Answers.Body: <p>I see, you're right.</p>
  
  <p>It would make sense that the export would have a contact reference be part of the "related contact info". Unfortunately that is not the case at this moment.</p>
  
  <p>The best way for you to approach as I see it is to do the export via the CiviCRM API. It is more cumbersome to use (if you are used to using the front-end), but it has more flexibility and more possibilities.</p>
  
  <p>For more info, look <a href="https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Using+the+API" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Using+the+API</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-25T21:53:53.037Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-25T21:53:53.037Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Catorghans
Body: <p>When I try to export custom data from the front-end and export a contact reference I get the name of the contact rather than the id. But when I try to do the reverse and import an organization with some custom data(one of which is a contact reference) the front-end demands an ID. Is there a way to fix this?</p>
  
Tags: <import>
Title: How can I import custom data contact references as names rather than id numbers
ThreadText: # How can I import custom data contact references as names rather than id numbers
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-25)
  
  When I try to export custom data from the front-end and export a contact reference I get the name of the contact rather than the id. But when I try to do the reverse and import an organization with some custom data(one of which is a contact reference) the front-end demands an ID. Is there a way to fix this?
  
  **Tags:** import
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-03-25. Score: 1
  
  I see, you're right.
  
  It would make sense that the export would have a contact reference be part of the "related contact info". Unfortunately that is not the case at this moment.
  
  The best way for you to approach as I see it is to do the export via the CiviCRM API. It is more cumbersome to use (if you are used to using the front-end), but it has more flexibility and more possibilities.
  
  For more info, look <https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Using+the+API>
  
  
  ---
  
  