How to mass import contacts into LoveAdmin

You can mass import contacts into the LoveAdmin system using an Excel spreadsheet (.xlxs).

Steps:

First click into a group* you want to import contacts into. Then:

• Click on Actions > Add new contact
• Click on the 'Import contacts' menu button
• Click on 'Download template' in step 1 to download a spreadsheet template for the group. The template will include all the relevant fields and columns you'll require.
• Then proceed with steps 2, 3 and 4 accordingly 

* If you want your template to include every field on your system, then you can follow the same steps by first viewing the the Master contact list.

When adding data to your template and before importing contacts into LoveAdmin, it is vital to follow these guidelines to ensure your data uploads exactly as you intend.

• Ensure there is only one spreadsheet tab
• If you have password protected your spreadsheet, you will need to remove this security layer, or copy the data out into another Excel spreadsheet without a password
• All column headings must match your form fields names exactly - Therefore avoid changing the column headings in the downloaded template
• All column headings must be in row 1
• Remove all blank rows
• Identify and remove duplicate records (multiple contacts should not share a single record)
• Dates on the spreadsheet must be in Long Format e.g. 28 March 1983
• Only include a single email address in each cell
• Email addresses must be in a valid format and not include invalid characters such as spaces, forward/back slashes and asterisks
• The Group name column should include all groups you want the contact added to, separated by a comma e.g. Tornadoes,U16,Girls,Standard Membership. Group names are also case-sensitive and the group names must be typed exactly as they appear in LoveAdmin.
• If importing data into multiple choice fields, the data in the cells must match the choices exactly. If more than one answer is allowed, answers must be separated by a semi-colon, with no space between. e.g. Rugby;Football;Tennis
• Remove all unwanted spaces and unrequired special characters from any cells
• Save the spreadsheet as an Excel spreadsheet format (.xlxs)

Once the data has been checked and imported, it is important to carry out spot-checks on imported member records to ensure data has imported correctly.