UPDATE 2022.07.27: Importing LONG lists of contacts
Your .csv Import file may have hundreds of contacts. Good work!
This means that it may take a little while for PastorsLine to process all of them.
If the process time is short, you will see the LOADING icon (purple moving circle).
If the process time is a bit long and you click on Continue again, you will see a message (see image below).
The message reads: 'Your file is being processed, an email will be sent after import process is finished. You can close this page, this process will continue in the background.'
THE EASIEST WAY TO GET TO THE IMPORT SCREEN
| After you log in to PastorsLine...
Step 1 Click on Create New (top item in left-hand most column). The Create New box will open.
Step 2 By default, you will be in the All tab. |
 | Step 3: Click on the People tab. This will narrow down your options for easier selection.
Step 4: Click on Import (Upload) Contacts. |
WORKING WITH THE IMPORT CONTACTS SCREEN
STEP 1
Black arrow in image above: Click here to see a tutorial of the process.
Blue arrow in image above: Click here to see an example of a .csv file.
Turquoise box in image above: Click Select File to choose the file you want to import. The file should be stored on your local device.
Brown box in image above: Click Next to continue the process.
STEP 2
Gold 1 in image above: Click the downward arrow to select the country you are importing your numbers from. NOTE: All your numbers must be from the same country. This is because different countries have different number structures.
Gold 2 in image above:
 | To add these imported people to a group you have already created in PastorsLine, start typing the name of the group to populate a list to choose from. Select the group. NOTE: This is optional. |
 After clicking the Add line or hitting ENTER...
 | You can also create a new PastorsLine only group here (not connected to an integration). Just type in the name of the group you wish.
PastorsLine will tell you 'No results found'. This is true because you are creating a new group. Just ignore it.
To continue, click on the Add line (in our case it is AddMyNewGroup) or and hit Enter. PastorsLine will create this new group for you. |
 | If you want to add your imported contacts to multiple groups, repeat this process until you have selected all the groups to add them to. |
Gold 3 in main image above: Click Back to go to the previous screen if you need to make changes.
Gold 4 in main image above: Click Continue to go to the next step.
STEP 3
In this step, you are going to map your .csv file fields. In other words, you are going to tell PL what each column in your file represents, so we can store the data accurately.
You need to make a choice for EACH column in your file. In the above example, we will make five (5) choices (turquoise arrows in image above).
 | The list in the image to the left shows your mapping options. The list is the same for each column.
Logically, you will most likely not use the same option twice. |
If you want to start over, click Refresh (opposite arrow icon, brown box in main age above).
The image below shows the completed mapping for our example:
Click Back to go to the previous screen if you need to make changes.
Click Continue to go to the next step.
STEP 4
You will now be in the preview screen. Double check to make sure the column headers and fields are matched correctly. If not, click on Back to make corrections. If the matching is accurate, click Continue to go to the next steps.
STEP 5
This last step gives you a summary of your import.
New Contacts Added (0): In our example there are none. In other words, there were no new people added from your imported .csv file to the existing people in the group. If there were, you could click on this link to see the details of the people added.
Existing Contacts (3): In our example there are three. In other words, there were 3 people already existing in PastorsLine that matched contacts in your import file. You can click on this link to see the details of the people added.
Click on Finish import.
STEP 6
You will be taken to the Import History category of the Groups view. In this category, you can view details of the imports you have done.
The following information uses images from earlier versions of PastorsLine. The logic is the same however. [2022.01.14 -- Updated images as soon as possible]
PastorsLine now allows the importing of address via the CSV upload option, and this information will sync to the system.
Here's what happens when you import a list of contacts into PastorsLine (PL):
1. For contacts with a phone number listed, if we find an exact match, then we do not import it into PL, if there is NO Match, then we create a new contact in PL.
2. For contacts with no phone number listed, we try to match by first and last name, if there is a profile in PL with the same info already, then we do not create a new contact. If NO match is found, we create a new contact in PL
For more information about what is excluded from in import, check out this article HERE.
Easily Identify New Imports to a Group
Sometimes, it is useful to know which people you have just imported. So, when you import members into a group, PastorsLine also makes a separate group containing the new imports.
Let’s say you have the group, Bible Study with 15 members. You import several new members into this group. Now, your Bible Study group will have 18 members, and there will be another group of the new imports with 3 members.
