The import brings a whole list in at once. It is the way to move people over from another platform, from a spreadsheet, or from anywhere that can produce a CSV file.
Open your member list, open More actions above the list and choose Import.
The import runs in four steps, shown across the top of the window. Nothing is created until you press Import on the last one.
- File takes your CSV, or hands you a template to fill first.
- Columns matches your columns to the member fields.
- Access decides what everybody in the file can reach.
- Review counts the valid rows, lists the ones with issues and sets what happens to people who already exist.
Before you upload
The first screen offers one download. The card reads Member template, with Empty template (CSV) underneath, and the Download button beside it gives you a CSV with the columns already named.
That file is neither empty nor translated. Its headers are German in every language: Vorname, Nachname, E-Mail, Sprache. Below them sits one example row for Max Mustermann, and you have to overwrite or delete it before you upload.
Your own file works too, as long as it is a CSV with a header row. Column order does not matter, because you map the columns in the next step.
Mapping the columns
After the upload you tell the import which of your columns holds what.
Three fields are required: first name, last name and email.
Everything else is optional: language, company, address line 1 and 2, city, postal code, state and country. Your own custom fields appear under additional fields, so data you already keep elsewhere lands in the right place instead of being lost.
The preview shows what has been read and how many rows the file contains. Check it here rather than after the import.
The email address identifies a person. A row with no email, or with an address that is not valid, is skipped rather than guessed at.
People who already exist
The import checks every email against your platform.
An address that already exists is never duplicated. By default the profile data of that person is left exactly as it is, including anything you have changed since.
They are not skipped, though. They still receive the access you pick on the Access step, and if they were not on your member list yet, the import adds them there and counts them as Linked. Run the same file a second time with a different selection and the person ends up with both.
On the Review step, under Existing members, switch from Link only (default) to Update fields and those rows update the person instead: the fields in your file are written over what is there. Empty cells are left alone. Use it deliberately, because an outdated spreadsheet will happily overwrite good data with old data.
Assigning access
The import assigns access in the same pass, and it applies to everybody in the file: courses, hubs, community forums and badges, calendars and events, groups and tags.
This is where a group pays off. Import a hundred people into a group and you can give all of them a new course later with a single change to the group.
Importing several batches with different access? Split the file. One import per group is easier to think about than one import you then have to correct by hand.
While it runs
Larger files are processed in chunks and the screen tells you how far it has got. When it finishes you get four counts: Created, Updated, Linked and Skipped.
Linked is the one that is easy to miss. It counts every row that was attached to your member list in this run, whether the person was new or already existed. A new person therefore raises both Created and Linked.
Skipped rows are worth a look. They are usually a missing first name, last name or email, or an address that is not valid.
After the import
New members count towards the member limit of your plan, so a large import can run into it. The import does not stop when that happens. It fills your platform up to the limit and skips every row after that, so the rest of the file lands in the skipped count.
Check a few of the imported people afterwards. Open one profile, confirm the fields landed where you expected and the access is right, and you know the other ninety-nine are fine.