Import members from a spreadsheet

A members spreadsheet adds people to your roster, updates their details, links parents to their Scouts, and adds roles, all in one upload. It's the quickest way to start a unit without Scoutbook, or to tidy up a roster you already have.

The steps are the same as any spreadsheet import: Account Settings → Organization → Import & export, tap Choose a template under From a spreadsheet, choose Members under What to import, then Choose file. See Import from a spreadsheet for the preview and the rules every import follows.

Update the roster you have

On the Import & export page, tap Download roster under Edit many members at once. Or, on the Members page, tap the View settings icon (sliders, top right) and choose Download roster as spreadsheet. Both give you the same file.
Edit the file. Fix details, fill in households, add new people on new rows.
Upload it as a Members import.

The download has each member's Campfire ID, so every row matches the right person even if a name is spelled differently. A blank template has no Campfire ID column; only the roster download carries it. Contact columns are filled in only for people whose contact details you can see in the app. The Roles column lists the role IDs each person already has; uploading them back changes nothing. The download holds current members only.

The columns

Required: First name, Last name, and Youth or adult (youth or adult).
Details: Nickname, Middle name, Suffix, Birth date, Email, phones, address, and BSA member ID.
Patrol: the name of a patrol already in Campfire. An unknown name leaves the patrol as it is, with a note in the preview. Den works the same way for Scouts in a pack.
Roles: role IDs separated by a semicolon, such as scoutmaster;treasurer. Other built-in IDs include assistant_scoutmaster, committee_chair, committee_member, senior_patrol_leader, patrol_leader and den_leader. Custom roles have their own IDs. Roles are added to what the person already has, never taken away. Adding a role needs the Manage Roles & Permissions permission; roles a person already has need nothing.
Household: any label, such as a family name. Rows with the same label become one family, with the adults as parents of the Scouts.
Left on: the date someone left the unit. See below.
Your ID: your own ID for the person, from another system. Next time you upload a file with that ID, it updates the same person.

How rows find the right person

Campfire tries, in order: the Campfire ID, Your ID from an earlier import, the BSA member ID, and then a single member with the same first and last name who is also a youth or an adult. A nickname counts as a first name.

If several members match, the row shows under Needs your choice. Choose Add as a new person or Leave this row out. To update one of the people it matched, put their Campfire ID in that row (copy it from the roster download) and upload the file again. That way the preview shows exactly what will change for them.
If nobody matches, the row adds a new member. Check the added rows in the preview: "Sam" in your file and "Samuel" in Campfire would add a second Sam.

Households

A household needs at least one adult and one Scout. Campfire links them the same way linking a parent to a Scout in the app does. If the people in a household already belong to different families, those families are combined, and the preview warns you before you import.

People who have left

Left on marks someone as a former member, which is handy for former Scouts you bring in for their history, or roster entries who never joined the app. It only works for people without a Campfire account. For someone who uses the app, the row is skipped with a note: open their profile and use Remove from troop (or pack, crew or ship), so their access ends on purpose and not because of a name match in a file.

No undo for member imports

Adding people touches chats, families and roles, and that doesn't reverse cleanly. So check the preview: it lists every person it will add and every change as old → new. If you can't see someone's contact details in the app, their old values aren't shown. To fix a mistake later, upload a corrected file or edit the member in the app.

Good to know

Adding people needs the Add Members or Edit Members permission. Changing people already in Campfire, and linking households, needs Edit Members.
New people start with the basic member role. Nobody is sent an invitation. When you're ready, use Send code to members to invite the people with an email address.
A blank cell never clears a value, and nobody is removed from the roster.
Each person goes on one row. A second row for the same person, or the same new person twice, shows under Problems. So does a BSA member ID that someone else already has.
If Excel dropped the leading zero from a ZIP code (6001 for 06001), Campfire puts it back.
Changing someone from youth to adult takes them out of their den. Changing an adult to youth takes them off the dens they lead. The app does the same.
An import can't link app accounts, set Scoutbook IDs, training dates or counselor badges. Do those in the app.