{"schema":"exacc.help.page/1","url":"https://exacc.au/help/import-contacts/","title":"Import contacts from your practice software","description":"Import client records into Exacc from an XML client export. Existing contacts are updated and new ones added. Import is not working at the moment.","category":"Contacts","summary":"Open **Business › Contacts** and click **Import Contacts**. Choose the XML client export file and click **Import**; Exacc updates contacts it already has and adds the rest, then shows **New Records** and **Updates**. Import is not working at the moment: add contacts one at a time until it is fixed.","lastVerified":"2026-10-04","apps":["app"],"processIds":["import_contacts"],"start":{"label":"Open Import Contacts","url":"https://app.exacc.au/{dbId}/contacts/import-from-file"},"menuPath":["Business","Contacts","Import Contacts"],"steps":[{"step":1,"title":"Open Import contacts from file","body":["Open **Business › Contacts** and click **Import Contacts**."],"url":"https://app.exacc.au/{dbId}/contacts/import-from-file"},{"step":2,"title":"Choose the file and import","body":["Click **Select file** (or drag the file in) and click **Import**. **Clear** removes the file.","The file must be an XML client export with one <Entity> record per client, as tax practice software exports them. CSV and Excel files are offered by the file picker but cannot be imported."]},{"step":3,"title":"Check the results","body":["**Import Results** shows how many **New Records** were added and how many **Updates** were made, with an **Import Report** of anything skipped. A contact that already exists (matched by its ID from the file) is updated; a new contact whose code is already used is skipped.","Imported contacts are customers. Change the **Type** of any supplier afterwards."]}],"sections":[{"heading":"Import is not working at the moment","body":["The import currently stops with no message on screen. Until it is fixed, add contacts with **New Contact** (see **Add or edit a contact**), or ask us to load them for you."]}],"related":["https://exacc.au/help/add-contact/","https://exacc.au/help/manage-contacts/","https://exacc.au/help/merge-duplicate-contacts/"],"linkNote":"Links containing {dbId} open that screen in the business file whose id is dbId. A person can also open this help page with ?db=<dbId> to get the same links as buttons."}