Connect Online Community

Connect- Update Customer Database with Multiple Entries

So you have a list of customers you want to add to the community, but it’s too long to do it individually. There is a way to add them quickly in a few simple steps. You must have Admin permissions to export, update and sync the customer database.

First, go to Admin> Organization> Custom Data> Export.

Here you can download a spreadsheet with a list of current customers. The .csv file can be opened in Excel or Google Sheets. Make edits directly to the spreadsheet to make it current; enter new members and delete old ones.

There are five fields to enter: Email address, the company or organization, First name, Last Name and Time Zone . It is important that the time zone be exactly correct along with the capital first letter (ie. Eastern Standard Time). Once you are finished with all the new entries, Save the file.

To add the new and updated database, go back to Custom Data and select the Import tab. Here you can select the file from your device and upload it. You want to select Yes to Replace Existing Data if you exported the data and want to keep the old customers.  Select Perform Import to upload the file.

After the message appears on your screen that the spreadsheet was successfully imported, select the Synchronize tab. Click on Perform Synchronize to automatically add the records and add users to the open forum. All the users will be added as members. You can check in the roster to make sure the import was successful. Also, make sure the notifications and digest settings are applied to the community’s preference.