Importing From a Spreadsheet

You can export your member data to a spreadsheet and send that to us in a Support Ticket for import.

If you’re exporting data from another Church Management platform, check out these guides:

Alternatively, if you do not have a platform you’re coming from, or an existing spreadsheet prepared, here is our recommended format:

We’ve included a spreadsheet template you can open in Excel, Numbers, or your favorite spreadsheet app. Use this template as your starting point, or simply reference it to format your existing spreadsheet.

Required Fields
Optional Fields
Custom Fields (UDFs)
Importing FAQs

Required Fields

Every individual in your church database must have 3 required fields: First Name, Last Name, and Family/Household Name.

FIRST NAME (Required):

Do not leave this field blank!
Do not combine multiple first names together in one row. Each person must be on their own row (Example: George in one row, Martha in another).
Add suffixes or middle initials in the first column (Example: George E. or George, Jr.).

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LAST NAME (Required)

Do not leave this field blank!
Do not add suffixes or initials to the Last Name column (use the First Name column instead!).
Everyone must have a unique name. If you have two people with the same name (Bill Smith), distinguish them with a middle initial, suffix, or nickname (Example: Bill E. Smith and Bill J. Smith).

Note: The ChurchTrac importer will skip any rows where the first and last name fields are an exact match to another row.

FAMILY NAME AND/OR HOUSEHOLD ID (Required)

Do not leave this field blank! Either Family Name or Household ID is required.
Every member of a family should have the same value.
Option 1: Format: LASTNAME (Use ALL CAPS for the last name portion.), FirstName and SpouseName (Ex: WASHINGTON, George and Martha).

Option 2: Family Name can also be an “ID” (letters, numbers, or both), as long as every member of the household uses the exact same value.

If Family Name isn't provided, we will automatically generate the family name.

Note: List family members together on your spreadsheet (head of household first, then spouse, then children). ChurchTrac creates families automatically based on this field. Whenever a row has a different Family Name or ID from the rows above it, it will automatically create a new "Family" in your database, and assign each person with the same Family Name to that family.

Optional Fields

All other columns are optional, but highly recommended. These fields fall into two categories: Individual Fields (data for one person) and Family Fields (shared by the household).

When you select a person's name on the People screen in ChurchTrac, you'll see two sections:

Individual section: Appears at the top of the screen People screen. This includes data entered for each person, like First Name, Birthday, and Mobile Phone.
Family section: Appears at the bottom of the People screen. This data is shared by everyone in the same family. For example, every member of the Smith family will share the same Home Address and Formal Greeting.

First, let's look at the Individual Fields.

Individual Fields

FAMILY ROLE (Optional)

Primary, Spouse, Child, Other

BIRTH YEAR, BIRTH MONTH, and BIRTH DAY:

Enter only numeric values in these columns!
With a birthday, we have a lot of options.
The first option is to include all three columns (Year, Month, and Day) to provide a complete birthday for each individual.
The second option is to skip the Year column and enter only the Month and Day, which works well if the birth year is unknown or intentionally excluded.
The third option is you can use any valid date format like MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD.

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EMAIL ADDRESS:

Do not enter more than one email address per person. If multiple are listed, we’ll only import the first.
Be sure the email address is formatted properly.

ENVELOPE or MEMBER NUMBER:

Use if you plan to import giving data!
You'll be able to enter Giving screen contributions by this Member Number.

MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:

Only one mobile number should be entered per cell. If multiple numbers are included, we’ll discard anything beyond the first usable number.
Be sure to include the area code.
This number will be used when you send SMS messages from ChurchTrac.

MEMBER STATUS:

This column should contain identifiers such as Member, Guest, Regular Attendee, etc.
If the word “Active” or “Inactive” is included, we’ll parse it and apply it to the Active field automatically.
Like many fields in ChurchTrac, you can customize the options for this field to match the list of items used by your church.

ACTIVE:

This column should contain only the word Yes or No. A value of Yes marks the person as Active, while No marks them as Inactive.
If left blank, the person will be imported as Active by default.

NOTES:

You can include notes or comments for each individual in this column.
These will be imported into the Notes section of their People profile in ChurchTrac.

Now, let's move on to the Family Fields.

Family Fields

FORMAL FAMILY GREETING:

We recommend that you format the data the way you would when addressing an envelope to be mailed to this family (Mr. and Mrs. George Washington).
This field is used for printing family mailing labels.
If this field is left blank, ChurchTrac will generate one automatically based on the Head of Household and Spouse names.

INFORMAL FAMILY GREETING:

If included, just include the family members' first name (George and Martha).

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HOME ADDRESS AND/OR SECONDARY ADDRESS:

Enter the first line of the family's physical or mailing address.
Use a second line for apartment, suite, or unit numbers.
If the family has a secondary address, you may include it in a separate column.

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CITY --or-- CITY, STATE and ZIP/POSTAL CODE:

You can enter address information in one of two ways:
One Column: Place the full address together (City, State, and ZIP/Postal Code) all in one column. (If you use one column, leave the other two columns blank.)

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Multiple Columns: Place City, State, and ZIP or Postal Code in separate, consecutive columns

import HOME/FAMILY PHONE

For families that still have a shared family phone or landline, you can include that phone number here. (Be sure to include the area code.)

Now, let's look at the Custom Fields (or User-Defined Fields).

Custom Fields (UDFs)

You may have additional information about individuals or families that isn’t covered by the standard fields (Marital Status, Anniversary Date, etc.). In those cases, create a user-defined field for each additional column of data you want to import. ChurchTrac already includes a few sample user-defined fields to help you get started. Learn more about User-Defined Fields ›

For user-defined date fields, we recommend that your column be set to "Text" as this prevents Excel from converting your date into a different format.

Note: ChurchTrac supports several types of user-defined fields. When adding one, choose the field type that best matches your data. For example, you can import fields as Yes/No, Date (with or without a year), Selection List, or Text. If you have a question about which field type is best for a certain column on your spreadsheet, please don't hesitate to ask!

Importing FAQs

Is importing people data free?

Your first import is free in ChurchTrac. We recommend submitting a data import to our team when you have all the people information that you need to be imported.

Can I import my data even if I'm on a trial?

Yes! We recommend having us import your data on a trial, as it gives you a better idea on how ChurchTrac can help your ministry.

Can you import individual giving data?

To import giving data for your people, see our Importing Contributions article.