Bulk Upload

Use Bulk Upload to add new members to your digital workplace and update information about existing members. Bulk uploading requires that you have your membership information in a comma-separated text file. 

Sections in this article:  

Considerations and caveats

  • Hybrid Igloo/SAML authentication: You can't assign Igloo authentication passwords during a Bulk Upload if your digital workplace uses both Igloo and SAML authentication methods. However, after adding users to your digital workplace, you can get them to set their Igloo password by prompting them to reset it. You can send a prompt by triggering a password reset or asking them to follow these steps to reset a forgotten Igloo password (these instructions could be included in a new member email as outlined in the section Notifying new members below).
  • Email vs. Member ID: If extended access is enabled in your digital workplace, you must assign them either an Email or Member ID. Member IDs are meant for users who do not have access to an email account. For more information, see Extended access.
  • Passwords: When adding a new user this way, you must assign them a password.
    • Users with email accounts can then use this password to authenticate to your digital workplace using Igloo Authentication. After adding this type of user, it is best to trigger a password reset or ask them to follow the forgotten password reset steps to change their password to something only they know. 
    • When users with member IDs log in for the first time, they will be prompted to enter a new password and security questions.
    • Entering a password for an existing user does not change their password.
  • Member export: You can run a member export to create a spreadsheet containing existing member profile information and group affiliations. However, be aware that this report's headers are not valid for a Bulk Upload. 
  • Member account guidelines: For information about the responsibilities associated with managing accounts, see Member account guidelines.

Who can do this

How to create the Bulk Upload file

  1. Select  Control Panel.
  2. Under Membership, select Manage Members.
  3. Select Bulk Member Upload.
  4. Select all of the text in the CSV Data text box (Ctrl + A), and copy it (Ctrl + C).
  5. On your computer, open a new workbook in Excel.
  6. Paste the text copied in step 4 into cell A1 of the workbook.
  7. With cell A1 still selected, select the Data tab and then Text to Columns.
  8. In the Text to Columns Wizard, select Delimited and then Next.
  9. In the Text to Columns Wizard, under Delimiters, select only Comma and then Finish.
  10. Save this file as a .csv.

How to fill out the Bulk Upload file

Within the Bulk Upload file, every row after the initial header row corresponds to a member, and the columns correspond to profile information about that member. Values in the header row correspond to profile fields within your digital workplace and are case-sensitive.

Columns correspond to profile fields and rows correspond to users.

  1. Organizing your columns

    When doing a Bulk Upload, you should remove any profile field columns to which you are not planning to make changes. Removing the columns makes the file easier to navigate and reduces potential sources of errors.

    When removing columns from your file, do not remove the following columns if they are present:

    Column When it's present
    firstname Always
    lastname Always
    email Always
    memberID Member ID is enabled
    password Always
    customIdentifier SAML or Member ID is enabled

    After removing unused columns, you can reorder any remaining columns for your convenience.

  2. Entering mandatory member information

    You must enter values in the mandatory columns for each member you want to add or modify. The mandatory columns depend on your workplace's configuration of Member ID and SAML and the type of user being added.

    SAML enabled Member ID enabled Mandatory columns
    False False
    • firstname
    • lastname
    • email
    • password (new users only)
    False True
    • firstname
    • lastname
    • email or memberID (use one or the other)
    • password (new users only)
    • customIdentifier

    When using memberID, you cannot enter a value into customIdentifer but the column must be present.
    True False
    • firstname
    • lastname
    • email
    True True
    • firstname
    • lastname
    • email or memberID (use one or the other)
    • customIdentifier

    When using memberID, you cannot enter a value into customIdentifer but the column must be present.
  3. (Optional) Entering profile information

    You can add profile information for each member in the remaining columns. For a list of the default profile fields, see Profile fields reference table.

    Since the Bulk Upload uses commas to distinguish between the different fields, you should wrap the cell's contents in quotes any time you want to use a comma within a cell. This prevents the comma in the text from interfering with the Bulk Upload file's comma separation between profile fields. For example, when entering information into the associations field:

    "APA, CPA, University of Waterloo"

    The profile field information that you enter into the Bulk Upload file will overwrite any existing data in that profile field. Leave a cell blank to avoid changing it.

  4. (Optional) Clearing profile information

    For each existing member, rather than adding or changing profile information, you can clear information from a profile field. To do so, enter $CLEAR into the corresponding cell of the file. 

    For example, the image below shows $CLEAR being used to clear the bio field for Stacy, Walter, and Antonia, as well as the birthdate field for Walter.

    Using $CLEAR in a field to remove its contents.

  5. (Optional) Entering what groups to add members to

    For each member, you can enter group names in the groupsToAdd column to specify which already existing group(s) the Bulk Upload should add the member to. 

    Keep in mind these formatting rules when entering this information:

    • Group names are not case-sensitive.
    • If your group name contains a comma, you must wrap the name in quotation marks. For example, for a group "Employees, Igloo". For a space group, "HR~Employees, Igloo".
    • When entering multiple groups, separate the names using |.
    • When adding a member to a space group, prefix the group name with the space name followed by ~.
    • You do not need to include spaces around the | and ~ delimiters. 
    • You can replace the | and ~ delimiters with different characters; however, you must then enter them into the appropriate fields when performing the Bulk Upload. See steps 8 and 9 of How to run the Bulk Upload with your file section below.

    Below is an example of adding members to member groups and space groups. 

    The syntax for groupsToAdd and groupsToRemove. Described immediately above.

    Other group names that you can use are:

    • To add a member as a space administrator, use: Space Name~Space Admins. For example, HR~Space Admins.
    • To add a member to a space, use: Space Name~Space Members. For example, HR~Space Members.
    • To add a member as a workplace administrator use: Administrators

    Members added with Bulk Upload will automatically be added to the system group All Members. Similarly, adding a member as a space administrator or a group within a space also adds them as a space member. 

  6. (Optional) Removing members from groups 

    You can remove each existing member from groups using the groupsToRemove column. Follow the same rules outlined in step 5. "(Optional) Entering what groups to add members to."

How to run the Bulk Upload with your file

  1. Save a copy of the Bulk Upload file as a .csv file.
  2. Open the .csv file using a basic text editor such as Notepad.
  3. Select all the text (Ctrl + A) in the text editor and then copy it (Ctrl + C).
  4. Go to your digital workplace's Bulk Member Upload page in your web browser.
    1. Select  Control Panel.
    2. Select Manage Members.
    3. Select Bulk Member Upload.
  5. Delete all text from the CSV Data textbox.
  6. Paste the text you copied in step 3 into the CSV Data textbox.
  7. (Optional) Replace the text in the Title text box
  8. (Optional) If you did not use the default tilde character (~) as a Space Delimiter, enter the character you used into the Space Delimiter text box.
  9. (Optional) If you did not use the default pipe character (|) as a Group Delimiter, enter the character that you did use into the Group Delimiter text box.
  10. Select Upload Members. 

Post upload

Your Bulk Upload may take a few minutes to process. You can find its status in the Pending Bulk Member Uploads table during this time. If the Bulk Upload file contains any errors, the upload halts, and the likely sources of error will display under the Bulk Upload input text box. Correcting these errors often involves editing the Bulk Upload file and re-uploading it.

The Bulk Member upload log.

Notifying new members

Adding members with Bulk Upload does not notify them of their membership to your digital workplace. Consider notifying these members in one of the following ways:

  • Send members a broadcast. 
    • Create a Wiki article that contains new member instructions and a welcome message. 
    • When bulk uploading members, add them to a group dedicated to new members. 
    • Broadcast the Wiki article to your new members group.
    • Remove members from the new members group after the broadcast.
  • Email members outside of the digital workplace.