Bulk CSV Import

When you have dozens or hundreds of signs to add, creating them one by one is slow. The bulk CSV import lets you upload a spreadsheet and create all your signs in a single step.

Preparing your CSV

Your CSV file needs a header row with at least a name column. The importer is flexible — your columns don't need to match the Signplanr field names exactly.

Column	Required	Notes
name	Yes	The sign name or title.
sign_type	No	If it matches an existing type, it's linked automatically. New types can be created during import.
width_mm	No	Width in millimetres. Must be a number or leave blank.
height_mm	No	Height in millimetres. Must be a number or leave blank.
mounting_height_mm	No	Mounting height in millimetres. Must be a number or leave blank.
mounting_notes	No	Descriptive mounting instructions (e.g. "1500mm to top of braille", "above entrance door").
material	No	Sign material (e.g. Vinyl, ACM, Aluminium).
facing_direction	No	Which direction the sign faces.
copies	No	How many separate sign records to create from this row. Each copy gets its own auto-generated sign number. Max 100 per row. Defaults to 1 if omitted.
special_instructions	No	Free text instructions for the contractor.
description	No	Sign description.
face_1_label	No	Label for face 1 (e.g. "Front"). Up to 4 faces supported.
face_1_instructions	No	Instructions for face 1.

Importing

1. Open your event and go to the Signs tab.
2. Click Import CSV.
3. Select your CSV file.
4. Map Columns — Signplanr auto-matches your CSV columns to sign fields. Review the matches and adjust any that look wrong using the dropdown. Columns you don't need can be set to "Skip this column".
5. Review Sign Types — If your CSV references types not currently pinned to this event, you'll see a review step:
   • Names that already exist in your org library but aren't pinned here are auto-pinned silently when you click Next. You'll see a confirmation toast.
   • Names that don't exist anywhere yet show three options:
     • Create new type — adds it to your library and pins it to this event
     • Map to existing — link the CSV name to a type you already have
     • Skip — import the signs without a type
6. Preview — Review the validated data. Any remaining errors (e.g. non-numeric values in number fields) are shown per row.
7. Click Import to create all valid signs.

All signs are created with a pending status. You can then upload artwork and place them on maps.

Tips for preparing your data

• Numeric fields: Width, height, and mounting height must be numbers only. If your spreadsheet has text like "various" or "TBC" in these fields, either clear them or leave them blank.
• Mounting notes: If your mounting heights include descriptive text (e.g. "1500mm to top of braille"), put the number in mounting_height_mm and the description in mounting_notes.
• Column names: You don't need exact column names. The importer recognises common variations like "type" for sign type, "width" for width_mm, etc.
• Extra columns: Any columns that don't map to a Signplanr field are safely ignored.

Handling errors

Common issues the validator catches:

• Unknown sign type — the sign type name doesn't match a pinned type or an event-only type on this event. Use the sign type review step to create it, map it to an existing type, or skip. Names that match a library type elsewhere in your org are auto-pinned to this event for you.
• Non-numeric value — a number field (width, height, mounting height) contains text. Clear the value or move the text to a notes field.
• Missing name — every sign needs a name.

Fix the flagged rows in your CSV and re-upload, or adjust your column mapping to resolve the issue.

Related

• Adding Signs to Events
• Duplicating Signs
• Exporting CSV Data