You are moving your customers and dogs across from other software and the import page says no, or the numbers in the preview look low. The import is picky about the file but clear about why.
Start at Customers → Import from a spreadsheet. Downloading the template there and pasting your data into it is the surest way to avoid problems.
What each message means
- Please upload an Excel file (.xlsx) or a CSV file. Older .xls files and other formats are not read. In Excel choose File, then Save As, then Excel Workbook (.xlsx) or CSV.
- Please choose a file to upload. Nothing was picked, or the upload did not finish. Try again.
- That file looks empty. The file has no content. Open it and check.
- That file is too big (2 MB limit). Split it into smaller files.
- We could not read the first line. The first row must be the column names.
- We need at least a customer name column and a dog name column. Rename your headings to something like Owner and Pet Name, or use the template.
- We found the column names but no customers under them. The rows underneath are empty.
- Your session expired, or That upload has expired. Upload the file again.
Rows that get skipped
- A row needs both a customer name and a dog name, or it is skipped. The preview lists the line numbers.
- Only the first 5,000 rows are read. Rows after that are ignored, so split big files.
- A dog already on file with the same name is skipped, and customers already on file (matched by email, then phone, then name) are reused. Importing the same file twice does not make duplicates.
Imported customers cannot sign in
Imported customers have no password and are not emailed. They claim their record by signing up on your site with the same email, and Dogly sends them a Set your password link. See A customer cannot sign in.
Good to know
- Only customers and dogs come across: no booking history, payments, waivers or photos.
- Only the owner can import.
Related: Import my customers and dogs from a spreadsheet.
Still stuck? Open More → Dogly Support and tell us the exact message and the first row of your file. A screenshot helps.