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Import members or profile variables

Lisa Wong
Updated

Add or update members' profile variables. If you want to recruit new members by sending invitations and reminders, you can also import their information into the application.

Create a comma-separated values (CSV) file containing members' email addresses and profile variables.
Tip: You can change the CSV delimiter from a comma to a semicolon, pipe, or tab, on the My Account page. For more information, see Edit your personal user settings.
Tip: To avoid CSV import errors, review your CSV file in a text editor, and delete any blank rows or rows without email addresses.
Note:

  • Before you import profile variables in a CSV file, we strongly recommend creating a new profile variable in the Community app to ensure the correct question type is used. New profile variables are automatically imported and created as Text profile variables, unless they match the name of a pre-existing profile variable of another type. Creating the profile variable in the Community app first ensures that the values in your CSV are mapped to the correct question type. For more information, see Add a profile variable.

Note:
  • Admins can perform this task. To perform this task as a Power User, you must have the Can access sensitive data permission.
  • Calculated Date profile variables cannot be imported.
  1. Import members or profile variables by doing one of the following:
    • Click the App Drawer and select Members.
    • Click the App Drawer and select Member Groups.
    • Click the App Drawer and select Profile Variables.

  2. On the toolbar, click Import.
  3. Click Choose File, select a CSV file to import, and click Open.
    The CSV file name appears.
  4. Optional: Select Exclude members found in the csv file to exclude active community members from your upload.
    Tip: Use this option when your CSV file contains both non-members and active members. Excluding active members prevents you from changing a member's information, such as their profile variable values or the community they belong to.

    Non-members are included in the upload regardless of whether this option is selected or cleared.

  5. Click Upload.
    A notification message about the status of your CSV file appears in the notification center at the top right of the page.

    The application matches profile variables to members using the values in the MemberId or Email columns. The system first looks for the MemberId column in the CSV file and uses the MemberId values if possible. If the CSV file does not contain MemberId, the system then looks for the Email column and matches profile variables based on members' email addresses.

    Note: Unless you are performing a system upload, email addresses are not updated when you import a CSV file, so that members' current email addresses are not overwritten accidentally. To find out if an email address in your CSV file does not match a member's current email address, download the Errors and Alerts file that was generated from your import. You can then update your external system's records.

    The following table describes what happens to members and profile variables when you import a CSV file.

    If the CSV file contains Then
    A new email address A prospective member is added with a status of nonmember.
    An existing email address The application updates the member and profile variables associated with that email address to match what is in the CSV file.
    An old email address The application keeps track of all email addresses, old and new, that have been associated with members and nonmembers at any point in time. When the application detects an old email address in a CSV file, it updates the member and profile variables associated with that email address to match what is in the CSV file. The current email address stored in the application does not change to match what is in the CSV file, unless you are performing a system upload. Instead, an Errors and Alerts file is generated notifying you of the outdated email address.
    A new profile variable The profile variable is added to the application, and can then be used:
    • In surveys for conditional logic
    • In reports to enhance your data analysis
    • In sampling to define your member group or recruitment sample

    If a profile variable has been renamed but the CSV file uses the old profile variable name, the application will create a new profile variable under the old name upon import, instead of merging the values into the renamed profile variable.

    An existing profile variable The application updates or adds variable values.

    This process is case-insensitive. For example, if the file contains City values spelled as vancouver, toronto, and montreal but they were spelled as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal when the profile variables was first created, they values will be imported as the latter.

    The application automatically deletes listings for failed imports after 30 days.

    Note: Importing Identity profile variables may cause errors. For more information, see Identity profile variables.
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