---
schema_version: "1"
id: cdf58627457ad7973dc78ec2b1916caffa0b7ddfbbe3be38517b5add4ea5379f
title: Prepare Your Data for Import
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/xcloud/264-0-0/import_prepare.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.import_prepare.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 1c3628a3655200b2f69588c97853eb1fe32085a03111c85669fd751ec82bb478
description: After exporting your data from Salesforce or your existing application, prepare your data before importing it.
products:
- Salesforce Platform
- Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Prepare Your Data for Import
After exporting your data from Salesforce or your existing application, prepare your data before importing it.
### Required Editions
Available in: Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience
Available in: Essentials, Group, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Note If your data has information in fields that do not match any standard fields, your admin can create custom fields for that data before import.
## Preparing Contacts
Use Excel® to label the columns in your import file as specified in [Field Mapping for Other Data Sources and Organization Import](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.field_mapping_for_other_data_sources_and_organization_import.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If you are importing accounts and contacts for an organization, or importing individual data from sources other than Outlook or ACT!, the Import Wizards map the fields as correctly as possible.").
## Preparing Person Accounts
When importing person accounts, use the field labels in Salesforce as the column labels in your import file.
## Preparing Org Business Accounts and Contacts
When importing business accounts and contacts for your org, you must use Excel® to label the columns in your import file as specified in [Field Mapping for Other Data Sources and Organization Import](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.field_mapping_for_other_data_sources_and_organization_import.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If you are importing accounts and contacts for an organization, or importing individual data from sources other than Outlook or ACT!, the Import Wizards map the fields as correctly as possible.").
## Preparing Org Leads
When importing general leads or leads for campaigns, use the import file labels specified in [Field Mapping for Importing Leads](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.field_mapping_for_importing_leads.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "To improve the accuracy of your import, label the columns in your import file to match the Salesforce Lead fields. When you import the leads, the Data Import Wizard maps the fields in your import file").
## Preparing Custom Objects
When importing a custom object, use the field labels shown on the custom object detail page in Salesforce as the column labels in your import file.
## Preparing Campaign Members
When importing campaign members, use the field labels in Salesforce as the column labels in your import file.
## Preparing Solutions
When importing solutions, use the field labels in Salesforce as the column labels in your import file.
You can enter HTML into the solutions you plan to import into Salesforce. However, unless your org has enabled HTML solutions, HTML tags will display in the solutions after they are imported.
For security purposes, Salesforce automatically filters all HTML solutions for potentially malicious HTML. If potentially malicious HTML is detected in an HTML solution, the potentially malicious HTML is either removed or transformed into text for users who view the HTML solution. Users can’t notice when potentially malicious HTML is removed from an HTML solution.
You can import solutions written in HTML format into Salesforce. However, for security purposes, only the HTML tags listed below are allowed. The content of any HTML tags not listed below is removed when saved in HTML solutions. Furthermore, the content of all `