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Import Activities

Activity Import is the fastest way to build or update an event's activities at scale. Instead of adding and editing activities one at a time, you upload a spreadsheet — or paste rows from the clipboard — and Eventene creates the new activities and updates the existing ones in a single pass.

Overview

Import works from a simple table: a header row that names each column, then one row per activity. From the Activities tab you can:

  • Create new activities in bulk
  • Update existing activities in bulk (a "bulk edit")
  • Do both at once — new and existing activities can share the same file

Import only ever touches the activities in the event you run it from. It never changes another event.

Who can use it

Activity Import is available to the account Owner, Admin, and Organizer roles. It is not available to Associate users. You'll find it on the Activities tab, in the Actions menu.

Typical use cases

  • Standing up a full schedule from a planning spreadsheet
  • Adjusting many start/end times at once (for example, shifting a day's sessions)
  • Renaming, re-describing, or re-tagging a batch of activities
  • Setting capacity (a Limit and Max Attendees) across a set of sessions
  • Round-tripping: export your activities, edit them in a spreadsheet, and import the file back

Preparing Your Data

Arrange your data as a table of rows and columns. The first row is the header row; each remaining row is one activity.

The simplest way to get the columns right is to start from the template:

  • On the Activities tab, open the Actions menu and choose Download Activity Template for a blank file with the correct headers, or
  • Choose Export Activities to download your current activities and edit them in place — see Export Activities.

You do not need every column. Include only the columns you want to set; leave the rest out. For exactly what each column means and which values it accepts, see the Activity Import Field Reference.

Importing from Excel or the clipboard

You can bring your data in two ways:

  • Upload a CSV file — export or "Save As" a CSV from Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.
  • Paste from the clipboard — copy a range of cells straight from your spreadsheet and paste it in.

Both paths land in the same review workflow.

Activity ID: Create vs Update

Every activity has a stable Activity ID (shown on the Details tab of the editor, and included as the first column when you export). The Activity ID is what tells Import whether a row is a new activity or an edit to an existing one:

  • Blank Activity ID → Eventene creates a new activity from that row.
  • An existing Activity ID → Eventene updates that specific activity.

This is the same idea as the EVENTENE_ID used when importing people into a group — a reliable key that matches each row to the right record. Because export includes the Activity ID, an exported file is already set up for updating: change the cells you want and import it back.

The Four-Step Wizard

Import opens in a side panel and walks through four steps.

1. Add Data

Upload a CSV file or paste your rows from the clipboard. Eventene reads the header row and shows how many rows it found.

TODO (screenshot): The Import Activities panel on the Add Data step, showing the Upload CSV / paste-from-clipboard choice and the detected row count.

2. Review

Choose which columns to import. Eventene matches your headers to Activity fields automatically; you can turn individual columns off, or map a header it didn't recognize. A live preview shows how the first rows will be read and whether each is a Create or an Update.

Only the columns you include are imported — everything else on the existing activities is left untouched.

TODO (screenshot): The Review step showing the Columns to Import list with include toggles and the create/update preview.

3. Validate

Eventene checks every row and reports Errors and Warnings:

  • Errors must be fixed before you can import — they block the import.
  • Warnings are advisory and never block the import.

If there are no issues, the step simply confirms the import is ready. Fix any errors in your source file and re-run, or adjust and revalidate. See Common Activity Import Errors.

TODO (screenshot): The Validate step showing the create/update counts and the Errors / Warnings summary.

4. Complete

Run the import. Eventene reports how many activities were created and updated, and the new and updated activities appear on the Activities tab.

TODO (screenshot): The Complete step showing "Import Complete" with the created and updated counts.

How Import Behaves

Imports are all-or-nothing

An import is transactional: either every row applies successfully, or nothing is saved. If validation blocks the import, or something unexpected prevents a row from saving, no activities are created or changed — so a failed import never leaves your event half-updated.

Partial updates

You only need to include the columns you want to change. To adjust just the end times of some activities, a file with Activity ID and End is enough — every other setting on those activities stays exactly as it was.

Blank values preserve existing data

For an update, a blank cell keeps the existing value — it does not erase it. (Phase 1 import never clears a field by leaving its cell empty.) So you can safely export a file, edit a few cells, and import it back without worrying that untouched blanks will wipe out data.

Tips for a First Import

  • Start from Download Activity Template or an Export so your headers are exactly right.
  • Test with a small sample — a handful of rows — before importing a large file.
  • Keep the Activity ID column when updating; without it, rows are treated as new activities.
  • Include only the columns you intend to change.
  • Read the Validate step carefully; fix errors at the source when the same one repeats across rows.