---
schema_version: "1"
id: fd2c7cb8c38e551aa3b1e7fd1026c71b45de2e1ac92cb97977ec608ce8b6b65a
title: Considerations for Prospect Imports
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/pardot_prospects_import_considerations.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_prospects_import_considerations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 7c67b641719b386f82d6123b976598d0c52178d2f290b6c74aa9e6d04eb8770a
description: Keep these considerations in mind when importing prospects to Account Engagement.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
release: "264"
---
# Considerations for Prospect Imports

Keep these considerations in mind when importing prospects to Account Engagement.

## File Setup

- The size of the import file can be up to 100 MB.
- The first row in the import file is reserved for headings and is ignored during the import.
- Import dates in YYYY-MM-DD format.

## How Imports Work

- Imports begin at the top of the file and work down.
- If your import file has a new email address or CRM ID, Account Engagement creates a prospect.’
- Import files are available for at least 60 days.

## Formatting Your Data

- Be sure that your import file doesn’t include spaces before or after your values. Spaces cause a value not to update correctly in the prospect’s record.
- Only valid email addresses are accepted. Email addresses containing HTML or invalid characters are skipped during imports.
- On Japanese keyboards, the backslash character (\\) displays as the Yen symbol (¥). Because import treats single backslashes as escape characters, use a double backslash (\\\\) to represent a literal backslash.
- We recommend that you don’t import values in all caps. When you use merge fields to customize marketing assets, prospect data appears exactly as it’s entered in our database.
- In your import file, separate multi-select field values with semicolons.
- If your import includes a CRM user type prospect field, you must include the CRM ID for the Salesforce user.

## Field Behavior

- If your custom prospect field can record and display multiple responses, the data in the import file adds to the current value for that field. It doesn’t overwrite the value.
- During an import, some fields aren’t overwritten completely. An imported prospect score is added to the existing score, and notes and comments are appended to the end of a prospect’s original value.

## Duplicates

- In business units that don’t allow multiple prospects with the same email address, Account Engagement handles duplicate email addresses in a special way. When the import file has more than one prospect with the same email address, the field values in the last entry imported are used.

## Managing Prospects

- To suppress prospects during import, include a Do Not Email column with values of 1 for prospects you want to suppress and 0 for all other prospects. Map the column to the Do Not Email field.
- To assign prospects during import, include a column with the Account Engagement user’s username, and map it to the Assign to User field.
- You can reassign assigned prospects during an import. However, if assigned prospects have a different owner in the CRM, they’re reassigned in Account Engagement during the next sync to maintain consistency. The CRM has priority in terms of the prospect owner.
- You can’t assign prospects to a queue during import.
- In business units that use Marketing Data Sharing, imported prospects that don’t match the sharing rules are archived automatically.