Importing and exporting data

You can type rows into a feed by hand. It's also possible to import a CSV file. An import adds new rows, or updates rows you already have. An export brings your data and the links to your videos back out.

Importing a file

An import reads a CSV file into the feed, with Import Data. If your data is in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, save or download it as CSV first. TSV and TXT files work too when you drag them onto the dialog. A file can hold up to 100,000 rows.

The feed matches the columns in your file to its own by name. Nothing changes until you've checked the matches. The feed also guesses whether the first row of your file holds column names. You can switch that if it guessed wrong. The imported rows arrive unsaved, so you can look them over before you save.

Images and videos in a file have to be links that work from anywhere on the internet. A path to a file on your computer won't work. Neither will a sharing link that opens a web page instead of the file itself. For files that aren't online, import the rest first and then upload the files into their cells.

The rows you add count toward your plan's row limit. The limit covers all your feeds together. If an import would go over it, the feed refuses it before anything changes.

Updating rows instead of adding them

To update rows instead of adding them, choose a column that identifies each row under Match rows on. That can be an ID, a product code, or an email address. Without one, every row in the file is added as new. Importing the same file twice then gives you every row twice.

With a match column, the import updates the rows that are already in the feed. It adds only the rows that are new. Where a cell in your file is empty, the value in the feed stays as it is. If you haven't chosen a match column but one of your columns looks like an ID, the feed points that out.

For this to work, each value in the match column has to be unique. If two rows in your file would update the same row in the feed, the feed can't tell which row is meant and refuses the import. The same happens when the feed already holds the same value twice.

Rows the import updates are marked as outdated. When you render again afterwards, only those rows are rendered.

Starting a feed from a file

You can also create a feed from a file. The columns you choose become the feed's columns. There's no template yet, though. Connect one and set up the mapping. The rows are then ready to render.

Exporting

An export saves your feed as a CSV file, with Export Data. You can also export only the rows you selected. For each template you choose, the export adds a column with the link to each row's video. Use it to bring the links into another system, to share a list of them, or to keep a copy of your data.

The export contains saved rows only. Each link points to the latest render of that row, whether it has finished or not. Once a render is removed, its link stops working. To download the videos themselves rather than their links, use Download Renders, explained under Rendering rows.