A Customer is the top-level entity representing the name of your client and/or their business. 

You can import a list of existing customers, or manually create new customers.

You can import your customers into Syncro from a CSV file, or from an accounting software such as QuickBooks or Xero. We strongly recommend importing your customers this way if they already exist. This import automatically links your customers with their QuickBooks/Xero counterparts, ensuring they sync without additional steps. 

Tip: For best results when running a customer import from QuickBooks or Xero, ensure customers in the accounting platform have unique business names, emails and phone numbers. Attempting a customer import when multiple customers in your accounting platform have the same email and/or phone number can and will result in incorrect mapping.

You can also export customers from Syncro into a CSV file for other purposes, including a mass update of customer data.

Import Customers from QuickBooks or Xero

Both QuickBooks and Xero integrations setup wizards will prompt you to import your customers during the setup process. 

Import Customers from a CSV File

Prerequisites

Check these prerequisites to ensure a smooth import experience.

Disable Required Fields for Customers

A new Syncro account begins with none of the Customer fields required. 

To verify this or change the settings back for ease of importing, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin tab. 
2. In the Customers section on the left-hand side, click “Customer Settings." The Customer Settings page displays:
3. Make sure the dropdown menu under the “Optionally…” text says “None selected.” If it does not, click the arrow and uncheck any checked boxes. 
4. Click Save.

Prepare Custom Customer Fields

If you use any customer-related fields that aren’t in Syncro by default, it can be helpful to prepare your CSV file with these custom fields prior to importing all your customers. 

You’ll see the Syncro default Customer fields when you Download the Syncro CSV Template. The last column in the spreadsheet is custom_fields.

To prepare a thorough and accurate import when using custom fields:

1. Manually create a single Customer with all your organization’s custom fields so it is exactly what you want for all customers. See Create a New Customer and Create Custom Fields for instructions.
2. Export the customer list (containing the sample customer you created) from Syncro. See Exporting Customers from Syncro for instructions.
3. From the exported spreadsheet, copy the contents of the custom_fields column into the spreadsheet you use to Populate the CSV Template with Customer Data.  
   The custom_fields column contains a semicolon-separated list of field:value pairs, e.g. CustomFieldName1:Value1;CustomFieldName2:Value2

Download the Syncro CSV Template

To import your existing customers from a CSV file, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin tab. 
2. In the Customers section on the left-hand side, select Customer Import.
3. Click Complete CSV to download the official Syncro CSV template:
   

Populate the CSV Template with Customer Data

1. Locate and open the example-complete-customer-import.csv file in Excel or other spreadsheet program.
2. Fill in the spreadsheet with your customer information and save it. Be sure you have values populated in at least 2 out of the 5 following columns for all rows in the CSV for a successful import:  
   
   • firstname
   • lastname
   • business_name
   • email
   • phone

Note: If you haven’t already, you may want to review the Prerequisites.

Import the CSV File into Syncro

Return to the page described in Download the Syncro CSV Template and click Choose File. Select your completed CSV file, then click Import:

Viewing the Import Results

After clicking Import, the Import Results page displays (/reports/import_results). You can safely refresh this page to view the import results without causing duplicate customers in your Syncro account.

Example of a successful import: 

Example of an import with errors:

Set Required Customer Fields

After a successful import, return to the page described in Disable Required Fields for Customers and select the fields you’d like to make required.

These will appear as required fields for new Customers going forward.

Troubleshooting Import Issues

The table below describes common import issues and errors, and how to correct them.

Exporting Customers from Syncro

Note: This process will automatically download a CSV of all your customer data to your machine’s preferred location. The filename will contain today’s date (e.g., customers_dump_03_21_2024.csv).

Tips: 

• You can import the exported CSV back into the same Syncro site later. This could be helpful for making mass updates. A re-import will not duplicate Customer data unless you change the email addresses or main phone numbers. 
• You can also import your Customers into a different RepairShopr or Syncro site.

To export your existing customers from Syncro to a CSV file, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Reports. 
2. In the Customers section, select Customer Export: