Importing people allows you to add many people into Breeze all at once. This is a great way to add new people in bulk to your database.
To Import People
- Navigate to the Account Settings (
) > Bulk Tasks > Import People. - Download the template file and populate it with your people data.
- Import the revised file using the "Import People" button. Use the key below for determining how to delete the preloaded data and to populate the data on the excel file for import.
Note: The template file is dynamically generated based on the profile fields you have set up. If you'd like to import data beyond the default fields, first add the new fields and then download the template file. You'll see the new fields as new headers in the template file. It is recommended to not delete or remove the columns in this template or it will break the import process.
If you're interested in updating people that already exist in your database, take a look at our Bulk Update People article.
Deleting Preloaded Data on Template
When you download the Import Template it is going to come preloaded with information that will need to be deleted before you can begin filling in your data. In order to properly remove this information, you will need to Highlight the Rows, "Right Click" and select "Delete". Simply highlighting and using delete on your keyboard will only clear the cells and will cause issues upon importing back into Breeze.
You are able to delete Rows from the template, but you cannot remove any of the columns. All Column Headers must remain in place in order to be imported back into Breeze. If you leave a cell blank, no information will be uploaded to this person's profile, for this particular profile field.
Understanding Fields on the File
|
Field |
Options |
Examples |
|---|---|---|
| First Name | String | Jack Susan Arnold Sara |
| Last Name | String | Rogers Smith Doe VanDerSloothen |
| Middle Name | String | David Elizabeth James Emelia |
| Nickname | String | Dave Sue Jimmy Emma |
| Maiden Name | String | Hook Rock |
| Gender | "Male" "Female" |
Male Female Male Female |
| Marital Status | "Married" "Single" "Engaged" "Divorced" "Widowed" "Separated" |
Married Married Single Engaged |
| Age Age is stored as a person's birth date, allowing Breeze to automatically determine age. If only month and day are known, set the year to 0000 as Breeze will then exclude the year when displaying.
|
mm/dd/yyyy | 5/8/1985 1/2/1997 6/13/0000 11/9/1959 |
| Family ID Family IDs serve to connect people together in the same families. Family IDs can be any value; Breeze will simply look for matching values. If a Family ID does not have any others that match it (i.e. a person is the only one in that family), it will be ignored.
|
Anything | 101 101 351 8th St. 351 8th St. Anderson Anderson |
| Family Role | "Head of Household" "Spouse" "Adult" "Child" |
Head of Household Spouse Child Child |
| Grade Grade is stored by graduation year. Breeze automatically computes the grade by the graduation year, preventing the need for administrators to have to update the grade each summer as this happens automatically.
|
yyyy | 1995 2016 2030 1987 |
| Mobile
Breeze is flexible when it comes to what format is used to import phone numbers. This mobile phone field is what the SMS texting feature uses.
|
String | 616-123-4567 123-4567 6161234567 616 1234567 |
| Home Breeze is flexible when it comes to what format is used to import phone numbers.
|
String | 616-123-4567 123-4567 6161234567 616 1234567 |
| Work Breeze is flexible when it comes to what format is used to import phone numbers.
|
String | 616-123-4567 123-4567 6161234567 616 1234567 |
|
String Commas (,) for listing multiple emails |
john.smith@test.com, jsmith@test.com theresa.rogers@test.com ilovekittens23@test.com |
|
|
Street Address Needing to have a second line? Use <br> before the second line text. Do not include a space before the second line's text. Example: 123 Street<br>Unit 45 |
String | 123 Main St. 456 8th Ave. 789 Toad's Turnpike |
| City | String | Grand Rapids Palo Alto Green Hollows |
| State | Two digit abbreviation | MI CA AK |
| Zip | String | 12345 67890 T0E 1S2 |
| Single Line (generic) This data cannot be filtered.
|
String | This person loves candy This person likes kitties This person dislikes spiders |
| Multiple Choice (generic) If an option doesn't already exist in Breeze, including it in the import file will automatically create it. That said, if you'd like the options to be in a certain order, it's advisable to create them first, otherwise Breeze will order them based on the order they are uniquely found in the import file.
|
String | Attender Member Member Visitor Inactive |
| Checkbox (generic) If an option doesn't already exist in Breeze, including it in the import file will automatically create it. That said, if you'd like the options to be in a certain order, it's advisable to create them first, otherwise Breeze will order them based on the order they are uniquely found in the import file.
To check multiple options, separate them with a semicolon. |
String | Leadership Teaching Hospitality Leadership;Teaching Giving;Teaching;Leadership |
| Dropdown (generic) If an option doesn't already exist in Breeze, including it in the import file will automatically create it. That said, if you'd like the options to be in a certain order, it's advisable to create them first, otherwise Breeze will order them based on the order they are uniquely found in the import file.
Dropdowns are ideal for longer lists where the multiple choice options would take up too much space. |
String | Class 101 Class 102 Class 103 Class 104 Class 105 Class 201 Class 202 Class 203 Class 204 Class 301 Class 302 |
| Notes (generic) This field cannot be filtered.
|
||
| Paragraph (generic) The paragraph field allows a church to place descriptive text on the profile pages. This descriptive text is the same on every page. It is not user-specific and is defined once when setting up the field. This field cannot receive imported data.
|
- | - |
| Date (generic) If only month and day are known, set the year to 0000 as Breeze will then exclude the year when displaying.
|
mm/dd/yyyy | 5/10/2002 11/7/2017 2/26/1950 3/12/0000 |