Uploading users to your Higher Logic-managed site is a straightforward process that is simplified by the ability to simultaneously upload multiple users. However, some preparation is necessary.
IMPORTANT: This process is not relevant to customers who synchronize their members with an AMS; they should refer to the integration-specific documentation in the Integrations section of the knowledge base.
This process applies only to customers in a Higher Logic-managed Thrive Community who manually upload users via a .csv file.
NOTE: After you upload a list of users, you should notify them that they've been added to the community and that they have to create a password to access it. Learn how to do this with Automation Rules or use community subscriptions.
Prepare the upload file
In order to add users to your site, whether an initial upload or adding to existing records, you must have a list of users in a .csv file that has Higher Logic-required fields.
NOTE: If the list file is not in .csv format, convert it to this format.
Make sure that the file has the following required fields (column headers) and that the field names appear exactly as shown below; note the capitalization and the absence of spaces.
- LegacyContactKey (this can be any unique ID; each user must have a unique ID)
- If using local login (no SSO) and users do not have an existing unique identifier (such as a Member ID), any unique value can be used. This unique value can contain hyphens and must be:
- the user's email address,
- a numeric value, or
- an alpha-numeric value.
- If SSO is being implemented, the LegacyContactKey must match the unique identifier (such as a Member ID) that is used for authentication.
- If using local login (no SSO) and users do not have an existing unique identifier (such as a Member ID), any unique value can be used. This unique value can contain hyphens and must be:
- FirstName
- LastName
- EmailAddress (each email address must be unique)
- CompanyName
NOTE: The order of the columns is not important for the upload and additional fields are acceptable. However, the upload will fail if any of the required fields are missing.
Save the .csv file so that it's easily accessible for the upload.
TIP: Give the file a unique name (for example, include the date) when you save it. Save each subsequent upload file with a unique name.
Upload the users file
You'll do an initial upload of a list of users, which can be accessed via Users > List in the Admin interface. You can subsequently add users as often as necessary by uploading a properly formatted .csv file (refer to Prepare the upload file, above).
When you upload a subsequent list of users, you have two options:
- "Append" - Add users who are not currently in your Users list AND update any user records that have different values in the upload file. Other existing user records will remain unchanged.
- "Overwrite" - Completely replace your existing list of users with whatever records and data are in the upload file.
IMPORTANT: Higher Logic recommends that you only ever use the Append option: only some user records and will only add to or replace previously imported user data, as shown below.
To upload of a list of users:
- In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.
- Navigate to Settings > Integration > Upload Users.
- From the Select an action dropdown, select Import.
- At Upload a .csv file, click Choose File.
- Navigate to the .csv file that you prepared for the upload and select it. The file name will display next to the Choose File button.
- Click Upload.
The page refreshes and presents a summary of the pending upload for you to review. Take a moment to review the counts to make sure they are as you expect.
NOTE: If there are any issues with the upload file, error text will indicate what they are. Fix the issues and re-try the upload.
- At the My file contains field, be sure to select only some user records and will only add to or replace previously imported user data.
- Click Import Data.
TIP: Give the process a few minutes to complete, then navigate to Users > List and check the "entries" count below the list to confirm that the users have been added. Make sure that you're on the Enabled view of the Users list page. Learn how to Manage Users.
Export a list of users
You can export a .csv file of your current list of users. Having this list offline might be beneficial for administrative reasons.
To export a list of users:
- In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.
- Navigate to Settings > Integration > Upload Users.
- From the Select an action dropdown, select Export.
- Click Export.
- Navigate to where you want to store the file, keep the default file name (Current_Contact_Data.csv) or give it a memorable name, and save it.
TIP: Higher Logic recommends giving each exported back-up list a unique name. A simple practice is to append the export date to the file name; this also clearly identifies the latest file should it be needed.
Edit user records
After the initial upload of a list of users, you might have to edit a user record. This is easy to do — by following the steps in Upload the users file, but with a few differences. Let's look at editing a user record.
To update a user record:
- Export a list of your current users (described in Export a list of users, above).
NOTE: You can either delete or leave the other user records in the .csv file.
- Open the .csv file, make the update, and save the file with a unique name.
- Upload the .csv file to correct the database record (described in Upload the users file, above).
- Navigate to Users > List and verify the correction.
NOTE: No other user records will be affected by this process.
Security groups
After you have added users to your account, it's a good idea to categorize them so that you can more easily work with their database records as a single group of people with something in common. In Higher Logic, this is done with Security Groups. Security Groups can be used to control access to your site's content.
You have to create security groups first; then after users have been uploaded to the site, they can be uploaded to a security group.
- See Understand Security Groups for an overview of Higher Logic security groups.
- See Manage Security Groups for information on creating and managing your security groups.
- See Add Users to a Security Group to learn how to add individual users to a security group and how to bulk-add users to a security group.
Upload file template
The "template" .CSV file below can be downloaded and used for your upload.