Import Guide

How to import / upload your member, contact or donor records into Wild Apricot

Overview

Wild Apricot allows you to import your contact / member records from a spreadsheet. Importing records this way can be used to update existing records or add new records to the database.

- To update existing records you must specify a valid User ID (aka Member ID) or e-Mail in your spreadsheet - User ID or e-Mail is used to uniquely identify each person.
- To create a new record leave the User ID field empty AND either leave e-Mail field empty as well or specify a new e-Mail address not currently in the database.

Here is the overview of the steps to complete an import.

• Upload your contacts (or member) list form a spreadsheet
• Review your file settings
• Map the fields in your Import file (your spreadsheet) to existing fields or set the system to create new fields during import
• Start the Import Process
• Review completed import

Before You Get Started

Canceling an Import

You can cancel the import at any time before it completes - however, this will not affect the data already imported to that point. 

Making bulk updates with Import

To learn how to use import to do bulk updates after you've completed you first import, see bulk updates ( see Bulk Updates using Import Bulk changes using import and export ).

Importing Bundles

See Import of Bundles for help with importing Bundle Membership levels.

Impact of Import on existing Contacts/Members

Member ID or e-Mail address is used to uniquely identify your contacts, and both have to be unique. Member ID is automatically generated by the system and you CANNOT create your own. if you provide an invalid Member ID it will be ignored and replaced with the system generated ID.

- During import the system first checks if a valid member ID is specified - if it exists then the record is updated (e-mail can also be updated this way).
- If no valid member id is specified then the system checks if the supplied e-mail exists; if the e-mail exists then the record is updated, otherwise a new contact is created.
- If no member ID or e-mail is supplied then a new contact record is created and assigned a new system generated Member ID.

i.e. if in your spreadsheet you specify the following:

• User ID or E-mail already exist: the record with that member id or e-mail is updated (no new record created)
• Both User ID and E-mail do NOT exist: A new contact record is created; any specified member id is ignored and system generates its own member ID.
• Duplicate User ID / E-mail: If the member ID or e-mail is duplicated in the spreadsheet then all the duplicate records are NOT imported.

Initial Import Checklist

Before you start an import please make sure you review the following:

• Import File Format - XLS, XLSX, CSV or XML Spreadsheet format
• Required Fields - your Import file must always contain e-mail column, which is used as the primary identifier for records
• Field Date Format - If you have fields with date values be sure to use one of our support date formats, see "Date Formats" on our Import Guide help page.

Import Process Overview

File Upload

• Browse to Contacts
• Select Import
• Click the [Browse] button to upload your Import File
• Find and select your Import file from your computer - make sure the format is either XLS, XLSX, CSV or XML Spreadsheet.
• Click on the [Upload] to being the import process
  • This button is disabled until you add a file to import

Depending on the size of your file you may see the following screen. Once the upload of your Import file is complete you will be asked to confirm your file settings.

Confirming File Settings

The File Settings screen you will it depend on the type of file your are importing.

If it is an XML Spreadsheet, XLS, or XLSX format you will see the following.

• However if it is a CSV format the file setting screen will look like this:

For CSV files you will need to define the following settings.

• Is the file Comma, Semicolon or Tab separated
• The kind of decimal used
• The date format used for date based fields.
  • If you encounter problems with the date format you selected, try another choice.

Using First Row "header" Values

No matter what the format of your file you will also need to specify if you file has a row of column headers. If your file does have a row of column headers (see example below) then you should check this option (if it isn't already checked). However note that - leading apostrophe in Excel file column names are discarded because this how Excel treats them.

Mapping Fields

When you reach the "Mapping" stage of your import you will see your columns headers listed vertically on left side. If you did not have column headers in your Import File you will see the default column names.

Contacts vs. Members If you are importing Members you must assign them the membership level (see #4 Assign Contact to Membership ). But if you are imported contacts (i.e., prospects) you do not need to assign them to a membership level. See Contact Vs Member records for more details.

You will also see the following elements on this screen:

1. Sample data - These are the first few rows of data from your file. If anything looks strange at this stage please review and adjust any necessary settings by clicking the [Back] button
2. Import option - If you would like to import a particular field into your Wild Apricot database select it. Otherwise leave it unchecked and this field will be ignored (not imported).
3. Creating a new field options - If you select to create a new field with Wild Apricot for this field from your file you will have to give it a Name, Type and set the Access and the following options.
   1. New field - for all contacts:  Select this option if this field should apply to all contacts
   2. New field - for all members : Select this option if your new field should only apply to members (contacts that belong to a membership).
      See Contact Vs Member records  on the difference between these options.
4. Assign Contact to Membership Level - If you select to map a field to the system field Membership Level vs. importing a contact without a membership level you will have the following options
   1. Ignore all values that are not currently membership levels 
   2. Add new levels into the system as they are encountered
5. Automatic Matches - When possible, the importer will attempt to match your fields to existing fields within your account.
6. Progress of Import - During each stage of the import you can see your current progress in the upper right progress indicator.
7. Notes on selection - Some fields have special rules or instructions for proper formatting. Read these messages to successfully complete your import.

Setting Member Passwords

During the import process you have the option to set your member's password or have the system generate one for them. If you would like your members to set their own password you can send them a manual e-mail blast (see Sending e-mail blasts ) and use the "Member Password Reset URL" macro to send them the appropriate link to do so. See the "password" section on the Import Field Guide for more information on password options.

Once you have completed your first import Wild Apricot will remember your mapping settings and reuse them during your next import.

Importing records without membership levels column

If you have both non-members and members in different levels in your import file, you need to map the appropriate fields as mentioned above to properly import your records.

However, if you only have non-members (contacts) in your file or members from only one membership level it can be imported without mapping the membership level. System will automatically detect that you did not map anything to the system field 'Membership level' and you will see the following screen.

Your choices are to:

• Import all new records as contacts (e.g, Prospects, Newsletter Subscribers or other non-member contacts)
• Import all new records as members of one specific membership level - if you select this option you will need to select a level from the list.

This only affects NEW records (records not already in Wild Apricot). Existing records are not affected in any way. If importing new non-member contacts (i.e. you leave membership level empty) then any membership fields in your excel file are simply ignored.

Reviewing and Starting Your Import

And finally you will reach the stage to start the processing of your import file.

Recommended: Keeping Notes

To keep track of the reason behind different imports be sure to add some help notes (i.e., "import of new prospects") to help you keep track different imports. Click the* [Start Import]* button to being the processing of your import file.

Import in progress

Once the import process has been started (by clicking the [Start Import] button your current import file will start being processed. If you have other tasks to work on you can leave this screen safely and the import will continue in the "background" and you can review it's progress by visiting the Import stage again.

Simultaneous Imports

If another administrator has started a new import, you will see the message below. As it indicates starting a new import session can cause conflicts with the data that is being imported by another admin so we require you to 'take ownership' of the current import to start a new import.

Canceling an Import

Canceling an import If you chose to cancel your import before it completes (by clicking on the [Cancel] button it will stop the concurrent import without adding contacts to your database.

Reviewing Finished Import

Once the import is finished, you will see a summary of the Import file that was uploaded, the admin the completed the upload as well as other information such as dates, your notes and affected contacts. To review any of this information click on the corresponding link. For example if you would like to view the imported contacts click on the link next to total processed.

Troubleshooting

If you notice that the system reported some problems with you import click on the link next to "Problems" to review the issue in the Import log.

In the Import log you will see the following options to review and find the cause of the problem:

• "Rows with errors" Filter- This will allow you to view or search only the rows of data in your import log with errors. Alternatively you could set this to "all" to search all rows of your import log.
• *Errors:*The error recorded by the system will be noted in red with a note in gray with more specific details (if available). Also note that the row that each specific error relates to is on the right.

Reviewing Imported Records

From Contacts you can access the Import history for your account. Initially you will see a list of all your completed imports along with a basic search box. Using the details available in the list ( Date, Imported By, Notes,etc) locate the import you would like to review in detail.

See also

• Bulk changes using import and export - For making bulk changes and or erasing values with export/import