Subforms in Zoho CRM hold sets of related entries attached to a single record, for example an insurance company might store each policy holder's dependents, their name, age, gender, and relationship to the contact, as a subform within the Contacts module. Importing subform entries in bulk is usually far more convenient than adding them one at a time inside the CRM.

What a subform import file needs

A subform import file needs two kinds of column:

• Subform fields. The columns holding the actual data to populate each subform entry. Any field marked mandatory within the subform must be included.
• Parent ID. The unique identifier that ties each subform entry back to its parent record. This can be any unique field you already use in the parent module, or, if the data was originally exported from Zoho CRM, the system-generated Zoho CRM ID.

How to import a subform

1. Open the module. Click the relevant module tab, such as Leads, Contacts, or Accounts.
2. Start the import. On the module's home page, open the Create dropdown and select Import Subforms.
3. Upload the file. Click Browse or drag and drop the file.
4. Choose how to handle matches. Select Add as New Subform to bring in every row as a new entry, Update Existing Subform Only to change only entries that already match, or Both to do a mix of the two. Whichever option you choose, you can skip records from the file that match existing entries to avoid duplicating data.
5. Click Next.
6. Map the fields. Match the columns in your file to the subform fields in Zoho CRM. Mapping the Parent ID field correctly is essential, since it's what associates each entry with the right parent record.
7. Click Next. The import begins.