How do I import profile pictures for users in my database?
Profile pictures can come across with everyone else during a mass import. The column is Profile Image, and what goes in it is not a file, it is a direct URL to an image that is already online.
That design is deliberate. The feature exists for organizations arriving from another system, where the photos are already hosted somewhere and each one has an address.
Already migrating from another platform? Start by asking whether it can export profile photo URLs. If it can, you have your column already and none of the steps below apply.
1. If the photos are on your computer
They need an address before Vome can fetch them, so put them somewhere online first and use the link.
- Go to an image host that gives you a direct link, for example postimg.cc.
- Upload the image.
- Copy the Direct Link. Not the page link, the one that ends in the image file itself.
Paste that link into the Profile Image column, on the row for that person.
A public image host makes those photos public. Anyone with the link can open them, and they usually stay reachable after your import finishes. These are photographs of real people, so check that this fits your privacy obligations before you upload a batch, and delete them from the host once Vome has them.
2. Map the column
On the Map fields step of the import, point your column at Profile Image.
3. When it is not worth the trouble
Hosting images one at a time to build a spreadsheet column is slow, and for a handful of people it is slower than doing it by hand. If you are not migrating from another system, add photos individually by editing each profile in the database instead.
It is also not a one-time-only decision. Profile pictures can be added or replaced at any point afterwards, by you or by the person themselves once they claim their account.