Though many of the gift area settings work specifically with pledges and recurring gifts (on the first and fourth tabs of the Gift Area Settings), there are also settings that allow you to import directly (skipping Batch entry) and to determine gift matching. Organisations with the appropriate paid destination can also access functionality for Gift Adjustments via the Gift Area Settings.
While Importacular defaults to importing gifts to a Batch, you do have the option to import gifts directly (in some cases, this option may help shorten import times as batches process more slowly the larger they become).

The Gift 2 tab gives the options to only add gifts to new or existing constituents as well as options regarding Appeals/Packages. If using the Recurring Gift/Pledge Payment option to default the Appeal from the Recurring Gift, these settings will not change the Appeal on the payment, it will default to the value on the Pledge/Recurring Gift.

Using the Appeal Assignment and Package Assignment options, you can choose to defer to an Appeal or Package on an existing Constituent’s record rather than the one mapped in your template.
Gift Match settings will prevent gifts from being added to a constituent if a matching gift already exists on the constituent record. You can either select that gifts should always be added or choose the matching criteria that will determine if the gift already exists and should, therefore, not be added to the batch. These settings also enable Gift Adjustments for organisations with access to that paid destination.
It is not possible to update an existing gift (other than a Gift Adjustment), but you are able to avoid creating a duplicate entry using these settings. Select “Only import gift if it does not match an existing gift” and then choose the appropriate fields on which to match gifts to in order to define a match.

Additionally, you have the option to select what to do if a gift is missing the key fields required to create a gift. You have the option to “Ignore the gift” (so that no gift is created) or “Create an exception” (to view the gift in the Control Report).
