Importing data

Import from any tool that exports a spreadsheet, in four types: Bookings (past and future; every attendee becomes a customer), Gift vouchers and Bundles (existing codes with their remaining balance or sessions), and Customers (a mailing list with marketing consent). For the whole switch in order, see switch to Session.

Customers claim their account at bookasession.org/your-link/welcome with the same email address you had on file. Credits and codes work whether or not they claim it.

Members

We move member lists for you - send us a message. Members arrive inactive, so nobody is charged twice. On reactivating, a member pays nothing that day (their first payment falls on their old renewal date) and their credits apply automatically. Tell us who cancels the old subscriptions: you, or each member.

Track them under Imported members on Customers; they move into Members as they re-subscribe. Until someone completes the reactivation prompt, they pay standard prices.

Before you start

Create first: your sessions (required, so bookings link up), membership tiers if members are coming across, and optionally bundle products (without one, packs arrive as unrestricted credits).

Export as CSV, TSV or XLSX, with headers in the first row and an email on every row, up to 25 MB and 50,000 rows. From Periode, send us your exports instead.

Exporting from Acuity

Appointments (bookings and customers)

1. 1
   In Acuity, Export your appointments from Reports, covering the history you want plus everything upcoming.
2. 2
   Include Email, Type, Start time, Price, Amount paid, Appointment ID, Scheduled by and the status column (sometimes called Canceled), and import it as Bookings.

Clients (a mailing list on its own)

For contacts who never booked, export from Clients → Import / Export → Export and import it as Customers.

Gift certificates and packages (fill these by hand)

Acuity can't export these balances, so either:

• Send us a screenshot of Acuity's Gift Certificates and Packages screens and we'll build the file, or
• Build a spreadsheet with one row each: code, customer email, and remaining value or remaining sessions. Import it as Gift vouchers or Bundles, mapping the Code column so existing codes keep working.

Exporting from Wix

1. 1
   Bookings: export Wix's Booking List as a CSV - scroll to the end first so every booking loads. Import it below, or send it to us if its columns don't map.
2. 2
   Contacts: export Wix Contacts as a CSV (up to 50,000 at a time).
3. 3
   Pricing Plans members re-subscribe on Session - see members. Package balances and gift cards come across from a spreadsheet, like Acuity's.

Exporting from Bookwhen

Export Attendances (not Bookings, which has no session times) as a CSV. Each booking goes to the person who booked, with guests as extra spaces and Bookwhen's fee in the amount paid. Give private tickets your private price.

Running an import

1. 1
   Upload your file under Settings → Data and confirm the type Session detected.
2. 2
   Map your columns, and pick your file's date format and a fallback timezone.
3. 3
   Review what was found - link upcoming session times to your sessions, choose sessions for past appointment types and a price for each type, and optionally link bundles to a product.
4. 4
   Confirm and run, optionally emailing booking customers from a chosen date forward. Results list failed rows to fix and re-upload, and the welcome link.

Column guide

Email is required on every type. Prices (£15.00, 15,00 €, 1,234.56) and phone numbers are understood in any common format.

• Bookings - Type, Start time, Appointment price and Amount Paid Online (not the yes/no Paid? column). External ID and Status are recommended. Rows with the same email, type and start time merge into one booking with that many spaces. Pick each type's price; a private price books the whole session. Staff-made appointments (an email in Scheduled by) show as Added by staff. Refund imported money in your old system - cancelling here only records it. A booking paid with an imported gift certificate or package is linked to that code once both are imported, so cancelling it puts the value back. That needs the booking's Appointment price for a gift certificate; without it, add the value back by hand on the code.
• Gift vouchers - Products, which gives the session count ("Gift Voucher - 5 Sessions"). Add Remaining balance and Status if any are used (used and expired rows are left out), or every row imports at full value. A missing Code is generated; an Order date sets a 12-month expiry.
• Bundles - one row per order (Products) or per package (Package name + Sessions total), optionally with Sessions remaining and dates.
• Customers - optional names, Phone and Marketing consent (each value mapped to opted in, opted out, not asked or undeliverable). Unmapped, every contact imports as Not asked - the confirm step shows each count first.

Re-uploading is safe: existing bookings, codes and External IDs are skipped and customers match by email. If one code is on two rows, the others get a generated code.

Troubleshooting

1. "File has no recognisable header row". The first row must be column names, not data.

2. "Row N: no email address". The row had no email or External ID.

3. "Could not parse start time". Re-check the date format on the mapping step.

4. The Continue button is disabled. A required field is unmapped.

5. A customer can't see their bookings. They probably used a different email from your export - message us and we'll merge the accounts.

6. A booking I'd already cancelled came across as live. Its status column wasn't mapped. Switch the Booking cancelled email off under Email → Notifications, cancel it with a refund amount of 0, then switch the email back on.