Importing Clients from a CSV

If you're moving to BukaTime from another system, you can bring your existing client list with you in one go instead of re-entering everyone by hand.

Retyping hundreds of contacts one by one is tedious and error-prone. Importing a CSV means your full client database — names, emails, phone numbers, and notes — arrives in minutes, exactly as you had it. Once clients are in the system, you can also import their appointment history.

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Choosing a Route

The Data Import page offers a guided Timely migration, generic CSV files, and a request for BukaTime to help. Move Your Book into BukaTime explains all three and the order to bring things in. This guide covers the Generic route for clients in detail; the Timely route and appointment files are in Importing Past Visits.

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Generic Client CSV Import

Step 1: Download the Template

1. Go to Studio Configuration → Data Import.
2. Click Generic to open the generic import page.
3. Under Upload Clients CSV, click Download template.
4. Open the file in a spreadsheet app (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.).

The template includes these columns:

Column	Required	Notes
email	Yes	Used as the unique identifier
firstName	No
lastName	No
phone	No	Include country code (e.g. +61412345678)
phone2	No	Secondary phone number
notes	No	Internal notes
externalRef	No	ID from your previous system
marketingOptIn	No	true or false
country	No
address	No
city	No
state	No
postcode	No
dateOfBirth	No
gender	No

Extra columns in your file are ignored — you don't need to remove them.

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Step 2: Prepare Your Data

1. Fill in your client data using the template columns.
2. Make sure every row has at least an email address.
3. If a client email already exists in BukaTime, that row will be skipped to avoid creating duplicates.
4. Save the file as CSV with UTF-8 encoding.

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Step 3: Upload the CSV

Each file kind gets its own panel on this page — clients, appointments, providers and services — so pick the right one before choosing a file. Import stays greyed out until a file is selected.

1. Go to Studio Configuration → Data Import → Generic.
2. Under Upload Clients CSV, click the file picker zone (or click Download template first if you haven't yet).
3. Select your CSV file. BukaTime checks the column headers automatically and shows a green tick if the file looks correct.
4. If required columns are missing, an error message lists which ones to add.
5. Once the file passes header validation, click Import.

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Step 4: Check the Result

After clicking Import, you're taken to the job detail page. When it finishes:

• A summary shows how many records were imported successfully and how many failed.
• Failed rows are listed with the reason (e.g. missing email).
• Successfully imported clients appear immediately in your Clients list.

Every import is also listed in the Import history table on the Data Import page. See Move Your Book into BukaTime for what each status means.

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Tips

• Import clients before importing visits, so appointment records can be matched to existing client profiles.
• If you need help moving from a specific system, click Need help moving from another system? on the Data Import page. Move Your Book into BukaTime explains what happens next.