CSV (Comma Separated Value) is a file format that contains plain text values separated by commas.
Here are some rules to keep in mind when uploading a CSV file for your schedule.
For complete details on how to upload the CSV, see our guide How to create a Schedule for an event.
Before uploading your schedule, we recommend using a program like VS Code, Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac, or any text editor on your computer to evaluate your schedule before uploading it. This will help you find mistakes you will not easily find when viewed in tabular form.
Now here’s what to look out for:
When using a default text editor (such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac), there are a few things you should double check to ensure that your file is uploaded correctly.
Header
The correct header is: Start date,Start time,End date,End time,Schedule name,Schedule description,Segment name,Segment Type,External URL,Open URL in new tab,Tags,Speaker names, Attendance.
Here's what they all mean:
- Start/end date and start/end times - These are times and dates each segment is due to start and end. They must be within the times of your event or they will produce an error.
- Schedule name - What you choose to title your scheduled segments.
- Schedule description - The description you set for the schedule item to provide some additional information for your attendees.
- Segment Name (Optional) - If you have multiple Stages/Sessions/Expo Booths, this refers to the name of the specific Event area.
- Note: The Session must be set to "Scheduled" in the Session settings to be attached to a schedule segment.
- You can link multiple Sessions to a scheduled segment, however, these must be separated by line breaks, not commas. On Windows in Excel, you can do this by using Alt+Enter on your keyboard.
- Segment Type - This can be sessions, stage, expo, networking, break or external_url and replay or custom area (Advanced plans only, and if enabled). You must use lower case letters for this section.
- External URL - This only applies if you have set your segment type to "external url" and you can input the website address here.
- Open URL in new tab - TRUE if you would like a new tab to open when clicking on your URL, or FALSE if you would like it to redirect your attendees away from the RingCentral event.
- Tags - Add tags to make your schedule segments easier to find.
- Speaker Names - Add any Speakers relevant to the segment.
- Attendance - can be either "recommended" or "regular."
Data Formatting
An example of correct data format is:
2021-11-15,16:20,2021-11-15,17:20,Keynote Presentation,Listen to our founder and CEO open the event,stage,,,Stage,"Tag 1, Tag 2","Talking Cat, Talking Donkey",regular
If you choose to use an external URL, the correct format will be:
2021-11-15,16:20,2021-11-15,17:20,External Video Presentation,Follow the link to watch the presentation on our website,external_url,https://hopin.com,true,,,,regular
- If a field lacks data - for example, the stage name does not apply for a session - a comma must be present indicating an empty field.
- If there are multiple tags or speakers for a segment, they must be within quote marks (“ “) For example, “Tag1, Tag2, Tag3” and make sure there is a space between each one.
- The schedule name and description must be within 160 characters.
Things to look out for:
- The header titles must be separated by a comma with no space. Be sure you have the items separated by a comma, NOT semi-colon or any other symbol.
- Save the file as .csv format NOT .number or any other format.
- There must be no empty rows in the CSV document.
- Be sure the text encoding for the CSV file is set as Unicode (UTF-8). If this is set to anything else, you may experience issues displaying special characters.
- If you decide to change the header title, ensure the fields are matched properly when uploading the CSV within the Event Dashboard. For example, if the 'Start date' header is changed to 'date' or anything else, ensure the field is matched with 'start date' when uploading the file.