Creating a Group from an Import

Joanne Felci 2

Hello!


When you import a list to Luminate Online does it automatically create a group and is the name of the group the same as the import name?


If it does create a group and you merge this with another group will Luminate dedupe by email address or if the same email is in each file will the person receive two emails?

Hilary Engelbrecht

Hi Joanne, 


I don't believe that it would automatically create a group for you. If you want all of these users to be assigned to a group, I would recommend that you create the group in Luminate Online, and then create a column for GROUP_ID and then assign the group id for each row in your .csv file. That will ensure they are in a friendly group for you. 


For your second question: 
If it does create a group and you merge this with another group will Luminate dedupe by email address or if the same email is in each file will the person receive two emails?


This is going to depend on what settings you choose for the import. Here are your options: 

• Add only new constituents
• Overwrite blank fields with values from the import file
• Overwrite fields with non-blank values from the import file
• Overwrite all fields with values from the import file

It will also depend on your SDPs or Site Data Parameters and if you are allowing duplicate emails to be registered in your Luminate Online account or not. 


Hope this helps!

Hilary

Joanne Felci 2

Hilary Grunewald:

Hi Joanne, 


I don't believe that it would automatically create a group for you. If you want all of these users to be assigned to a group, I would recommend that you create the group in Luminate Online, and then create a column for GROUP_ID and then assign the group id for each row in your .csv file. That will ensure they are in a friendly group for you. 


For your second question: 
If it does create a group and you merge this with another group will Luminate dedupe by email address or if the same email is in each file will the person receive two emails?


This is going to depend on what settings you choose for the import. Here are your options: 

• Add only new constituents
• Overwrite blank fields with values from the import file
• Overwrite fields with non-blank values from the import file
• Overwrite all fields with values from the import file

It will also depend on your SDPs or Site Data Parameters and if you are allowing duplicate emails to be registered in your Luminate Online account or not. 


Hope this helps!

Hilary

 

Thanks Hilary!

Susan Ross

Hi Joanne -- Susan from Blackbaud here :-)


Hilary's answer is great, adding a column in your import for GROUP_ID and giving the group a friendly name is a good idea.  That way you can call it, "Attendees from 5/23/16 Event," or something like that.  This is the best way to create a group from your Imported list.


But, if case you ever forget (happens to me sometimes!) Luminate Online does create automatic groups from Imports.  Go to Constituents > Groups > then search for groups that have "Data Sync" in the name (an Import is a type of Data Sync).  It will sometimes create multiple groups from an Import when your Import file has some constituents that were added new and some that were updated (based on your settings in the Import as Hilary described.) 


So you might have groups that look something like this:

 

DS - 2016/05/23 08:37:51 - New - Task 1955947187 

Members of this group were CREATED by Data Sync on 5/23/16 8:37 AM

 

DS - 2016/05/23 08:37:51 - Mod - Task 1955947187 

Members of this group were UPDATED by Data Sync on 5/23/16 8:37 AM


Not super friendly naming, and probably not something you would want to come back to months later, but if you just Imported a file and realized you forgot to create a group, you could still have something to use.  I also like to use this to go and check a few of the constituent records to make sure all the information I wanted Imported correctly, because from the Group > Group Member tab, I can open  constituent records.  That way I don't have to remember specific constituent names to go back and check.


I hope this helps!


Let me know if you have other questions!


Susan