CRM migration
Field-level mapping, validation, and rollback between Act! and Pipedrive. We move data and schema; workflows are rebuilt natively in Pipedrive.
Act!
Source
Pipedrive
Destination
Compatibility
9 of 11
objects map 1:1 between Act! and Pipedrive.
Complexity
BStandard
Timeline
3-5 weeks
Overview
Pipedrive is one of the more visual destinations from Act! — its deal-pipeline-first UI is a deliberate contrast to Act!'s contact-list interface, and teams making this move are usually trading contact-management depth for sales-process clarity. Act!'s data model converts cleanly: Contacts → People, Companies → Organizations, Opportunities → Deals, Opportunity Products → Deal Products, Activities → Activities. The interesting work is in pipeline configuration: Act! Opportunity Stages are tenant-defined and don't ship with weighted-probability defaults, while Pipedrive pipelines are visual swim lanes designed for kanban-style drag-and-drop. We design the destination pipeline structure during scoping (number of pipelines, stages per pipeline, win probabilities, automation rules), map Act! stages into those pipelines, and translate Groups into Pipedrive Filters (saved view criteria) or Lists. Custom Tables map to Pipedrive Custom Objects (available from Professional tier).
Every standard and custom field arrives verified.
AI proposes the map; you confirm before any record moves.
Parent–child, lookups, and ownership stay linked.
Calls, emails, meetings — with original timestamps.
Documents, uploads, and inline notes move with the record.
Why teams make this switch
Leaving
What's pushing teams away
Choosing
What's pulling them in
Object mapping
Each row shows how a Act! object lands in Pipedrive, including any object-level transformations, lookup resolution, or schema-design dependencies.
Typical mapping — final map is confirmed during the sample migration step.
Act!
Contact
Pipedrive
Person
1:1Act! Contacts map to Pipedrive People. Email is the dedupe key; People without email migrate but get flagged for manual review.
Act!
Company
Pipedrive
Organization
1:1Act! Companies map to Pipedrive Organizations. Person.org_id explicitly set during load to preserve the relationship. Derived Organizations created from Contact.Company_Name where Act! Companies don't exist.
Act!
Opportunity
Pipedrive
Deal
1:1Act! Opportunities map to Pipedrive Deals. Stage names map to Pipedrive pipeline stages via a translation table built during scoping. Weighted forecast preserves via Deal.weighted_value if customer uses Act! probabilities.
Act!
Opportunity Product
Pipedrive
Deal Product
1:1Act! Opportunity line items map to Pipedrive Deal Products. We pre-create matching Pipedrive Products as a master list, then attach via the Deal-Product association endpoint.
Act!
Activity
Pipedrive
Activity
1:1Act! Activities map to Pipedrive Activities with type-specific mapping (Calls → Call, Meetings → Meeting, To-dos → Task). Recurring series expand within an agreed active window.
Act!
History
Pipedrive
Activity (closed)
1:1Act! History items map to closed Pipedrive Activities with the original timestamp preserved via the add_time field on insert.
Act!
Note
Pipedrive
Note
1:1Act! Notes attached to Contacts, Companies, Opportunities migrate as Pipedrive Notes on the parent record. RTF converted to HTML.
Act!
Group (Static)
Pipedrive
Filter / List
1:1Act! Static Groups become Pipedrive Filters (saved view criteria with member-set logic) or, for mailing-list use, exported as a CSV for upload to Pipedrive Campaigns (separate Pipedrive Campaigns add-on).
Act!
Group (Dynamic)
Pipedrive
Filter
lossyDynamic Group query criteria translate to Pipedrive Filter conditions. Operators that don't map 1:1 get rewritten with customer sign-off.
Act!
Custom Table
Pipedrive
Custom Object
lossyAct! Custom Tables map to Pipedrive Custom Objects (available from Professional tier $49/user/month). Schema deployed during pre-flight.
Act!
Document
Pipedrive
File
1:1Act! Documents upload to Pipedrive via the Files API and link to People, Organizations, or Deals. Pipedrive includes file storage in subscription; no separate storage fee for typical Act!-migration volumes.
| Act! | Pipedrive | Compatibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact | Person1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Company | Organization1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Opportunity | Deal1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Opportunity Product | Deal Product1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Activity | Activity1:1 | Fully supported | |
| History | Activity (closed)1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Note | Note1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Group (Static) | Filter / List1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Group (Dynamic) | Filterlossy | Fully supported | |
| Custom Table | Custom Objectlossy | Fully supported | |
| Document | File1:1 | Fully supported |
Gotchas + challenges
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! gotchas
Act! Premium Desktop and Cloud use different export paths and cannot share a single migration script
Act! Custom Tables (v18+) have no standardized schema across customers
Activity Series (recurring activities) explode into thousands of occurrences
Act! Marketing Automation campaign history is in a separate database
Act! contact layouts can hide fields without dropping them from the schema
Document attachments in Act! Desktop are file-system pointers, not blobs
Pipedrive gotchas
Custom field hash keys differ per account
Export access gated by visibility groups
Token-based API rate limits since December 2024
Sequences and Automations not exposed via REST API
Cost escalates via workflow caps and add-ons
Pair-specific challenges
Migration approach
Discovery + pipeline design
Confirm deployment, inventory custom fields/Groups/Custom Tables/Documents, and design destination Pipedrive pipeline structure with stage mapping.
Pipedrive pre-flight
Deploy custom fields, address custom field on Person, website custom field on Organization, Custom Objects (if Professional+), pipelines and stages.
Sample + customer review
200 People, 50 Organizations, 30 Deals with Products, 100 Activities, 500 History items. Customer reviews mapping fidelity.
Full extraction + Document download
Bulk Act! extraction. Documents download in parallel.
Full load via Pipedrive REST API
Organizations → People → Deals + Deal Products → Activities → Notes → Files. Field-level hash diff after load.
Cutover + decommission
Delta sync on cutover day. Sales reps switch to Pipedrive. Act! read-only for safety window.
Platform deep dives
Act!
Source
Strengths
Weaknesses
Pipedrive
Destination
Strengths
Weaknesses
Complexity grading
Standard CRM migration. 3 of 8 objects need a mapping; the rest are 1:1.
Overall complexity
Standard migration
Derived from compatibility, mapping clarity, API constraints, and data volume across Act! and Pipedrive.
Object compatibility
3 of 8 objects need a mapping; the rest are 1:1.
Field mapping clarity
Field mapping is derived from defaults — final spec confirmed during the sample migration.
Timeline complexity
8-object category — typical timelines run 2–7 days end-to-end.
API constraints
Act!: Not publicly documented for Cloud; Desktop is limited only by the customer's SQL Server and IIS capacity.
Data volume sensitivity
Act! doesn't expose a bulk API — REST + parallelization used for high-volume runs.
Estimator
Rule-based pricing — no per-record fees, no manual quotes. Migrations over 2M records are scoped individually.
Step 1
Pick a category, then your source and destination platforms.
Category
FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask most during Act! to Pipedrive migration scoping. Not seeing yours? Book a call.
Walk through your Act! to Pipedrive migration with a real engineer — 30 minutes, free, written quote within 24 hours.
Book a free 30 minute consultationAdjacent paths
Other ways to leave Act!
Other ways to arrive at Pipedrive
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