Import brokers, shippers and consignees from a spreadsheet into your company account in Trucking365 TMS. Use one row per customer to create a directory or update existing customer details without entering each record separately.
What the Import Does
A valid row with a company name matching a non-deleted customer in your company updates that customer. A blank or omitted company value, or a name with no match, creates a new customer. Matching uses the company name, not the contact name or email. If several existing records share a company name, the first matching record is updated. Check names carefully before uploading.
Imports affect only your current company account. Each row is checked using the same validation as the ordinary Customers form. Invalid rows are skipped without modifying their records; valid rows are created or updated. An import does not create Loads, Trips or payments.
To import, your role needs permission to view and save customers. To review history, it needs view permission. If the import button is missing, ask your company administrator to check these permissions.
Prepare and Import Your CSV File
Get the sample from the Customers page
- Sign in to Trucking365 TMS and click Customers in the left sidebar to open the Customers page.
- Next to add new at the table heading, click import from csv. The Customers Import popup opens.
- In the popup, click Download the sample CSV file. You can also download the customers sample here.
- Open the sample in your spreadsheet editor. Keep the first row of column headings and replace the demonstration rows with your own customers. Use one record per row. Delete sample rows you do not intend to import.
Save a valid CSV
- Save as CSV UTF-8 with comma-separated columns, with the .csv extension. An Excel workbook (.xlsx), PDF or renamed workbook is not a CSV. Use up to 5 MB and 1,000 nonblank data rows per file; split larger files into smaller batches. Your server may impose a lower upload limit.
- Use the exact column headings shown below. Required headings are
city, region_id, country_id and type. Optional columns may be omitted; column order may change. Duplicate or unsupported headings cause the file to be rejected before import. - Keep each row's cell count equal to the header count. Preserve empty cells. A row with the wrong number of cells is counted as Failed.
- Keep ZIP codes, unit numbers, phone numbers and identification numbers as text so spreadsheet software does not remove leading zeros. Put values containing commas or line breaks inside double quotes; the CSV export option usually handles this for you.
- On update, omitted optional columns keep their current values. Blank optional cells clear nullable fields. Follow the special password, status and pass-number rules below when applicable. Remove a column from the file if you want to preserve its existing values. Required fields must still be supplied for updates.
Customer-specific rules
- Required fields: city, region_id, country_id and type must be present and valid on every row, including updates.
- Customer types: enter 1 for Broker, 2 for Shipper, 3 for Consignee. Use a pipe for multiple types, such as
1|2|3; do not use a comma inside this value. - Address: country_id accepts a country name such as United States or Canada, or a country ID. region_id accepts a state/province code such as TX or ON, or its ID. The region must belong to the country.
- Rating: use an available rating ID shown at the bottom of the Customers Import popup, or leave the cell blank for no rating. Copy the ID rather than the rating name.
- Email: use a valid email address or leave it blank. A misspelled or invalid email can make the row fail validation.
- Updates: changing the company name to an unmatched name creates another customer. Include the existing company name when you intend to update it. Do not add customer IDs, company_id or QuickBooks mapping columns to the CSV.
CSV Column Reference
Use these headings as written. Numeric codes identify choices; display words such as Active cannot replace the required code. The import popup shows company-specific reference IDs where needed.
| Column | Value |
|---|---|
first_name | Contact first name. |
last_name | Contact last name. |
company | Company name. If the company name already exists, the customer will be updated. |
email | Valid email address. Leave blank if unknown. |
phones | Phone numbers, as text. |
fax | Fax number, as text. |
address | Street address. |
city | Required city name, for example Austin. |
region_id | Required state / province code, for example TX, or its ID. It must belong to the selected country. |
country_id | Required country name, for example United States or Canada, or its ID. |
zip | ZIP / postal code, as text. Preserve leading zeros. |
type | Required: 1 = Broker, 2 = Shipper, 3 = Consignee. Separate multiple types with |, for example 1|2|3. |
description | Notes about the customer. |
rating_id | Optional rating ID from the list in the import popup. Leave blank for no rating. |
Upload and start the import
- Return to Customers in the sidebar and click import from csv if the popup is closed.
- In Customers Import, click Choose CSV file and select your prepared .csv file. Check the displayed file name.
- Click Import at the bottom of the popup. A spinner appears and controls remain disabled while the request runs. Wait for the result rather than submitting the file again.
- On success, the popup closes, a green Record has been saved message appears and the Customers Imports page opens. Review the counters even when the import succeeds.
If a file-size, extension, heading or upload error appears in the popup, correct the file and select it again. An empty file or a file with no data rows is rejected. A rejected file does not add a successful history entry. If the request reports a connection problem, check import history before retrying because the server may already have processed it.
Check Import Results
- If you are not already on history, click Customers in the left sidebar, then click Imports in the top bar. This opens Customers Imports.
- Find the newest entry at the top and check its File name and Date against the file you just uploaded.
- Review Created, Updated and Failed. Then return to Customers in the top bar to inspect the imported records. Click a record's name or unit to open its usual edit popup and verify the details.
- #: the import history entry number.
- File: the uploaded file name; the original upload is not retained as a downloadable file.
- Lines: the number of processed nonblank rows, equal to Created + Updated + Failed.
- Created: new records added to your company.
- Updated: existing records matched and updated.
- Failed: rows skipped because validation or a business rule failed; those rows did not change their records.
- Status: Active, In Process, Failed or Completed. Completed means processing finished, not that every row succeeded. Check Failed even when status is Completed.
- Date: the import date without a time. All your company's import history is shown without pagination, newest first.
For example, Lines 10, Created 6, Updated 2 and Failed 2 means eight rows were applied and two were skipped. The history shows totals rather than a downloadable row-by-row error report.
Correct failed rows safely
Review your source file against the required fields, column reference and rules above. Check country/state pairs, numeric codes, dates and identifiers. Make a smaller CSV containing the corrected rows and import it from Customers → import from csv → Choose CSV file → Import. Then return to Customers → Imports to check the new result.
Keep the company name for rows that should update an existing customer. Re-uploading rows with blank company names creates additional customers. Importing the whole file again may update already successful records or create duplicates where no matching key is supplied. Keep your own copy of the source CSV.