The columns, in order
Every file starts with a header row, then one row per contact.
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Collection | The collection the contact is in. Handy when you export a whole workspace. |
| Name | The contact’s name |
| Company | Their company |
| Role | Their job title |
| Their email address | |
| Phone | Office or landline number |
| Mobile | Mobile number |
| Website | The company website, as saved on the contact |
| Their LinkedIn address | |
| Address | The postal address, on one line |
| Country | The country |
| Priority | Hot, Warm, Cold or Unrated |
| Notes | Your conversation notes, line breaks included |
| Captured | The day the contact was saved, as YYYY-MM-DD |
With Include AI analysis ticked, three more columns follow:
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Research date | The day the saved brief was researched, as YYYY-MM-DD |
| Business analysis | The brief’s overview: two or three sentences about the company |
| In more depth | The brief’s longer closing section, when it has one |
They stay empty for contacts whose business has not been analysed. Contacts at the same business share one brief, so they show the same text. A brief that is only a quick look has no “In more depth”.
Opening the file
Accents and other alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese and so on) should show correctly. Menu names below are from recent versions and may differ slightly in yours.
Excel. Double-click the file. If everything lands in one column, which can happen when your computer’s regional settings expect semicolons (common where decimals are written with a comma), use Data > From Text/CSV instead and choose Comma as the delimiter. In recent versions the same import also offers Do not detect data types, which keeps every cell exactly as written.
Numbers. Open the file in Numbers. It usually needs no settings.
Google Sheets. Choose File > Import > Upload and pick the file. To keep phone numbers as written, untick Convert text to numbers, dates, and formulas if your import screen offers it.
Why some cells start with an apostrophe
Spreadsheets treat a cell that starts with =, +, - or @ as a formula. A card or a note could use that to slip a harmful formula into your spreadsheet. So Swops puts an apostrophe in front of any cell that starts with one of those characters.
You will see it most on phone numbers in international format: +44 7700 900417 is saved with an apostrophe before the plus sign. A note that starts with a dash gets one too. Some spreadsheets show the apostrophe in the cell, others may hide it.
If it shows and you want it gone, for example before an import:
Select the Phone and Mobile columns and format them as text. In Excel: Format Cells > Text. In Google Sheets: Format > Number > Plain text.
Open Find and Replace. Find an apostrophe followed by a plus sign, and replace it with a plus sign.
Check a few numbers, then save.
Formatting the columns as text first matters: without it, Excel may read “+44…” as a formula.
What is not in the file
- Card photos.
- The rest of each brief: key facts, “What stands out”, news, relevance and sources.
- Who captured each contact.
Card photos and full briefs stay in Swops for as long as you have access. Open them there.
Importing into a CRM
Swops has no direct CRM connection. Most CRMs import a CSV file and ask you to match its columns to their fields: Name, Company, Email and so on. Step-by-step guides for HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and more: Prepare your Swops export for a CRM.