How do I prepare my spreadsheet to import into my database?
Most import problems are decided before you upload anything. This page covers what the file should look like. For the upload itself, see How do I mass import a contact list into my database via a spreadsheet?
Decide what this file is for before you build it. Everything you assign during an import applies to the whole file, so a spreadsheet should hold the people who all get the same treatment. Should I segment profile lists before mass importing them into my database? explains how to split them.
1. What every file needs
- A .xlsx or .csv file, with one sheet.
- The first row is your column titles. It is not counted as a person.
- One row per person, up to 10,000 rows per upload.
- Three required columns: First Name, Last Name and Email. A row with no email address cannot be imported, so delete it rather than leaving the cell blank.
One sheet per workbook. An Excel workbook with more than one sheet will fail to upload. If you keep several tabs in one file, save the sheet you want to import as its own file first.
2. Option 1: start from the template
The quickest route. The template attached to this article is the same one the importer offers on its upload step, so it makes no difference which you take.
Fill in what you have. First name, last name and email are required, everything else is optional. The template is also the fastest way to see the formats Vome expects, because the accepted values are written into the column titles.
It carries conditional formatting on the Email and Date of Birth columns, so a badly formatted value turns the cell red before you ever upload. That only survives if you paste into it correctly, which is covered in How do I properly use conditional formatting during the import process?
3. Option 2: build your own file
Perfectly fine, and usually what happens when you are exporting from another system.
You do not have to match our column order or our column names. The importer has an explicit Map fields step where you point each of your columns at a Vome field yourself. What matters is that every column in the file gets mapped to something, so delete the columns you do not want to bring over rather than leaving them in.
The formats still matter:
- Email in the ordinary something@domain.com form.
- Dates, including Date of Birth and Start Date, as YYYY-MM-DD.
- Gender as a number: 0 Male, 1 Female, 2 Other, 3 Rather not say. Use the Gender Text column only when the value is 2.
- Occupation as a number: 0 Other, 1 Student, 2 Professional, 3 Retiree.
- Group Role as a number: 0 Member, 1 Leader.
Field by field detail, including attachments, profile pictures and selection fields, is in How should I format my fields to successfully upload them to my database?
4. What else you can put in the file
Beyond the personal details, four columns connect a person to the rest of Vome: Opportunities, Groups, Group Role and Kiosk PIN. There is also Hours Logged (Off-Vome) and Start Date, which is how service history from a previous system comes across.
Profile tags, shifts, sequences and sites have no column. They are only ever applied to the whole file during the import.
The full column list and what each one does is in How do I mass import profiles into my database?
Stuck on a file? Send it to us and we will help you get the formatting right for the upload.