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CaptrID supports bulk importing people from CSV files into both Master Lists and session rosters. This is the fastest way to populate your roster if you have an existing spreadsheet of people.

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Preparing your CSV file

Your CSV file should follow these guidelines:

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Example CSV

Export your spreadsheet from Excel or Google Sheets using File > Save As > CSV (UTF-8). This ensures special characters (accents, non-English names) are preserved correctly.

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Importing into a Master List

  1. Go to Master Lists in the sidebar
  2. Open the Master List you want to import into (or create a new one first)
  3. Click Import from the toolbar
  4. Select your CSV file — click Select CSV File to open the file picker and choose your .csv file
  5. Map your columns — CaptrID shows your CSV columns on the left and your Master List fields on the right:
    • Columns with matching names are auto-mapped
    • Manually map any unmatched columns
    • Leave columns unmapped if you don’t need that data
  6. Map your UID field — Select which CSV column corresponds to your Master List’s UID field. This is required.
  7. Preview the import — Review the first few rows to confirm the mapping looks correct
  8. Click Import

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What happens during import

  • New UIDs → New people are created in the Master List
  • Existing UIDs → Existing people are updated with the new data (upsert behaviour)
  • Validation errors → Rows with issues (missing UID, invalid data types) are flagged and skipped
  • After import, you’ll see a summary: how many were created, updated, and skipped
Importing updates existing records if the UID already exists. It does not create duplicates. This makes it safe to re-import an updated spreadsheet.

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Importing into a Session

You can also import a CSV directly into a session’s roster during session creation or from the session detail screen.
  1. Open your session
  2. Go to the Roster tab
  3. Click Import CSV
  4. Follow the same mapping process as above
  5. The UID field used is the session’s UID field (set during session creation)
Session imports are subject to your plan’s people limit. If the import would exceed your limit, it will be blocked. Check your current usage in Billing.
Exporting from Excel? You can upload the .xlsx file directly — there is no need to save as CSV first, which is where accented characters and the leading byte-order mark usually get mangled.If a file cannot be read at all, the import is rejected outright with an explanation rather than importing a partial or garbled roster.

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Common issues

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Tips

  • Start small — Import 5-10 rows first to verify the mapping, then import the full file
  • Keep your UID consistent — Use the same ID format across all imports (e.g. always “STU001”, not sometimes “stu001” or “1”)
  • Re-import safely — You can re-import an updated CSV at any time. Existing records are updated, not duplicated.
  • Back up first — If you’re importing into a Master List with existing data, consider exporting the current data first as a backup