When you are importing contacts from a spreadsheet, or configuring your incoming web leads, you may have seen the term Default Value. When you enter information into the Default Value, that bit of information will be applied to all contacts that are being imported. This can be a quick way of adding data that applies to all contacts in a file, such as Lead Source, Team, Contact Owner, or much more.

 Note: Entering a Default Value will not overwrite any existing information, it will only include the data you've entered if the Contact's field is blank.

How To Use Default Value

There are 2 areas that use Default Value. You can use it while importing contacts from a spreadsheet, and/or use it for your incoming web leads. Below lists how to enable the Default Value for each section:

Importing From a Spreadsheet

While you're importing your contacts from a spreadsheet, you will see a checkbox labeled Enable Default Value Import (shown below). To use the Default Value, you must:

1. Check the Enable Default Value Import checkbox.
2. Find the VanillaSoft Field you would like to apply the Default Value to.
3. Enter or select any desired information into the Default Value field.
4. Complete the rest of your import and select Start Import.

For more information on importing contacts from a spreadsheet, follow our How to Import Contacts article.

Incoming Web Lead

 While configuring your incoming web lead settings, you will see a header labeled Default Value (shown below). To use the Default Value, you must:

1. Open the VanillaSoft Field drop-down.
2. Select the desired field you would like to apply the data to.
3. Enter the desired information into the Default Value field.
4. Click the green plus  symbol.
5. Complete the rest of your configuration and click Save.

If the VanillaSoft field is already mapped, you can click Edit and then enter the desired information into the Default Value field.

Note: This is a plain text field. If you would like to set something such as a Team, Lead Source, etc., you must type the information exactly how it's listed in your project to avoid creating duplicate information.

For more information on importing contacts from an incoming web lead, follow our How to Set Up Incoming Web Leads article.