CRM migration

Migrate from Act! to Odoo CRM

Field-level mapping, validation, and rollback between Act! and Odoo CRM. We move data and schema; workflows are rebuilt natively in Odoo CRM.

Get a quote See object mapping
Act! logo

Act!

Source

Odoo CRM

Destination

Odoo CRM logo

Compatibility

82%

9 of 11

objects map 1:1 between Act! and Odoo CRM.

Complexity

BStandard

Timeline

4-6 weeks

Rollback included Accuracy guarantee Field-level validation

Overview

What this migration involves

Odoo CRM is an unusual destination from Act! because of Odoo's unified-partner model: Contacts and Companies share a single res.partner table differentiated by the company_type flag. Act!'s separate Contact + Company tables collapse into a parent-child res.partner structure where Companies are partners with company_type='company' and Contacts are linked partners with parent_id pointing at the company. Opportunities → crm.lead with type='opportunity'. The interesting work is the partner model conversion (which we automate during transformation) and the Studio module deployment for Act! Custom Tables. Odoo's open-source nature also means customers running Odoo Community edition (free) can't use Studio for custom modules; in that case we install custom modules via the Odoo manifest format, which requires a deployment window. Activity and History migrate to mail.activity (open) and mail.message (closed).

Field-level fidelity

Every standard and custom field arrives verified.

Schema-aware mapping

AI proposes the map; you confirm before any record moves.

Relationships preserved

Parent–child, lookups, and ownership stay linked.

Full activity history

Calls, emails, meetings — with original timestamps.

Attachments & notes

Documents, uploads, and inline notes move with the record.

Act! logo

Source platform

Act! platform overview

Scorecard, SWOT, gotchas, and pricing for Act!.
Odoo CRM logo

Destination platform

Odoo CRM platform overview

Scorecard, SWOT, gotchas, and pricing for Odoo CRM.

Data migration guide

The complete Odoo CRM migration guide

Data model, import mechanisms, field mapping strategy, pitfalls, and cutover — by the engineers running it.

Destination checklist

Odoo CRM migration checklist

Pre- and post-cutover tasks for moving onto Odoo CRM.

Why teams make this switch

Two sides of the same decision

Leaving

Act! logo

Act!

What's pushing teams away

  • Dated UI and on-premise legacy feel — long-time Act! Desktop users describe the experience as 'Office 2007-era' compared to modern cloud CRMs, and the upgrade path between major versions historically requires reinstalling and re-syncing data.
  • Limited modern integration ecosystem — Act!'s Zapier and native integration count is in the low double digits, where HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive all measure integrations in the thousands.
  • Act! Premium Desktop's reliance on SQL Server, IIS, and Windows Server makes IT maintenance an ongoing cost — patching, backups, and disaster recovery fall on the customer's IT team rather than the vendor.
  • Team collaboration features lag modern CRMs — Act!'s historical strength is the individual contact owner, and shared pipelines, real-time activity feeds, and built-in chat are weaker than HubSpot, Pipedrive, or monday.
  • Reporting is functional but inflexible — most users export to Excel rather than build inside Act!, where modern CRMs ship dashboards, pivot charts, and embedded BI as core features.

Choosing

Odoo CRM logo

Odoo CRM

What's pulling them in

  • Teams choose Odoo CRM for its modular architecture — one base install with one-click app additions means they can adopt CRM alone and add accounting, inventory, or sales later as the business grows.
  • Small businesses pick Odoo because the Community edition is free and open-source, with no per-user or contact limits, allowing full evaluation before committing to a paid Enterprise tier.
  • The drag-and-drop Kanban pipeline and AI lead scoring are highlighted across G2 reviews as concrete features that make lead management faster and more visual than spreadsheet-based workflows.
  • Odoo's native integration with email, live chat, SMS, VoIP, and WhatsApp means inbound leads from multiple channels feed into a single pipeline without third-party middleware.
  • Companies in retail, supply chain, and construction value that Odoo's CRM module shares the same PostgreSQL database and UI as its ERP modules, eliminating data silos between sales and operations.

Object mapping

How Act! objects map to Odoo CRM

Each row shows how a Act! object lands in Odoo CRM, including any object-level transformations, lookup resolution, or schema-design dependencies.

Typical mapping — final map is confirmed during the sample migration step.

Act!

Company

maps to

Odoo CRM

res.partner (company_type=company)

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Companies map to res.partner with company_type='company' and is_company=True. These partners hold address, website, industry, and account-level fields.

Act!

Contact

maps to

Odoo CRM

res.partner (company_type=person, parent_id=Company partner)

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Contacts map to res.partner with company_type='person' and parent_id pointing to the Company partner. The unified partner table is Odoo's structural quirk; we resolve it during transformation.

Act!

Opportunity

maps to

Odoo CRM

crm.lead (type=opportunity)

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Opportunities map to crm.lead with type='opportunity' (qualified). Stage_id resolves to crm.stage record. partner_id links to the Contact partner; partner_name preserves the original Act! Company name.

Act!

Opportunity Product

maps to

Odoo CRM

sale.order.line (in linked sale.order)

1:1
Fully supported

Odoo separates pipeline (crm.lead) from quotes/orders (sale.order). We create a draft sale.order linked to the Opportunity's crm.lead and attach Opportunity Products as sale.order.line records. Products pre-created as product.template.

Act!

Activity (scheduled)

maps to

Odoo CRM

mail.activity

1:1
Fully supported

Act! scheduled Activities map to mail.activity records on the parent res.partner or crm.lead. Activity type (Call/Meeting/To-do) maps to mail.activity.type. Date_deadline preserves the scheduled date.

Act!

History (completed)

maps to

Odoo CRM

mail.message

1:1
Fully supported

Completed Act! History items map to mail.message records on the parent res.partner or crm.lead with message_type='comment' and the original timestamp preserved via the date field.

Act!

Note

maps to

Odoo CRM

mail.message (Note)

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Notes map to mail.message with subtype_id='mail.mt_note' — Odoo's internal note convention. Author resolves to res.users by email.

Act!

Group (Static)

maps to

Odoo CRM

res.partner.category (tag)

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Static Groups map to res.partner.category tags applied to member partners. Tag-based segmentation is Odoo-native and queryable via filters.

Act!

Group (Dynamic)

maps to

Odoo CRM

Filter (ir.filters)

lossy
Fully supported

Dynamic Groups translate to ir.filters saved searches on res.partner. Query criteria rewrites with customer sign-off where Act! operators don't have Odoo equivalents.

Act!

Custom Table

maps to

Odoo CRM

Studio Module (Enterprise) or Custom Module (Community)

lossy
Fully supported

Act! Custom Tables map to new Odoo models. Enterprise uses Odoo Studio (low-code); Community requires a custom Python module with __manifest__.py. Model schema deployed before record load.

Act!

Document

maps to

Odoo CRM

ir.attachment

1:1
Fully supported

Act! Documents upload as ir.attachment records linked to the parent res.partner or crm.lead. Stored as base64 blobs in the Odoo database or in the filestore directory depending on Odoo configuration.

Gotchas + challenges

What specifically takes care here

Platform-specific issues from each side, plus the pair-specific challenges that don't show up on either platform's page on its own.

Act! logo

Act! gotchas

High

Act! Premium Desktop and Cloud use different export paths and cannot share a single migration script

High

Act! Custom Tables (v18+) have no standardized schema across customers

Medium

Activity Series (recurring activities) explode into thousands of occurrences

Medium

Act! Marketing Automation campaign history is in a separate database

Low

Act! contact layouts can hide fields without dropping them from the schema

Low

Document attachments in Act! Desktop are file-system pointers, not blobs

Odoo CRM logo

Odoo CRM gotchas

High

Odoo.sh version gating blocks assisted migrations from trial

High

Enterprise modules fail to install on Community after database restore

Medium

Custom module view inheritance breaks between Odoo major versions

Medium

Custom fields risk losing their application context on Community

Low

API access for Community is gated behind the Custom Plan

Pair-specific challenges

  • Contact + Company collapse to single res.partner table

    Odoo's unified-partner model means Act!'s separate Contact and Company records both become res.partner rows differentiated by the is_company flag. Parent-child relationship (Contact.parent_id → Company) must be set explicitly during load. We handle the conversion in transformation but customers familiar with separate tables sometimes find Odoo's model counterintuitive at first.

  • Custom module deployment differs between Enterprise and Community

    Act! Custom Tables become Odoo Studio modules (Enterprise) or hand-written custom Python modules (Community). Community installations require a custom module zip with __manifest__.py deployed via the Odoo addons path and a server restart. We capture the Custom Table schema during scoping and deliver the appropriate artifact for the customer's Odoo edition.

  • Opportunity Products require sale.order creation

    Odoo separates pipeline (crm.lead) from quotes (sale.order). Act! Opportunity Products don't have a direct equivalent on crm.lead — we create a draft sale.order linked to the Opportunity and attach Products as sale.order.line records. Customers who don't want the Sales app installed get a JSON-serialized product list as a note instead.

  • Activity preserved-date requires XML-RPC create_uid override

    Odoo by default stamps the API user as create_uid and the import time as create_date. To preserve Act!'s original timestamps on mail.message and mail.activity, we use raw SQL post-load to backfill the date field (XML-RPC doesn't accept create_date on insert). This requires database write access during the migration window.

  • Deployment model (Cloud vs Desktop) drives extraction approach

    Same as all Act! migrations: Cloud uses Web API, Desktop typically uses SQL Server read access.

Migration approach

Six steps for a successful Act! to Odoo CRM data migration

  1. Discovery + Odoo edition confirmation

    Confirm Act! deployment, Odoo edition (Community vs Enterprise vs Online), and which Odoo apps are installed (CRM only vs CRM + Sales + others). Inventory custom fields, Groups, Custom Tables, Documents.

  2. Odoo pre-flight

    Deploy Studio or custom modules for Custom Tables, configure crm.stage records for pipeline mapping, set up res.partner.category tags for Group equivalents, ensure Sales app is installed if Opportunity Products are in scope.

  3. Sample + customer review

    Migrate 50 Companies, 200 Contacts (linked to companies), 30 Opportunities with Products, 100 mail.activity, 500 mail.message. Customer reviews partner-model conversion fidelity.

  4. Full extraction + Document download

    Bulk Act! extraction. Documents download in parallel.

  5. Full load via XML-RPC + SQL backfill

    Bulk load Companies (res.partner is_company=True) → Contacts (res.partner parent_id) → crm.lead → sale.order with lines → mail.activity → ir.attachment. SQL post-pass to backfill timestamps on mail.message.

  6. Cutover + decommission

    Delta sync on cutover day. Sales reps switch to Odoo. Act! read-only for safety window.

Platform deep dives

Context on both ends of the pair

Act! logo

Act!

Source

Strengths

  • Deep, mature contact-management feature set: layouts, custom fields, secondary contacts, and relationship-tracking refined over 35+ years of releases.
  • Available as on-premise (Act! Premium Desktop) for teams that require local data residency — most modern CRMs are cloud-only.
  • Per-user pricing is predictable and competitive with mid-market CRMs for SMB use cases without integration complexity.
  • Strong fit for relationship-driven verticals: financial advisors, accountants, insurance brokers, real-estate, legal — workflows where the contact record is the center of the universe.
  • Built-in Act! Marketing Automation add-on covers basic email marketing without needing a separate Mailchimp/Constant Contact subscription.

Weaknesses

  • Dated UI and on-premise legacy architecture — the look and feel hasn't kept pace with modern cloud CRMs.
  • Small integration ecosystem (low double digits of pre-built integrations) versus thousands on HubSpot/Salesforce/Pipedrive.
  • Act! Premium Desktop requires customer-managed Windows Server, SQL Server, and IIS — ongoing IT overhead.
  • Team-collaboration and real-time-feed features lag behind modern collaborative CRMs.
  • Reporting is rigid — most teams export to Excel rather than build dashboards inside Act!
Odoo CRM logo

Odoo CRM

Destination

Strengths

  • Modular open-source architecture lets teams start with CRM and add ERP apps as needs grow, all sharing one PostgreSQL database.
  • Free Community edition with no contact limits and full source code access means zero licensing cost for evaluation and small deployments.
  • Drag-and-drop Kanban pipeline with AI lead scoring gives a visual, prioritized view of the sales funnel without requiring custom configuration.
  • Native integrations with email, live chat, SMS, VoIP, WhatsApp, and social media feed all inbound leads into a single unified inbox.
  • Active Odoo Community Association (OCA) maintains dozens of community-maintained modules on GitHub for extended functionality.

Weaknesses

  • Gmail and email integration reliability is a recurring complaint — threads drop and conversations scatter across inboxes, disrupting sales team workflows.
  • Enterprise edition pricing stacks quickly: multiple apps at per-user rates ($25–$50/user/month) plus Odoo.sh hosting costs more than many SMBs anticipate.
  • Setup and configuration complexity increases significantly once custom fields, automation rules, and multiple installed modules are in play.
  • Odoo.sh trial databases run on a version (e.g., 18.3) that is not directly migratable to Odoo.sh, blocking the assisted migration path Odoo advertises.
  • Version upgrades between major Odoo releases (e.g., 17→18) frequently break custom module view definitions and XPath expressions, requiring manual remediation.

Complexity grading

How hard is this migration?

Standard CRM migration. All 8 core objects map 1:1 between Act! and Odoo CRM.

B

Overall complexity

Standard migration

Derived from compatibility, mapping clarity, API constraints, and data volume across Act! and Odoo CRM.

  • Object compatibility

    A

    All 8 core objects map 1:1 between Act! and Odoo CRM.

  • Field mapping clarity

    C

    Field mapping is derived from defaults — final spec confirmed during the sample migration.

  • Timeline complexity

    B

    8-object category — typical timelines run 2–7 days end-to-end.

  • API constraints

    B

    Act!: Not publicly documented for Cloud; Desktop is limited only by the customer's SQL Server and IIS capacity.

  • Data volume sensitivity

    B

    Act! doesn't expose a bulk API — REST + parallelization used for high-volume runs.

Estimator

Estimate your Act! to Odoo CRM migration cost

Rule-based pricing — no per-record fees, no manual quotes. Migrations over 2M records are scoped individually.

Step 1

What are you migrating?

Pick a category, then your source and destination platforms.

Category

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Act! to Odoo CRM data migrations

Answers to the questions buyers ask most during Act! to Odoo CRM migration scoping. Not seeing yours? Book a call.

Can't find your answer?

Walk through your Act! to Odoo CRM migration with a real engineer — 30 minutes, free, written quote within 24 hours.

Book a free 30 minute consultation

Act!'s separate Contact + Company tables both become res.partner rows in Odoo, differentiated by an is_company flag. We set parent_id on Contact partners to point at their Company partner so the parent-child relationship is preserved. Filters, reports, and the Odoo UI handle the unified model naturally — but customers familiar with Salesforce or HubSpot sometimes find it surprising.

Adjacent paths

Related migrations to explore

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Ready when you are

Move from Act!.
Land in Odoo CRM, intact.

Tell us record counts and timeline. We'll come back with a written quote inside 1 business day — no commitment, no sales pitch.

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Accuracy guarantee Rollback included Quote in 1 business day