Efficiently add multiple attendees at once by importing a CSV file into Brella.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to format your CSV file, which fields are required, and how to complete the import process in just a few steps. Perfect for event organizers managing large or complex invitation lists.
Creating Registrants For The First Time
Prepare the registrant CSV file following the format given below.
Start adding the new registrants to the list by filling in the following columns only (do not add any information besides the following):
❗Email (Mandatory)
First name - Optional, but it's recommended to add the name.
Last name - Optional, but it's recommended to add the name.
Company - Optional
Title - Optional
❗Group_id (Mandatory): indicate what type of attendance and what group this registrant belongs to.
Copy the Group ID from Groups
Once you have the new registrants in the file, export the file (or save as) in .csv format.
Then, go to the admin panel and upload the CSV file for your event by clicking on import.csv.
Now you can mail the newly generated unique join codes and URLs to the new registrants by associating the unique join URLs with the registrant.
NOTE: Brella does not send the join codes and URLs to attendees if you don't have Publish Invites enabled.If you need to send the invites through email software, export the list of registrants generated (click the button Export registrants from the Admin Panel), and import it to your email software to finally send it to the registrants.
Note! In the .csv file, there is a column named qr_string that is created for every unique join code generated once you export the attendee list. With these, you can create QR codes for attendees' badges. Read more here.
Updating Existing Registrants
Navigate to the "SETTINGS" tab from the People tab on the event Admin Panel.
Export the existing registrants' data file.
Open the file in Google Sheets or Open Office and
❗DO NOT EDIT/CHANGE: ID, JOIN LINK, OR JOIN CODE.
Update the details as required for existing registrants.
Once ready, export the file (or save as) in .csv format and upload the CSV file.
❗ DON'T IMPORT THE CSV FILE FROM YOUR CRM OR CONVERTER SOFTWARE; USE THE EXPORTED CSV FILE FROM BRELLA.
When you have uploaded the new list, refresh the page.
The new list will contain the newly generated join codes and URLs. The new list is usually at the bottom of the file.
⚠️ Ensure when you are choosing to save a CSV, you select CSV (Comma Delimited) and not CSV (MS-DOS), as MS-DOS does not support UTF-8 characters.
Avoid duplicates
Duplicates happen when you add all the registrants again to a CSV upload without using the Brella IDs (column A) generated and found from the CSV export of (existing) registrants, or by adding the CSV file from your CRM or other CSV converter software.
To update registrants in Brella, export the CSV file from the admin panel, delete all existing registrants, or update the necessary registrants without changing the Join code or the join link. Otherwise, you will create duplicates.
To avoid creating duplicates, if you need to generate new unique join codes for new registrants, you can upload a new registrant's list by following the steps on the Updating existing registrants OR
Do not add the same existing registrants on the list with a Brella ID in the CSV file.
If the CSV file shows errors, double-check the following.
When saving a spreadsheet in Excel as a CSV file, it may separate the values with semicolons ( ; ) instead of commas (,). Brella only recognizes comma-separated (,) CSV files, so if you import a CSV that separates the values with a semicolon, you will not see the number of assigned seats. Unfortunately, as this is an Excel issue that can't be changed, we strongly recommend using Google Sheets or OpenOffice, with which you can choose what the separator (comma instead of the semicolon) is.
CSV files saved with semicolons will not be uploaded and will receive this error. To change semicolons to commas, see point 4.
If you exchange lists with colleagues located in different countries, we highly recommend using Google Sheets or Open Office to import/export, as some countries use (.) instead of (,).
Ensure none of the CSV file fields include commas or other signs within the attendee information! If an attendee's title is "Customer Success Manager, EMEA," these attendees will not be imported nor generate join codes for them. Change the attendee's title from "Customer Success Manager, EMEA" to "Customer Success Manager - EMEA" to import to work optimally.
Make sure your attendee information does not contain commas. Since the CSV file separates the different fields with commas, commas can cause errors. Before uploading the CSV file to Brella, double-check if you have commas (,) within your attendee information fields. It can be done in Google Sheets by going to Edit > Find and replace > then replace the "," (commas) with a "_" (space).
If you cannot use any of the software mentioned above, there is another workaround!
Open the CSV file in a Text Editor. Check the text edit to ensure that there are no semi-colons by clicking right-click > Open with Text Edit. App> then Ctrl/Cm+F > then click Replace, like in the image below, and import this list again to Brella. If there are semi-colons instead of commas, replace them.
