Employee contact data can be imported into Merit Palk from a CSV file. If the source data is prepared in Excel (XLS/XLSX) format, it can be easily saved as a CSV file.
This import functionality is available only for users of the PRO package of Merit Palk.
To import employee contact data, open the menu: Settings → Data import from file → Import employees contact info
CSV file requirements
The CSV import file must meet the following requirements:
General settings
Encoding: UTF-8
Field separator: semicolon (;)
File structure
Column | Description | Notes |
Column 1 (A) | Personal identification code | *** - required field |
Column 2 (B) | Last name | * - informational field, not imported |
Column 3 (C) | First name | * - informational field, not imported |
Column 4 (D) | Address | ** - imported if information is provided |
Column 5 (E) | Phone number | ** - imported if information is provided |
Column 6 (F) | Email address | ** - imported if information is provided |
Column 7 (G) | Bank account number (IBAN) | ** - imported if information is provided |
Column 8 (H) | Bank account owner | ** - imported if information is provided |
Column 9 (I) | Report language selection | ** - imported if information is provided |
*** – required field
** – fields are imported if the information is provided in the file. If the same fields are already filled in the program, they will be overwritten with the data from the import file.
* – informational fields that are not imported, even if they are filled in the file.
Language selection codes
The language selection can be marked using the following two-letter codes:
et – Estonian (default value)
en – English
ru – Russian
This setting defines the employee’s report language (for example, payslip, summary payslip report, detailed vacation liability report).
If the language selection is not specified in the file, Estonian will be used by default.
Additional instructions
Column names in the first row of the file should only be included if not all data is imported at once.
If all columns are filled in the file, column headers are not required.
The file may contain empty rows at the end – these will be ignored.
All columns starting from column 10 will be ignored by the program.
Imported data is matched based on the employee’s personal identification code.
💡The CSV file must always be generated from an Excel (XLS or XLSX) file. If changes are required in the import data file, they must be made in the original Excel file, not in the CSV file.
After making the changes, save the Excel file again in CSV format and use the new CSV file for import.
API integration
Employee contact data import is also available for PRO package users via API integration.
More information: Merit Palk API documentation
Sample file
You can download a sample file here