By Alpit Patel and the aibrevo team · October 12, 2026 · 9 min read
How Do You Import a CSV or Excel File into monday.com?
Quick answer
Click your profile picture, choose Import Data and pick Excel to build a new board from a CSV or Excel file, or use Import items on an existing board. Files must be 10 MB or less, with up to 8,000 rows for a new board or 10,000 for an existing one.
Part of the guide: monday CRM guide
Key takeaways
- New board: profile picture > Import Data > Excel. Existing board: the arrow next to New item > Import items. Both accept .xlsx, .xls and .csv; XLSM is not supported.
- Limits checked October 12, 2026: 10 MB per file, one file at a time per board, 100 files per account per hour. A new board takes up to 8,000 rows and imports the first 50 columns; an existing board takes up to 10,000 rows and 100 columns.
- Importing into an existing board lets you skip or update rows that match an existing item by a column you choose, such as Email. This is the step that stops duplicate contacts.
- monday.com has no JSON upload in the app. Convert JSON to CSV first, or use the API's ingest_items bulk import (API version 2026-07 and later), which takes up to 10,000 rows per job.
You import a CSV or Excel file into monday.com in one of two ways. To build a new board from the file, click your profile picture, choose Import Data, then Excel. To add rows to a board you already use, open the arrow next to New item and choose Import items. Both take .xlsx, .xls and .csv files up to 10 MB. A new board takes up to 8,000 rows, and an existing board takes up to 10,000.
Which path you pick matters more than it looks. Only the existing-board import can match rows to items already on the board, so it is the one that keeps a contact list free of duplicates. The steps and limits below come from monday.com’s own help articles, checked on October 12, 2026.
New board or existing board: which import should you use?
Use a new board when the data has no home yet, such as a first-time move from a spreadsheet. Use an existing board when the columns, statuses and automations are already set up, or when part of the list is already in monday.com.
| New board (Import Data) | Existing board (Import items) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where to start | Profile picture > Import Data > Excel | Arrow next to New item > Import items |
| Row limit | Up to 8,000 | Up to 10,000 |
| Columns | File can have 100; only the first 50 are imported | Up to 100 |
| Column types | Suggested by monday.com from your data | You map each file column to a board column |
| Duplicate handling | None | Add as new, Skip or Update, matched on a column you pick |
| Best for | First import of a spreadsheet | Adding leads, monthly list updates, CRM boards |
Source: monday.com Support, Import files from Excel and Import from Excel to monday CRM, checked October 12, 2026.
On monday CRM boards the button is labelled for the board, so you may see New contact or New lead instead of New item. The import option sits in the same dropdown.
How to import a CSV into a new monday.com board
- Click your profile picture in the top-right corner and choose Import Data.
- Choose Excel in the window that opens. CSV files go through the same option.
- Drag the file in, or click Click to browse. The sheet needs at least two columns.
- Click Let’s customize your new board, then pick the row that holds your column titles. Anything above that row is not imported.
- Pick the column that becomes the item name, the first column on the board. For a contact list this is usually the person’s full name.
- Check the column types monday.com suggests and change any that are wrong. A column with 9 or fewer distinct values is suggested as Status; more than 9 becomes Text.
- Click Create Board.
Dates need ISO format before you upload, with a four-digit year first: 2026-10-12, not 10/12/2026. Fix them in the spreadsheet first, because a date imported as text cannot drive a timeline, a reminder or a date automation.
How to import a CSV into an existing board
- Open the board and click the arrow next to New item (or New contact, New lead). Choose Import items.
- Drag in the Excel or CSV file, or click Browse.
- Use Add items to to choose the group the rows land in, or create a new group. A new group named after the import date makes the batch easy to review and undo.
- For every file column, choose a board column in Select column, or Create new column (added as Text), or Don’t import column. Columns you skip follow the Unmapped columns default.
- In Set duplicate behavior, choose how rows that match an existing item are handled (see the next section).
- Click Import Now. A progress bar appears at the bottom right, and a green banner confirms the import with a downloadable CSV summary.
These column types can be filled by an import: Name, Status, Link, Email, Long Text, Numbers, Text, Phone, Date, Dropdown, Timeline and People. Anything else on the board, such as a Connect boards column, stays empty and has to be filled after the import. That gap matters for CRM data, where deals link to contacts and accounts. The Airtable to monday.com guide covers rebuilding those links.
For a People column, write the person’s name exactly as it appears in monday.com. If a user and a team share a name, prefix the value with user: or team:.
How to stop duplicates when you import
The Set duplicate behavior step gives three choices, and the default is the one that causes trouble:
Matching only works as well as the column you match on. Clean emails first: trim spaces, lower-case them, and remove rows with no email. Otherwise “Jane@Acme.com “ and “jane@acme.com” count as two people. Our CRM data cleaning checklist lists the fixes worth doing before any import.
What are the monday.com import limits?
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| File types | .xlsx, .xls, .csv (XLSM not supported) |
| File size | 10 MB or less |
| Rows, new board | Up to 8,000 |
| Rows, existing board | Up to 10,000 |
| Columns | First 50 imported to a new board; up to 100 into an existing board |
| Files at once | One per board |
| Files per hour | 100 per account |
| Spreadsheet tabs | Only the first tab is imported |
| Status labels | More than 40 unique labels in one column makes the import fail |
Source: monday.com Support, checked October 12, 2026. monday CRM’s own import article states “fewer than 50 columns and 8,000 rows” for its contacts boards.
A file over the limit is rejected with a message asking you to make it smaller. To bring in 25,000 contacts, split the file into three of 8,000 or fewer rows (or 10,000 into an existing board), keep the same header row in each, and import them one at a time. Before splitting, check the board itself can hold them: monday.com caps items per board by plan. Our CRM import limits research shows how monday.com’s limits compare with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and five other CRMs, and how many files the same list needs in each.
Things that do not come across: formulas and cell colours (values only), subitems (they arrive as items you convert by hand), and anything aimed at the Updates section (it lands in a column instead).
Why is my monday.com import failing?
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Error asking you to reduce the file | Over 10 MB, or over the row or column limit | Split the file; delete unused columns; save as CSV, which is smaller than XLSX |
| Import window closes with no error and no data | Hidden formatting carried over from another tool | Download the Sample Excel file from the import window, paste your data as plain text, import again |
| Import fails on a column with many values | Status column with more than 40 unique labels | Reduce the labels, or map that column to Text |
| Nothing imports from a protected file | Sheet or workbook protection is on | Remove protection in Excel and save a new copy |
| Only some data appears | Data sits on a second tab | Move it to the first tab, or save each tab as its own CSV |
| Dates show as text | Not in ISO format | Reformat as YYYY-MM-DD before import |
| “You’ve reached your limit” notice | More than 100 files in an hour | Wait, then continue |
| Every imported lead shows New Lead | Leads board automation ran on import | Turn the automation off before importing, then back on |
Causes and fixes from monday.com’s “Why is my import failing after working before?” guidance, checked October 12, 2026.
To confirm an import worked, download the CSV summary from the green banner and compare its row count with your file. Then sort the board by the import group and spot-check five items against the source, including one with an accented name and one with a date.
Can you import JSON into monday.com?
Not from the app. The import window takes Excel and CSV only, so a JSON export from another tool needs converting first. Flatten it to one row per item with one column per field. Nested objects become extra columns, or a separate CSV for a linked board. Then import the CSV as above.
Developers have a second route. monday.com’s API added an asynchronous bulk import in API version 2026-07. You start an ingest_items job, upload a CSV to the pre-signed URL it returns within 10 minutes, then poll the job status. Each job takes up to 10,000 rows and files up to 150 MB, and it can update matching items. Created and updated items count toward a budget of 19,000 items per account per hour. A separate backfill_items job takes 20,000 rows for a one-time initial load. It is for account admins only, and it does not fire automations or write to the Activity Log. Even here the upload format is CSV, so JSON still gets converted. Our monday CRM API guide covers authentication and the other endpoints.
When to get help with a monday.com import
A single contact list rarely needs outside help. Bring someone in when the data spans linked boards (accounts, contacts, deals and activities that must stay connected), when it is past the per-board item cap, or when the import has to run every week from another system. Those jobs are about structure, not uploading. Our monday.com implementation service covers migration and integration work. If the data is coming out of Pipedrive, start with connecting Pipedrive to monday.com, which explains when an integration is enough and when you need a full move.
Sources
- monday.com Support, Import files from Excel, checked October 12, 2026.
- monday.com Support, Import from Excel to monday CRM, checked October 12, 2026.
- monday.com Developers, Importing items in bulk (API version 2026-07 and later), checked October 12, 2026.