Answers.Body: <p>These are all valid options!  I never use a custom field for this; I use tags or the contact source field.  The &quot;external identifier&quot; field is often useful for this - I'll tag contacts from a certain location with their ID from that source prefaced by an acronym for that source.</p>
  <p>As someone who works daily with data migrations, I rarely <em>need</em> to do any of these things if I'm the one who might have to deal with mistakes.  Using advanced logging is good enough; if it's only 350 contacts, it's probably enough to just go by creation date.</p>
  <p>That said, I highly recommend that people who don't do this regularly tag their contacts or use the Source field :)</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-08-10T02:53:12.827Z
Answers.Text: Thanks Jon. I appreciate the response.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Phillip Money
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-08-09T05:30:53.970Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-08-09T05:30:53.970Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Body: <p>I am importing 350 contacts into Civi. This <a href="https://www.cividesk.com/blog/post/importing-contacts-civicrm-be-sure-include-import-identifier-just-case" rel="nofollow noreferrer">post</a> says that you should always include an import identifier. I don't have admin access so I cannot create a custom field set. I was going to identify the contacts by tagging them all. Alternatively, Civi includes a contact source field. Could I include a value for contact source in the CSV file? I will also tag the imports.</p>
  
Tags: <import><fields><custom>
Title: Importing contacts into Civicrm
ThreadText: # Importing contacts into Civicrm
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-09)
  
  I am importing 350 contacts into Civi. This [post](https://www.cividesk.com/blog/post/importing-contacts-civicrm-be-sure-include-import-identifier-just-case) says that you should always include an import identifier. I don't have admin access so I cannot create a custom field set. I was going to identify the contacts by tagging them all. Alternatively, Civi includes a contact source field. Could I include a value for contact source in the CSV file? I will also tag the imports.
  
  **Tags:** import, fields, custom
  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2020-08-09. Score: 1
  
  These are all valid options! I never use a custom field for this; I use tags or the contact source field. The "external identifier" field is often useful for this - I'll tag contacts from a certain location with their ID from that source prefaced by an acronym for that source.
  
  As someone who works daily with data migrations, I rarely *need* to do any of these things if I'm the one who might have to deal with mistakes. Using advanced logging is good enough; if it's only 350 contacts, it's probably enough to just go by creation date.
  
  That said, I highly recommend that people who don't do this regularly tag their contacts or use the Source field :)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks Jon. I appreciate the response.  
  
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