Import & Export
Overview
People → Import & Export moves your directory in and out of the site:
- Import a spreadsheet of staff, faculty or team members to add them all at once, or to update job titles, emails and phone numbers across the whole directory.
- Export everyone as a spreadsheet (CSV) to edit or keep, or as a JSON file to copy them to another Dirigible site.
You can also get there from the Import and Export buttons beside Add New Person at the top of the People list.
You need an Editor or Administrator account. An export holds everyone's contact details, which visitors can't download from the site, so authors can't export. Importing also needs permission to upload files, because photos are downloaded into the Media Library.
Export
- Go to People → Import & Export and stay on the Export tab.
- Choose Spreadsheet (CSV) to open the file in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, or JSON to import it on another Dirigible site.
- Turn on Include drafts and private ones if you want those too. Off, the file holds only people visitors can see.
- Select Download export file.
People with a password come along only when drafts are included, and arrive on the other site as private: the password itself never goes in the file.
Import a spreadsheet
The quickest start is Download a blank spreadsheet on the Export tab: it has every column with the right header. Or export your current directory, edit it, and import it back.
- Fill in one row per person. Only Name is required. Leave out any column you don't need.
- Save it as CSV (in Excel: File → Save As → CSV UTF-8).
- Go to the Import tab and drop the file on the box, or select Choose a file.
- Nothing changes yet. You see every row with what will happen to it:
- New: they aren't on this site, so they're added.
- Update: they're already here and the row has changes. The list names them (Job title, Email, Photo…).
- Skip (No changes): they're already here and nothing differs.
- Error: the row can't be imported, for example because its name is empty.
- Untick anyone you don't want brought in.
- Choose what happens to people already on the site: Update it from the file, or Leave it as it is (only add new ones). If the file has no Status column, choose whether new people are added Published or as Drafts.
- Select Import. Keep the page open until it finishes. If it's interrupted, open the page again and select Resume import: nobody is added twice.
Columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Name | The person's name. Or use two columns, First name and Last name. |
| Job title | Also read from a column called Title, Position or Role. |
| Email, Phone, Text number, Fax | Contact details. An email that isn't valid is left out and the preview says so. |
| Website | A web address. example.com works too. |
| Street address, City, State, ZIP code | The mailing address. |
| Facebook, Twitter / X, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube | Profile addresses or handles, as you'd type them in the editor. |
| Categories, Tags | Names separated by ` |
| Photo | The web address of a headshot. It's downloaded into the Media Library. An image already in this site's Media Library is reused. |
| Photo alt text | Describes the photo for screen readers. |
| Short bio | The excerpt shown on directory cards. |
| Biography | The full bio. Plain text works: leave a blank line between paragraphs. |
| Order | A number, for directories sorted in a custom order. |
| Status | Published, Draft, Pending or Private. |
| Slug | The last part of the person's web address. Leave it out to have it made from the name. |
Column headers can be in any case, and a small typo is fine: the preview tells you how each header was read, and lists any it ignored.
Updating people who are already on the site
A row updates an existing person when it has the same web address (Slug), then the same email, then the same name. The preview shows who each row matched and why.
Only what's in the spreadsheet changes. An empty cell never clears anything, so you can import a sheet with just names and new job titles without touching anyone's photo or bio. To clear a field, edit that person.
Updated people keep their status and web address.
Copy people to another Dirigible site
Export as JSON on one site and import the file on the other. A JSON file carries everything: bios exactly as written, photos, categories, tags and order. Photos are downloaded from the site the file came from, so that site needs to be online.
Undo an import
When an import finishes, select Undo this import. It deletes the people that import added, the photos it downloaded and the categories it added, and puts everyone it updated back exactly as they were. Anyone edited after the import is left as they are and listed, and a photo or category that something else now uses is kept. Undo stays available for 7 days.
