Subscriber Import: Simple Upload

The Omnilert Subscriber Import utility is used to import subscriber data via CSV upload files.

Two CSV file layouts are available. The "simple upload" layout is used to upload subscribers using a bulk list, commonly found in spreadsheets.

Unlike the Command-Driven Upload, this simple upload format is used to add new subscriber information only. (There are no deletion or update commands in this upload format.)

Please Note: CSV files must use UTF-8 character encoding.

Simple CSV upload fields

The only required field is the "user_name", which must be the first field in the CSV file and must include a unique ID (username) for each subscriber. The first row of the CSV file must be a header row with field names described below.

Other fields can be in any order with the exception of "Carrier_1" and "Carrier_2", which must follow their corresponding "Phone_1" or "Phone_2". (For SMS, the phone and carrier information needs to be together.)

It is OK to omit unused fields.

CSV file formatting and encoding

The CSV (Comma Delimited Text) file format using plain-text/ASCII (ISO 8859-1) encoding. Individual CSV fields may or may not be quote-encapsulated. 

Example simple upload file

The following is an example of a simple CSV file to upload subscribers into Omnilert. 

CSV files can be easily viewed and/or edited in a simple spreadsheet editor, such as Excel. Here is what our sample file appears in Excel:

Not that each field is in its own column of the spreadsheet with the items in row one being the field headers described previously.

As you can see, our subscriber data doesn't include all of the possible fields. Instead, we only include the data fields need, with the "user_name" column first. 

The first row is the header row. The header row tells Omnilert which fields are in each subsequent column.

If a given subscriber doesn't have data for a field, that's not a problem. Just leave that field blank for that subscriber.

We'll use "Save As..." and set the file type to "Comma Delimited Text (CSV)". The resulting file is a plain-text CSV file. 

If opened in a plain-text editor, like Notepad, the file will appear as:

As you can see, this simple text file uploads subscribers into Omnilert.

The text fields are quote-encapsulated in this sample. This is optional, unless the field may contain data that has commas in it, such as last names with suffixes.

In the above example, the "Tags" column has multiple tags and commas in it, so the CSV does require quotes around that field.

Note: It's OK to quote encapsulate data fields in the CSV file. However, do not quote-encapsulate entire rows in the CSV file, as that will appear as one big field and thus will not import into Omnilert properly.

When to use the simple upload format?

This simple layout is best used for bulk loading data into the system. If you are pulling data from another system, such as payroll or another database, this format may be the simplest, easiest option.

Since this upload only adds new data to the system, it's not designed to update or delete records. 

To update/delete data, use the Command-Driven Upload format.

What will happen if a username in my Simple Upload file already exists in Omnilert?

Omnilert will not allow duplicate usernames. If the username being added is already in use by another subscriber within your account, no new subscriber will be added. You'll receive an error in your upload log indicating "Username in use" for that row and the file will then continue to process.

The existing subscriber will remain. If any SMS, Email, Voice, or Groups listed in the row can be added to the subscriber, they will be added.