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You can import and export users by clicking Import/export in the permissions panel.

If you use Microsoft Excel…

CSV files are the standard format used to import and export data into and out of spreadsheet applications. Unfortunately Microsoft Excel only supports a limited set of characters within CSV files, and characters outside of this range will be lost. To prevent this happening, you need to save as Unicode text rather than CSV. To do this when saving from Excel, click on the Save as type… drop-down field and then select Unicode text (*.txt) as the file type.

Exporting users

To export your existing users, click Export users. This will produce a file containing your existing users for you to edit. Alternatively, download this template file.

Editing the users file

The users file consists of a row of column headers, followed by a row for each user. The columns, which correspond to the fields on the user editing page, are:

Username

The username used to log in. This can be any text, but we recommend using an e-mail address as the user will then be able to click the Forgotten password? link on the log-in page to reset their password if they forget it.

Password [optional]

The password used to log in, which must be at least 8 characters long. For existing users, you can leave this field blank to keep their existing password.

Expiry date [optional]

The date after which the user account will expire. After this date the account will still exist but the user will be unable to log in. Leave this field blank to disable account expiry.

Group [optional; may occur multiple times]

The groups to which the user belongs.

Last active [optional]

The date and time that the user last accessed a password-protected page. This column is included in the exported file for information only, and has no effect when importing users.

Importing users

To import your users file, use the File field to select the file, choose an action using the Action field, and click Import users. There are three actions available:

Create and update
This action will create new users and update existing users. If a user is missing from the uploaded file then they will not be changed.

Create, update, and delete
This action will create new users and update existing users. If a user is missing from the uploaded file then they will be deleted.

Check import file only
This action will check that the import file is in the correct format and report any problems. It will not make any changes to the users.

A note on managed groups

If your site has had custom development work it may feature managed groups: groups whose membership is automatically managed by that custom development work. You cannot add or remove users from a managed group through the user import, and a user who belongs to a managed group will not be deleted even if they are missing from the uploaded file.