab.

2) Download the template file indicated on the page.

3) Fill the file with your data, 1000 lines maximum per file, with Excel or OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

Columns A to O refer to contacts.
Columns X to AK refer to companies.

Column O contains a comma-separated list of interests to be assigned to the contact. Example: Prospect, Southwest Region, Floor Coverings, Painting
If the focus does not exist, it is created automatically.
Note: A center of interest named "Import YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" (with date and time of import) is automatically created and linked to all imported contacts. This way, you can easily find the imported contacts later.

The Q column contains the contact's external reference and can be used to identify an existing contact. The contents of each cell in column Q must be unique, except to identify the same contact twice.

The AL column contains the company code's external reference and can be used to identify an existing company code. Each cell in column AL must be unique, except to identify the same company twice.

For the distribution of the data to import:

if the company name is empty, the contact details are considered personal and are therefore assigned to the contact person

if the company name is not empty, the contact details are considered professional and are therefore assigned to the relationship between the contact and the company.

The contact name is mandatory on each line. If you do not know the contact name, enter the company name in cell A ("CONT_NAME").

if the contact name is empty, it is automatically replaced by the contact's email address

if the contact name and email address are empty, the contact will not be created
 
If you enter telephone numbers, enter them as: +33 1 23 45 67 89
This will then allow you to send SMS campaigns or make phone calls directly from Simple CRM. 

If you enter postal codes, format them on the maximum number of characters (5 for France). For example: 86000 For Poitiers, 06000 for Nice.

The CONT_NOTE (column N) and SOC_NOTE (column AK) fields contain the contact and company notes respectively. To make a line break within each Note field, insert the character"|" (Ctrl-Alt-6). This character will be replaced by a line break when importing.

The "CONT_RESERVE" and "SOC_RESERVE" columns are for future use only and are not currently imported. 

No field must contain a line break (keyboard enter key) or the quote character (").

Save your file in CSV format, semicolon separator";", no field delimiter, character set "Western Europe with Euro (ISO-8859-15)".

The import takes place in 2 steps:

A) Preview

Load your file into Simple CRM:
Go to the Admin module (top menu -> Admin), then click on the "Import data" tab, then click on the "Import a file of companies and related contacts, in CSV format" button.
At the bottom of the page, click on the "Choose File" or "Browse" button (depending on your browser), then select your data file to import.
click on "Start file analysis".

Simple CRM displays a preview of your file taking into account existing contacts and companies.

In order not to create duplicates, Simple CRM analyzes your file and compares the data to those already in your database and tries to recognize:
contacts by their external reference, or if absent by their email address
companies by their external reference, yes if absent, by VAT number, or if absent, their SIRET number, and if absent, the combination of company name, postal code and city.

B) Actual imports

Once you have verified that everything is as you expect, and you confirm the import by clicking the "Start Import" button. The file data is then imported into your Simple CRM database.