Importing Notes onto Contacts
Tern's note import tool lets you bring notes from another CRM into your contact records in bulk — so you don't lose the history you've built up over time.
Before you start
Your contacts must already be in Tern before you can import notes. If you haven't imported your contacts yet, do that first: Using Tern's Contact Import Tool.
We recommend including an Import ID in your contact import — it's the most reliable way to match notes to the right contacts. If you didn't use Import IDs, you can match by email address and first and last name instead.
Prepare your CSV
Your CSV needs four columns:
Import ID (recommended) — the ID assigned during your contact import. The most reliable way to match notes to contacts.
Note Title (required) — becomes the name of the note in Tern.
Note Body (required) — the content of the note. This supports markdown formatting. You can test if your notes are in markdown format using this tool.
Note Date (optional) — preserves the original date the note was created. Use MM/DD/YYYY format.
Note: If you didn't use Import IDs, include Email Address, First Name, and Last Name columns instead. Tern will use those to find the matching contact.
Import your notes
Go to the Contacts tab in the left sidebar.
Click the three-dot menu (⋯) in the top right and select Import Contacts.
On Step 2 of the import flow, click Import Notes.
Upload your CSV and map your columns when prompted.
Submit the import. Tern will match each row to an existing contact and attach the note.
You'll know it worked when notes appear on the matching contact records. Go to a contact and check their Notes tab to confirm.
Common issues
Some notes didn't import: If a row couldn't be matched to a contact, it's skipped. This usually means the Import ID, email, or name in your CSV doesn't exactly match what's in Tern. Double-check your contact import first, then re-run.
I see an error after importing: If there were issues with your file, Tern will show an error message. Review the flagged rows, correct your CSV, and re-import. Re-importing is safe. Notes that were already imported will be updated, not duplicated.
I see duplicate notes: Notes are deduplicated by title. If you manually created a note : with the same title before importing, Tern will create a new imported note alongside it — it won't overwrite notes you created yourself.
My formatting looks wrong: The Note Body field supports Markdown formatting. If you're copying plain text from another system, it will import fine as-is. If you're seeing unexpected symbols or characters, check that your content doesn't include HTML tags like <b> or <br> — those will appear as plain text rather than formatting.
Note Import Template
You can download this template to see a suggested format of notes.