We just released a new bulk Import People feature in Contacts. It lets you add groups of new people to Populi all at one time by uploading XLSX or CSV files. The importer will be a great help to admissions staff who need to enter large groups of leads from conferences, referral service purchases, and standardized tests. Here’s how it works:

In Contacts > People, you’ll see a big fat Import People button right next to Add New Person. Click that and upload your file to Populi; from thence you’ll be whisked to the column-mapping screen.

Mapping columns lets you choose where the information from your file will plug into Populi’s built-in and custom fields. Populi will automatically match the obvious stuff like “First Name”; you’ll decide how to map the other columns using the drop-downs, which contain options for Person-related (contact info, other info, custom fields) and Admissions-related fields (course of study, etc.). For example, you may have a spreadsheet of leads with a column for “Career Interest”, the options for which correspond to your own custom Admissions field “Area of Interest”. Link them using the drop-down, and Populi will pull that column’s data into that field for all the imported people. If you later upload a file with the same column headings, Populi will remember how you mapped things last time, making future imports preposterously simple.

Once you’re done mapping, you’ll have a chance to review the records. Populi will find potential problems and warn you about them—possible duplicates, information that can’t be imported—as well as reject records that can’t be imported (people with no first or last name, or bad data in those fields).

Once imported, you can easily find the group of new people by using the Import condition in Contacts and Admissions > Leads,

We’re pleased to get this out to our users—it’s gonna save a lot of people a lot of time. Have a look at the Populi help article for all the details on how it works.