---
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title: Prepare Data to Ingest
collection: developer
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/developer/current/en-us/platform/api-asynch/guides/api-bulk-v2/datafiles/datafiles-prepare-data.md
canonical_url: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/datafiles-prepare-data.html
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content_type: documentation
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  - Bulk API 2.0 and Bulk API Developer Guide
  - Platform Developer Content
---

# Prepare Data to Ingest

Format and organize your CSV files for upload.

- **[Prepare CSV Files](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/datafiles-prepare-csv.md)**


    The first row in a CSV file lists the field names for the object that you're processing. Each subsequent row corresponds to a record in Salesforce.

- **[Sample CSV Files](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/datafiles-csv-samples.md)**


    These examples demonstrate different ways to use CSV data with Bulk API 2.0.

- **[Valid Date Format in Records (2.0)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/valid-date-format-in-records-2-0.md)**


    Specify the right format for `dateTime` and `date` fields.

- **[Relationship Fields in a Header Row (2.0)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/relationship-fields-in-a-header-row-2-0.md)**


    Many objects in Salesforce are related to other objects. For example, Account is a parent of Contact. You can add a reference to a related object in a CSV file by representing the relationship in a column header. When you're processing records in the Bulk API, you use `RelationshipName.IndexedFieldName` syntax in a CSV column header to describe the relationship between an object and its parent, where RelationshipName is the relationship name of the field and IndexedFieldName is the indexed field name that uniquely identifies the parent record. Use the `describeSObjects()` call in the API to get the `relationshipName` property value for a field.