Exporting ACT! Notes and Histories: Why Most Users Can’t — But Tech Benders Can

If you’ve ever tried to move from Act! CRM to another CRM platform, you may have discovered a frustrating truth: while migrating basic data like contact names, phone numbers, and emails is fairly straightforward, getting your Act! Notes and Histories out of the system is another story entirely.

In fact, for the average user, exporting Notes and Histories from Act! in a usable format is nearly impossible without specialized tools or technical knowledge. Act! stores this information in a highly structured and encrypted database format, and it doesn’t provide any easy way for users to pull those details out for import into another CRM. Many users only discover this limitation once they’ve already decided to move to a new system—only to discover that the most valuable part of their data feels trapped.

Why Notes and Histories Are So Hard to Extract

Act! treats notes and histories differently from basic fields. They are stored as standalone records linked to contacts, not as simple exportable fields. This means:

• There’s no built-in CSV export option for Notes and Histories

• Standard exporting tools only extract basic contact information

• Even experienced users often can’t access the raw tables where Act! stores these critical entries

So even if you’ve found the perfect new CRM system, the biggest challenge remains: how do you take the decades of history you’ve built into Act! with you?

Tech Benders Has the Tools to Extract All of Your Data

This is where Tech Benders comes in.

We have specialized utilities and processes that allow us to safely export every part of your Act! database, including:

• Contact records

• Notes

• Histories

• Activities

• User fields

• Attachments and related data where applicable

Extracting the Notes and Histories is only step one. The next challenge is just as important: your new CRM must support importing multiple notes per contact and have a place to store multiple—and sometimes thousands—of related history records.

Your New CRM Must Be Able to Handle the Data

When Act! users migrate away, they’re often shocked at how many individual records they have. Many contacts have:

• Dozens of individual notes

• Hundreds—or even thousands—of histories documenting calls, emails, meetings, and tasks

Therefore, your new CRM must:

1. Support importing multiple notes per contact (not just one long text field)

2. Store extensive historical records without performance issues

3. Have a structured way to view, search, and reference those entries later

A CRM that only allows one “History” or “Notes” field per contact isn’t going to work. You need a platform built to maintain the detail that Act! users rely on.

Make Your Migration Successful

At Tech Benders, we don’t just export your data—we help ensure it can be successfully imported and usable in your new CRM. That means preserving:

• Chronological history

• Context and detail

• User names

• Timestamps

• Activity types

Because your CRM history isn’t just data—it’s the story of your customer relationships.

Ready to Move Forward?

If you’re transitioning away from Act! and worried about losing the years of history tied to your contacts, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to risk starting from scratch.

Tech Benders ensures you keep all of the information that matters, no matter how much of it you have. Need help exporting your Act data? Reach out today!