Shareholder bulk import: running it

Running the import, reading the result, and correcting rejected rows — using the error report as the file you fix rather than a diagnosis you read.

Overview

You upload the file and the platform tells you exactly what happened. Where rows fail, it hands you back a report — and that report is the file you correct and re-upload, not a diagnosis to read and set aside.

Getting that loop right is what stops an import turning into duplicated records.

What you'll learn

The three possible outcomes, and why "some imported" is a success
How the error report works, and why you re-upload it
How to read the most common rejection reason
Why to verify afterwards rather than assume

Before you start

A prepared file, the target companies already created, and — if you want people grouped on arrival — your categories in place.

Three possible outcomes

Everything imported. All of your shareholders were created.

Some imported, some not. You get both numbers. This is the usual result on a first attempt, and it is a partial success rather than a failure — the good rows are already in.

Nothing imported. The spreadsheet could not be read at all. Usually the wrong file, or a file that is not the template.

Steps

In the project navigation, open Shareholders. On the shareholders table, select Actions, then Bulk Import. Select your prepared file and upload it.
Read the result, and note the numbers.
If rows failed, the error report downloads automatically. Open it. You can also retrieve it later with Download Report.
Work through the reasons — create any missing companies, or correct names and fields in the report file itself.
Re-upload the corrected report.
Repeat until nothing fails.
Verify: search for several imported shareholders and confirm their company assignments.

The error report is the correction vehicle

This is the part worth knowing, because it changes how you work.

The report contains only the failed rows, with their reasons. You correct it and re-upload it. You do not re-import the original file, and you therefore do not risk duplicating the rows that already succeeded.

Import, correct the returned file, re-upload — that is the intended loop, and it is the same pattern used by the subscription transaction import.

Reading the reasons

The most frequent by far is the company: the target company could not be found.

There are two fixes and the message names both — create the missing company, or correct the name in the file. Which is right depends on whether the company genuinely does not exist yet, or exists under a slightly different name.

Verify rather than assume

After importing, search for the people you expected and check them.

An import that reports success has created records. Whether those records say what you meant is a different question, and now is the cheapest moment to find out.

Check particularly that a shareholder assigned to several companies shows all of them. Under-assignment is silent, and it surfaces much later as somebody absent from a process.

Common problems

Everything failed. Wrong file, or not the template.

The same rows keep failing. Read the reason rather than re-uploading. If a company name will not resolve, compare it character by character with the platform's company list.

You re-uploaded the original file instead of the report. Check for duplicates. The report exists so that only the failed rows are retried.

Imported shareholders are missing a company. The assignment was incomplete in the file. Correct it on the shareholder record, or re-import that row.

A4.5 — Shareholder bulk import: preparing your file · the half that prevents most of this
A4.2 — Adding a shareholder · the manual route
A4.7 — Correcting shareholder data · fixing a record after import
A8.4 — Adding subscribers in bulk · the same correct-and-re-upload loop