# Import members

Importing a list of members will enable you to : 

* **Quickly populate your audience table with your contacts.** You can choose whether or not to notify new members.
* **Bulk assign members to groups,** whether they are new or existing members. 

## Importing a list of contacts

Go to your audience table and click on the `Actions` button at the top right of your table, then on `Import members`.

<figure><img src="https://3055204660-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FrzBxnWaSListMwx3rzKu%2Fuploads%2FwNh7LlpuQNHdbk3aUCB0%2FAudience%20table.png?alt=media&#x26;token=bb491f0c-294e-403b-96c7-3b53ccea87b8" alt="Importing members from your audience table"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

From the opened window, upload the list of contacts you want to add to your audience, assign to a group, or both 😊. To do this, click on the upload button and select an **Excel format** file on your device. Your file must meet the following requirements:

1. **Be in .xlsx or .xls format**. - .csv files are not allowed.&#x20;
2. **Contain a column with the title Email (or email) in the 1st line.** Place in this column the email addresses of contacts you want to add to your audience or assign to a group.
3. **Include a maximum of 2000 contacts**. If you have more contacts to process, split your list into several files and repeat the operation 😉.&#x20;
4. **Weigh less than 5 MB.**

If you also want to import values for custom properties, you’ll need to create one column per custom property. The title of each column must contain the **slug** of that property. For custom properties of the **Single select** or **Multi select** type, the values for each member must be written using the **slug** of each option.

{% file src="<https://3055204660-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FrzBxnWaSListMwx3rzKu%2Fuploads%2Ffd7bipOjdJFo71V7OeDu%2FMembers%20import%20example.xlsx?alt=media&token=db7102c0-a1e4-47b6-85cd-935a094dbc00>" %}

{% hint style="info" %}
You can find the slug of a custom property and its values from the **side panel** of that property (👉 More information here).
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
Your file may contain other columns as the Email column will be the only one used during import. It does not need to be in the first position.
{% endhint %}

Once your file is uploaded, a side panel opens showing the number of members included in the file and the list of detected custom properties.

Alerts will highlight any columns that contain errors, either because:

* no property matches that column name, or
* the column’s values are not in the correct format for the property type.

<figure><img src="https://3055204660-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FrzBxnWaSListMwx3rzKu%2Fuploads%2FhR5SQp6x0RsRHdTHCy9r%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=7231a1a6-1a5e-48de-838a-70e12d84057b" alt="" width="322"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Bulk assigning members to groups

From the search bar, **find the group(s) to which you wish to associate the uploaded contact list.** Click on their name to add them. To deselect a group, click on the cross that appears when hovering your mouse over it.

{% hint style="info" %}
Only your existing groups appear in the search bar. If you want to assign your contacts to a new group, you need to [create](https://help.meltingspot.io/english/manage-spot/audience/members/broken-reference) it first in your audience table.&#x20;
{% endhint %}

If any contacts in your file are already part of the selected group(s), they will not be added again during processing. 🤓

## Notifying invited members

If you invite new members to your audience, you can choose whether or not to notify them by e-mail of this invitation.&#x20;

**By default, they are not notified.** Click on the activation button if you want them to be. The e-mail they will receive is an invitation to your Spot, which you can review and edit by clicking on the `View template` button.

{% hint style="success" %}
Notified members will be informed of invitations to the Spot, not of additions to groups. Group membership is only visible to an Admin.
{% endhint %}

**👉 You can now start processing your file by clicking on `Import` in the bottom right-hand corner.**

## Results of the import

Once the import has been launched, you can exit your Spot settings. **You'll receive an e-mail within a few minutes notifying you of the end of file processing.**

The e-mail contains a summary of the results: we invite you to check whether the number of members imported or associated with groups is in line with your upload. **If you notice any inconsistencies, check the detailed results in the e-mail attachment:**

* The 1st column shows the list of e-mail addresses previously uploaded.&#x20;
* The 2nd column shows the result of the new member invitation operation:&#x20;
  * ✅ `Success` → The member has been invited.
  * &#x20;✅ `Skipped` → This email is already associated with an existing member (whatever its [status](https://help.meltingspot.io/english/manage-spot/audience/members/members-status)).&#x20;
  * ❗️ `ReachedLimit` → You have reached your limit of members allowed in your Spot. Please contact <support@meltingspot.io>.&#x20;
  * ❗️`Failed` → An error occurred when inviting this member (invalid email).&#x20;
* And as many columns as you had selected groups. For each of these groups, the result may be:
  * &#x20;✅ `Success` → The member has been added to the group.&#x20;
  * ✅ `Skipped` → The member was already part of the group.&#x20;
  * ❗️`Failed` → An error occurred when adding the member to the group.&#x20;

If you have any questions about these results, don't hesitate to contact us 😉