Import workflow runs from a spreadsheet
When you need to start a batch of runs at once, one per site, per client, per case, importing them from a spreadsheet beats creating them by hand. The import can cover more than one workflow in a single file.
What you can set per run
Each row in the spreadsheet becomes a run, and a row can carry:
- the workflow to use, so one file can start runs across several workflows
- the run name
- the participants
- the start date, so runs can be dated into the future
- the due date
That combination is what makes the import worth the setup: a quarter of scheduled site visits, each with the right team and the right dates, created in one action.
Before you import
- Get the workflow right first. Imported runs are copies of the workflow as it stands, so fix the workflow before importing a hundred runs from it, not after.
- Check participant names or emails match people in the account, or those runs arrive without the people on them.
- Try a short file first. Import two rows, look at the result, then import the rest. Undoing a bad import means archiving runs one at a time.
When to use something else
If the runs repeat on a calendar, use a schedule instead. If another system already knows when a run should exist, create runs from it through Zapier or the API rather than exporting a spreadsheet by hand each time. See Does Manifestly integrate with other services?.
Video walkthrough
This video walks through importing runs from a spreadsheet.