Members: Add Members: Import Members from CSV File

 

This page allows you to import email addresses from a CSV file.

 

Email addresses which are already members can either be skipped or updated with new data (i.e. demographic information), so importing members can be used as a way of updating current members with additional information.

 

A CSV file has the information you would like imported in a CSV (comma separated values) format. The first row of the file tells ListManager which field the data in each column should be imported into. For example:

 

EmailAddr_,FullName_,Company,Phone
bob@example.com,Bob Shelby,Shelby Corp.,555-555-5555

 

In this example, EmailAddr_ and FullName_ correspond to the default database fields in the members_ table for email addresses and full names.

 

Additional fields called "Company" and "Phone" have been added to this members_ table, so this information can also be imported into each member's record. (These fields are not provided by default; you will need to add them to your members_ table if you would like to store this information).

 

The "EmailAddr_" column name is required. You may add other data if you like. Some default members_ table fields which you may want to include in your import are:

 

Additional_

Placeholder for any information you want to store associated with this member.

 

Comment_

Holds whatever comments you wish to put in. Useful as a user-defined 'additional info' field.

 

EmailAddr_

The email address of this person (required).

 

FullName_

Full name of this person.

 

MailFormat_

What mail format does the user prefer, (T)ext, (M)ultipart, or (H)TML. The default is M, for Multipart.

 

MemberType_

Specifies the membership status. If specified, you should also select "Use type setting in CSV file". Possible member statuses are:

 

normal (default)

unsub

held

private

expired

held

needs-goodbye

needs-hello

needs-confirm

 

Note that unless the server is configured to permit it, non-normal members (e.g., unsub) will not be able to be made normal, so you cannot resubscribe members inadvertently.

 

See Members: Add Members: Add Member: Settings: Member Status for more information about these different member statuses.

 

By default, the MemberType_ may be changed only if the current MemberType_ is normal. To change other member types, Utilities: Administration: Server: Server Settings: Security: User Limits: Let CSV Member Imports Update Non-Normal Member Status must be set to yes.

 

SubType_

The type of mail the subscriber wants to receive. This setting correlates to Membership Kind. Possible kinds are:

 

mail (default)

digest

mime-digest

index

nomail

 

UserID_

Holds the user-definable 'user id' information, such as a key back to another table.

 

Action

You may import members in one of four ways:

 

Import quietly as regular members

Import the members into the list, but do not send a hello or confirmation message. These members will receive normal list mailings.

 

Import as regular members and send list hello doc

Import the members into the list, and send them the hello message as specified for your list in Utilities: Document Associations. If no document is specified here, new members will receive a generic message from ListManager. These members will receive normal list mailings.

 

Import as unconfirmed members, and send confirmation request

Import the members into the list as unconfirmed, and send them the confirmation message as specified for your list in Utilities: Document Associations. If no document is specified here, new members will receive a generic message from ListManager. These members will not receive normal list mailings until they confirm their memberships.

 

Use type setting in CSV file

Import the members using the setting specified in the MemberType_ column.

 

Update existing members? (CSV Only)

Determines how ListManager will handle duplicate email addresses in CSV files. If set to "No" (default), ListManager will skip duplicate addresses. If set to "Yes," ListManager will update duplicate addresses with the additional data provided for the address.

 

ListManager will recognize the member as a duplicate if the email address is the same, or the file includes their member ID number (and that is a match).

 

Note: If set to any type but "normal" the MemberType_ field may not be overwritten unless Utilities: Administration: Server: Server Settings: Security: User Limits: CSV Member Imports Can Change Non-Normal Status is set to "Yes".

 

Terminate import

Sets the number of consecutive invalid email addresses to end the import process. For instance, you may want to terminate the import after 10 invalid email addresses, and check your formatting to see why so many addresses are failing. You can also set it to "Do not terminate import due to malformed addresses" if you'd like to ignore any bad addresses and process the import as-is.

 

Select file

Enter the path of the file that contains the members you'd like to import. Or, select Browse to find the file.

 

View Member Columns

This page shows you the fields available to you in the ListManager members_ table. You may use these column names when importing your member data in csv (comma separated value) format.

 

The only required column is EmailAddr_, to specify the email address of the list member.

 

Your database administrator may have added additional columns to your members_ table so it can store additional information. These fields are marked on this page with an asterisk (*).

 

The fields List_, UserNameLC_, and Domain_ will be created automatically by ListManager, and should not be included in a CSV import.

 

Add additional columns to members table

Visible only to server admins. You will be taken to Utilities: Administration: Server: Database: Add/remove member columns: Wizard, where you may add additional members_ columns.

 

Import

Click Import to begin the member import. ListManager will display the number of addresses successfully imported or updated, and display the addresses skipped due to being duplicates or invalid addresses.