Slant can import your Redtail data directly from a database backup file. The import wizard extracts your households, people, notes, tasks, events, trusts, and businesses, then lets you review and categorize everything before creating records in Slant.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.slant.app/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Before you start
You’ll need a database backup file from Redtail. To get one:Open the Redtail backups page
Log in to Redtail and go to the database backups page.
Start the import
Upload your backup file
Click the upload area and select your
.sql or .zip file. You’ll see the file name and size once it’s attached.Import workflows as projects
If you used workflows in Redtail, you can bring them into Slant as project templates. On the upload step, toggle Import workflows as projects and enter your Redtail username and password. These credentials are stored encrypted and only used during the import to fetch workflow templates from the Redtail API.Filter contacts
The first step after extraction is deciding which contacts to include.- Import all contacts — Brings in every contact from your Redtail database.
- Filter contacts prior to import — Only imports contacts that match any of the filters you set:
- Servicing advisor — Filter by the assigned advisor in Redtail.
- Keywords — Filter by Redtail keywords.
- Tag groups — Filter by Redtail tag groups.
Map contact types
This step controls how Redtail contacts are categorized in Slant. You’ll see four sections, each with filters for Keywords, Tag groups, Category, and Status:- Who becomes a client? — Contacts matching any of these filters are imported as clients.
- Who becomes a past client? — From the remaining contacts, those matching any of these filters are imported as past clients.
- Who becomes a prospect? — From the remaining contacts, those matching any of these filters are imported as prospects.
- What should remaining contacts become? — Contacts that don’t match any of the above are imported as either Other contacts (default) or Prospects.
Review and import
The review step shows every contact that will be imported in a table. For each row you can:- Uncheck the checkbox to exclude a contact from the import.
- Change the category using the dropdown to reassign a contact as client, past client, prospect, or other contact.
- Hover over a name to see a preview card with the household’s people, their roles, contact info, and related records (notes, tasks, events, etc.).
What gets imported
Depending on the data in your Redtail database, Slant imports:- Households — Family units with all their members and roles (head of household, spouse, dependents)
- People — Individual contact details including email, phone, address, date of birth, gender, job title, and retirement date
- Standalone individuals — Contacts not assigned to a family are imported as individual households
- Businesses — Business contacts with their associated records
- Notes — Notes linked to contacts
- Tasks — Activities from Redtail (excluding meetings)
- Events — Meetings from Redtail
- Trusts — Trust entities and their associated notes and tasks
- Custom fields — User-defined fields from Redtail are automatically created as custom fields in Slant
- Workflows — Imported as project templates if the Import workflows as projects option is enabled
Redtail keywords and tag groups are converted to tags in Slant during the import.
Field mapping reference
These tables summarize the Redtail data Slant can bring in and where that data appears after import.From the SQL backup
| Redtail field/concept | Slant field/concept | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Contact type: Family | Household | Creates a household in Slant. The final Slant type is controlled by import mapping rules: client, past client, prospect, or remaining-item behavior. |
| Contact type: Individual in a family | Person in household | Adds the individual to the related Slant household based on the Redtail family connection. |
| Contact type: Standalone individual | Person / Household or other contact | |
| Contact type: Business | Business | Creates a business record in Slant. |
| Contact type: Trust | Trust | Creates a trust record only when Slant can connect the Redtail trust to an imported household through trustee relationship data. |
| Family fields | Household fields | Includes family name, important information from household members, and client since date when available. |
| Family members | People in household | Includes people connected to the Redtail family. Slant imports those people into the same household and uses Redtail household role data when available. |
| Head of household flag | Person household role | The Redtail head of household becomes the Slant head of household. If no head is identified, Slant makes the first imported person the head of household. |
| Family relationship | Person household role | Mapped values include spouse, dependent child, other dependent, and other adult. Unrecognized values are imported as other adult. |
| Individual fields | Person fields | Includes first name, middle name, last name, preferred name/nickname, salutation, suffix, date of birth, date of death, job title, and retirement date. |
| Individual gender | Person gender | Mapped values include male, female, non-binary, other, and prefer not to say. If Redtail does not provide a matching value, the Slant gender field is left blank. |
| Individual marital status | Person marital status | Mapped values include single, partnered, married, separated, divorced, widowed, and relationship unknown. If Redtail does not provide a matching value, the Slant marital status field is left blank. |
| Individual client since date | Household client since date | For Redtail families, Slant uses the head of household’s client since date when available. If that date is not available, the Slant client since date is left blank. |
| Individual important information | Import note | Imported as part of a note on the household that contains other information Slant does not have dedicated fields for. |
| Individual marital date / wedding anniversary | Not imported | Redtail marital date values are not mapped to a dedicated Slant field. |
| Individual tax ID | Secure person SSN import | Tax ID values for Redtail individuals are imported securely and automatically as part of the import process. |
| Individual driver’s license fields | Secure driver’s license import | Driver’s license number, issuing state, issue date, and expiration date are imported securely and automatically as part of the import process. |
| Business fields | Business fields | Includes company name, nickname, website, tax ID, and important information. If the company name is blank, Slant uses the nickname; if both are blank, Slant assigns a placeholder business name such as Business #12345. |
| Business website | Business website | Slant imports the first active website listed for the business. |
| Business tax ID | Business tax ID | |
| Trust fields | Trust fields | Includes trust name, tax ID, and important information. If the trust name is blank, Slant uses the nickname; if both are blank, Slant assigns a placeholder trust name such as Trust #12345. |
| Trust tax ID | Trust tax ID | |
| Trustee relationships | Trust related household | Slant uses Redtail trustee relationship data to connect a trust to the appropriate imported household. |
| Trust beneficiary relationships | Not imported | |
| Email addresses | Email addresses | Email value, type, and primary status are imported for people and businesses. Duplicate email addresses are consolidated, with primary or preferred emails prioritized. |
| Email type | Email type | Mapped values: personal, business, and other. Unrecognized values default to personal. |
| Phone numbers | Phone numbers | Phone value, type, and primary status are imported for people and businesses. Values that Slant cannot recognize as valid phone numbers are not imported, such as “call me” or “000”. |
| Phone type | Phone type | Mapped values include home, work, mobile, fax, and other. Unrecognized values default to other. |
| Addresses | Addresses | Address lines, city, state, zip, country, type, and primary status are imported for people and businesses. Addresses are deduplicated before import. |
| Address type | Address type | Mapped values include home, work, mailing, and other. Unrecognized values default to home. |
| Address ZIP code | Address ZIP code | Slant imports valid U.S. five-digit ZIP codes and ZIP+4 values. |
| Address country | Address country | United States is imported as US. Other country values are carried over from Redtail. |
| Servicing advisor | Not imported | Used during import setup to choose which Redtail records should be imported into the selected Slant book. |
| Writing advisor | Not imported | |
| Contact category | Not imported | Used during import setup to choose how Redtail contacts should be imported into the selected Slant book. |
| Contact status | Not imported | Used during import setup to choose how Redtail contacts should be imported into the selected Slant book. |
| Contact source | Not imported | Not used during import setup and not mapped to a dedicated Slant field. When present, it is included in the note that contains other Redtail information Slant does not have dedicated fields for. |
| Referral source / referred by fields | Not imported | Not mapped to dedicated Slant fields. |
| Keywords | Household tags | Redtail keywords are imported as household tags in Slant. Keywords are also available during import setup to choose which records should be imported. |
| Tag groups | Household tags | Redtail tag groups are imported as household tags in Slant. Tag groups are also available during import setup to choose which records should be imported. |
| Custom field definitions | Custom field definitions | Redtail contact custom fields are created in Slant so imported custom field values have matching fields to populate. |
| Custom field name | Custom field display name / field key | The Redtail custom field name is used as the Slant display name and to generate the Slant field key. |
| Custom field type | Custom field type | Mapped values include boolean, single select, text, date, and number. Unrecognized types default to text. |
| Custom field select options | Custom field select options | Used for single-select custom fields. |
| Custom field values | Household custom field values | Redtail contact custom field values are imported as Slant household custom fields. For households with multiple people, Slant uses the head of household’s custom field values when available; otherwise, Slant uses the first person’s values. |
| Related contacts | Relationships | Imported as relationships when both contacts are included in the import. Business/employer links are imported as Employer/Employee relationships when both records are included in the import. |
| Membership relationships | Relationships | Imported as named relationships when both related contacts are included in the import. Trustee relationships are handled through trust import. |
| Business/employer relationship | Relationship | Imported as an Employer/Employee relationship when the linked business is included in the import. |
| Activities: non-meeting activities | Tasks | Redtail activities are imported as Slant tasks unless the activity is marked as a meeting. |
| Activity related contact | Task related record | Used to attach the task to the related household, person, business, or trust. |
| Activity fields | Task fields | Includes subject/title, description, start date, all-day setting, and completion status. |
| Activity completed status | Task status | Completed Redtail activities are imported as done. Incomplete activities are imported as todo. |
| Activity completed date | Task completed date | When a Redtail activity is marked completed, Slant uses the activity’s last updated date as the completed date. |
| Activity assignee | Not imported | The Redtail export does not include user data |
| Activity task / code | Task tag | Imported as a task tag when the activity task or code has a usable name. Generic labels such as Task and Unassigned are not added as tags. |
| Activity priority / percent done / end date | Not imported | |
| Activities: meetings | Notes | Redtail meetings are imported as Slant notes rather than Slant meetings. |
| Activities: Meeting related contact | Event note related record | Used to attach the imported event note to the related household, person, business, or trust. |
| Activities: Meeting fields | Imported event note fields | Includes subject, description, and a formatted date/time line. |
| Activities: Meeting start time / end time / all-day setting | Imported event note When line | Used to add a formatted date/time line to the imported event note. Invalid dates are omitted from that formatted line. |
| Activities: Meeting attendees / recurrence / calendar colors / visibility fields | Not imported | |
| Activities: Templates | Not imported | |
| Redtail calendar | Not imported | Slant does not import the Redtail calendar into the Slant calendar view. Contact-linked Redtail meetings are imported as notes. |
| Notes | Notes | Notes are imported when they are linked to an imported contact, household, person, business, or trust. |
| Note related contact | Note related record | Used to attach the note to the related contact. Notes without a linked contact are not imported. |
| Activity-only notes | Not imported | Notes tied only to a Redtail activity are not imported. Notes tied to both an activity and an imported contact are imported as notes on the related Slant record |
| Note fields | Note fields | Includes note content. HTML content is preserved when present. |
| Note author | Not imported | |
| Comments | Not imported | |
| Opportunities | Not imported | |
| Opportunity fields | Not imported | |
| Opportunity stages / types | Not imported | |
| Workflows | Not imported | Workflow import is available through a separate workflow import process. |
| Accounts | Not imported | |
| Account assets | Not imported | |
| Account beneficiaries / owners / insureds | Not imported | |
| Account transactions | Not imported | |
| Documents | Not imported | Stored Redtail documents are not imported from the SQL backup. |
| Dropbox files | Not imported | Stored Dropbox files referenced by Redtail are not imported from the SQL backup. |
| Email history / broadcast emails | Not imported | |
| Email templates | Not imported | |
| Note templates | Not imported | |
| Activity templates | Not imported | |
| Automations | Not imported | |
| Reports / custom exports / quicklists | Not imported | |
| Seminars | Not imported | |
| Contact photos | Not imported | Redtail contact photos are not imported. |
| Social media profiles | Not imported | Redtail social media profile links are not imported. |
| Contact URLs for people | Not imported | Business website URLs are imported for businesses; personal contact URLs are not mapped to dedicated Slant fields. |
| Contact professional details | Not imported | |
| Contact interests / objectives | Not imported | |
| Contact assets / liabilities / banks / taxes | Not imported | |
| External integration mappings / webhooks | Not imported | |
| Original created date across imported records | Original created date | Slant preserves the original Redtail created date for imported households, people, tasks, notes, and event notes when available. |
| Updated date across records | Not imported | |
| Mail merge templates | Not imported |
From the Redtail workflow import
| Redtail field/concept | Slant field/concept | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Workflows | Projects | Redtail workflows are imported as Slant projects when the Import workflows as projects checkbox is enabled during import setup. |
| Workflow templates | Project templates | Slant creates project templates from Redtail workflow templates and uses them when creating imported workflow projects. |
| Workflow name | Project name input | The final Slant project name combines the household name and project template title. |
| Workflow fields | Project fields | Mapped fields include workflow name, current step, workflow steps, step tasks, and step completion state. |
| Workflow completed steps | Project status / completed date | Redtail workflows are marked complete in Slant when all imported workflow steps are completed. Incomplete workflows become in-progress projects. |
| Workflow current step | Current project milestone | Used to determine the current Slant project milestone. |
| Workflow template steps | Project milestones | Workflow template steps become Slant project template milestones. |
| Workflow step tasks | Project tasks / task templates | Workflow step tasks are used to create project template tasks and imported project tasks under the appropriate project milestones. |
| Workflow outcomes | Project milestone outcomes | Workflow outcomes are mapped to Slant project milestone outcomes when possible. |
| Workflow assigned user | Not imported |
FAQ
How long does the import take?
How long does the import take?
Extraction typically takes a few minutes depending on the size of your database. The final import step also runs in the background — you’ll see a progress bar showing how many records have been created.
Can I change how contacts are categorized after starting the import?
Can I change how contacts are categorized after starting the import?
You can change the category for any contact on the review step before clicking Import. Once the import has started, you’ll need to update records individually in Slant.
What happens if I close the window during import?
What happens if I close the window during import?
The import continues in the background. You can check its progress by returning to Settings → Data import and clicking on the import.
Can I run multiple imports from Redtail?
Can I run multiple imports from Redtail?
Yes. Each import is tracked separately on the Data import page. Be aware that running multiple imports from the same Redtail database may create duplicate records.