Import a CSV file in People

If you want to transfer your church’s people information into Planning Center, upload it in bulk! Export your data as a Comma Separated Value (.csv or CSV) file from your existing database or favorite spreadsheet program. CSV files can be opened and edited in any spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.

Tip

To make importing quick and easy, make sure your CSV has the correct information by reviewing the import guidelines to format your CSV correctly.

Check out this Planning Center University video to see how to import your CSV!

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Tip

Only profile information can be imported into Planning Center. If you want other data in your Planning Center database, use the following options:

• Giving history: use a third-party integration 

• Attendance history: add previous sessions and enter attendance manually

• Notes: use a third-party integration 

• Groups: create a custom field to store groups from a previous database, create lists based on that custom field, and use bulk actions to add them to a group

Upload the file

A manager or organization administrator can upload the CSV file.

1. On the People tab, select the ⚙️ gear icon on the right.

2. Choose Import/Export CSV from the dropdown.

3. Select Start Import and choose your file to upload.

Important

Organization administrator profiles cannot be updated by a CSV import.

Match fields

If you used any fields in addition to the default fields, you can still match the columns in your CSV file to fields in People during the match fields step of the import. On the People import page, review the columns and fields and preview your import.

1. The CSV Column Name shows on the left. Compare the Planning Center Field name in the middle with the column name to make sure the columns and fields match. View examples of data that will be imported on the right under Examples from CSV.

2. If you have columns in your CSV file that you don't want to import, select Not Used in the Planning Center Field dropdown. Any field marked as such will not be imported.

3. If you accidentally upload the wrong file or notice from the examples that you missed some information, select Replace CSV file in the top right.

   Tip

   Check the Empty fields box on the bottom left to remove any existing data from a profile if the CSV field is blank. Leave the box unchecked if you want to ignore blank fields and keep the existing data.

4. Once you've verified each field, select Preview import on the bottom right.

Preview data

View new or updated profiles and households, any errors the importer found, and all identical records in the Import preview. Review a few profiles to make sure the data is getting imported into the expected fields.

1. If you do not want to update or create a particular person or group of people, uncheck the box on the left of their name or select Ignore all.

2. If you have any errors in your file, go to the Errors tab on the left, and then select Download CSV at the bottom of the page to make adjustments to those profiles. Uncheck the errored profiles and finish this import, and then fix the errors in the file you exported and re-import that file.

3. Select Finish import to process your import and either update or create all selected profiles.

Import errors

If you receive an error message at any part of the import process, it means you have formatted something incorrectly or excluded required information from your CSV file. Here are the errors you might get and the solutions to fix them.

Error message	Explanation	Solution
Oops! We were unable to process the CSV file you provided. Could not read CSV file. Attribs can't be blank.	This error usually means one of 3 things: There is a blank column header in your CSV file. There is a line break on a column header. The CSV file is delimited by a semicolon or other character rather than a comma.	Enter a column header or delete the column completely. Column headers must be on only one line. Delete any extra rows that are part of the column header. Change the delimiter to a comma in your spreadsheet program's settings.
First and Last name fields must be selected.	You did not match any of your columns to the first name and last name fields during the matching phase of the import.	Restart the import, making sure you match the appropriate columns to the first name and last name fields.
No profiles matched this Remote ID and a new profile couldn't be created because a similar profile with a different Remote ID already exists.	A profile in your database has the exact same first name, middle name, last name, suffix, and email address as the row in your CSV file, but the Remote ID's do not match.	Make sure that person in your CSV file has the same remote ID as their existing profile.
Email address has invalid formatting.	The person's email address in your CSV file is formatted incorrectly.	Make sure the email address in your CSV file is formatted correctly.
For security, an Organization Administrator's profile can not be updated via CSV update.	Organization administrators cannot be updated via imports.	Update that organization administrator's profile manually. The importer will skip over this profile.

Undo the import

If there are any errors in the import that you missed in the Preview step, you can undo the import up to 48 hours after you imported it.

Warning

If you have merged any profiles from the import, do not undo the import. Undoing the import can completely delete the merged person from your database, removing any scheduled positions, registered events, donations, etc.

Undoing an import will have the following side effects:

• If a profile was created by the import, it will be deleted.

• If a profile was created by the import and then chosen as the primary when merging with an existing profile, the profile will be deleted.

• If two existing profiles were updated by the import, and then merged, any information imported for either profile from the merge will be reverted.

• If the profiles created during the import were given admin permissions, anything assigned will be unassigned, such as groups, lists, workflows, teams, etc.

• If a data field was untouched by the import, the data will remain untouched.

• If the import changed a field, but you manually change the same field after the import, it will revert to what it was before.

Undo an import from the Date import & export page.

1. Select the ⚙️ gear icon on the right of the People tab.

2. Choose Import/Export CSV from the dropdown.

3. Select View Results on the right of the import you want to undo.

4. Select Undo in the top right to remove anything created or updated by the information in the import.

Important

You can update your existing profiles by importing other CSV files with information.