The Data Migration tool lets you bulk-import document metadata directly into Aline AI Properties. Instead of running AI extraction across thousands of documents from scratch (or hand-keying values one by one), you can bring in the answers you already have — from a CLM, CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot, file storage like SharePoint, or a legacy tool like Ironclad — and populate your repository in minutes.
Quick link: Release 782 changelog
Overview
In this article you'll learn how to:
Generate a spreadsheet template for the AI Properties you want to populate
Fill in values from your source system (e.g., Ironclad, Salesforce, HubSpot, SharePoint)
Upload the spreadsheet back into Aline
Preview validation results before anything is written
Confirm the import — with the option to overwrite existing answers
⚠️ You must be an Admin in your Aline organization to use the Data Migration tool.
When to Use This
Use Data Migration whenever you already have structured contract metadata living outside Aline. Common scenarios:
Migrating from another CLM (Ironclad, Agiloft, ContractWorks, etc.) — bring your existing values into Aline's AI Properties
Syncing from a CRM — pull deal-level fields like contract value, renewal date, or owner from Salesforce or HubSpot
Importing from file storage — surface metadata that previously lived only in SharePoint folder structures or filenames
Backfilling a new property — when you add a new AI Property after documents are already uploaded and want to seed values quickly
Step 1: Open the Data Migration Tool
Click the menu icon in the bottom left of the screen (the circle with your initial)
Select Settings / Admin
In the sidebar, click Data Migration
💡 If you don't see Data Migration, you're not an Admin. Ask an admin in your org to either run the import for you or upgrade your role.
Step 2: Generate a Spreadsheet Template
Select the AI Properties you want to import values for (e.g., Governing Law, Contract Value, Renewal Date, Auto-Renewal)
Optionally scope the import to a subset of documents
Click Generate Template to download a spreadsheet pre-populated with one row per document and one column per selected property
💡 The template includes Aline's internal document identifiers in the leftmost column. Do not edit or delete those — they're how the import matches your rows back to the right documents.
Step 3: Fill In Your Values
Open the template in Excel, Google Sheets, or your spreadsheet tool of choice and populate the cells with the values from your source system.
Common sources:
Ironclad — export contract metadata as CSV and copy the relevant columns over
Salesforce / HubSpot — pull a report of opportunities or contracts and map fields to the matching AI Properties
SharePoint — bring across metadata from folder structures or document properties
Internal spreadsheets — paste from any tracker your team already maintains
💡 Best practice: Keep formats clean. Dates should be in a consistent format (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD), currency values should be numbers without symbols, and yes/no fields should match the answer format Aline expects for that property.
Step 4: Upload the Spreadsheet
Back in Data Migration, click Upload and select your filled-in spreadsheet
Aline parses the file and runs it through validation
⚠️ Nothing is written to your documents yet — the upload step only stages the data for review.
Step 5: Preview Validation Results
Before you confirm, Aline shows you a full preview of what's about to happen:
Rows ready to import — values that parsed cleanly and match a known document
Rows with warnings — values that look off (wrong format, unexpected type) but can still be imported if you choose
Rows with errors — values that can't be imported (e.g., document ID not found)
Existing answers that would be overwritten — properties that already have a value on the document
💡 Treat the preview as a dry run. Fix anything that looks wrong in the spreadsheet and re-upload — there's no penalty for iterating before you confirm.
Step 6: Confirm the Import
When the preview looks right:
Decide whether to overwrite existing answers
Overwrite ON — your spreadsheet values replace any existing AI Property answers on those documents
Overwrite OFF — Aline only writes values to cells that are currently empty; existing answers are preserved
Click Confirm Import
Aline writes the values to your documents in bulk
✅ Once the import finishes, the values appear in your reports and document analysis panels just like any AI-extracted answer.
💡 Best Practices
Start small. For a first migration, generate the template for one or two properties on a subset of documents to validate the flow end-to-end before going wide.
Don't touch the document identifier column in the generated template — that's how Aline matches your rows.
Standardize formats (dates, currency, booleans) before uploading. Validation catches a lot, but clean input is faster.
Decide intentionally about overwrite. If you're seeding a brand-new property, overwrite doesn't matter. If you're updating live data, leave it OFF for a first pass and only flip it on once you've verified.
Keep the source spreadsheet as a record of what you imported and when — useful for audit.
❓ Need Help?
Running a large migration from a legacy CLM, or mapping a complex Salesforce report into AI Properties? Click the Support button in Aline to chat with our team — we're happy to scope the import with you before you run it.