Import a CSV or Excel File
You can import comma-separated values (CSV) and Excel files to quickly add events and layers to your timeline.
We recommend trying our Bulk Editor before spending much time building a spreadsheet by hand. It gives you a spreadsheet-like interface tailored to Preceden.
If you are on a paid plan, you can access the import feature by clicking the Share button above your timeline, then the Spreadsheet item. In the dialog that opens, click the Spreadsheet Import heading to expand that section, then click the Import a Spreadsheet link:
From there, choose the CSV or XLSX file you want to import, then click the Import button.
File Format
Preceden expects the spreadsheet file to be in this format:
You can download this example Excel file.
The file must have exactly 8 columns, in the order below, and the first row has to name them. The importer reads columns by position, so a file with the right columns in the wrong order is rejected rather than reordered. Only 3 of the 8 are required to have values:
| # | Column Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | layer_name | (required) The name of the layer to add the event to. If you specify a layer name that does not exist on the timeline already, it will be created during the import. Layer names can be up to 100 characters long. |
| 2 | event_id | (optional) The ID of the event. If set, the import will update the existing event instead of creating a new event. You'll only have this set if you're importing a spreadsheet that you previously exported from Preceden. It's not something you need to come up with on your own. |
| 3 | event_name | (required) The name of the event, up to 200 characters. |
| 4 | notes | (optional) Notes for the event, up to 10,000 characters. |
| 5 | start_date | (required) The start date of the event. The date must be in a format that Preceden supports. You can prepend this with a tilde (~) to indicate it's approximate. |
| 6 | end_date | (optional) The end date of the event. The date must be in a format that Preceden supports. You can prepend this with a tilde (~) to indicate it's approximate. |
| 7 | icon | (optional) A Font Awesome icon name, optionally preceded by solid, regular or brand. For example, solid circle, regular star, brand twitter, or just circle, which Preceden treats as solid circle. |
| 8 | color | (optional) A valid six-digit hex code, with or without the leading #. Example: #FF0000 or FF0000. Can also be random in which case Preceden will randomly select a color from the color palette.Defaults to random if no value is provided. |
When the import finishes, you'll see a confirmation message and a View your timeline now → button. Click it and your timeline opens with the new events on it:
FAQs
Is there a limit on the number of events I can import?
Yes, in two ways.
First, a timeline holds a maximum of 1,500 events, and any events already on the timeline count toward that total, so the most you can add in one import is 1,500 minus what is already there. Rows with an event_id from this timeline update an existing event instead of adding one, so they don't count toward the limit, and you can re-import a spreadsheet you exported even from a full timeline. An import that would go over the limit is rejected before any events are added, so you won't end up with a half-imported timeline.
Second, CSV imports work well for up to 500 events at a time, but after that you may see an error due to how long it takes to process the import. It's still possible to import to your timeline, you'll just need us to run it. Email your CSV to [email protected] and we'll import it on our end.
What order will the layers end up in?
Layers that are already on your timeline and are also named in your file are reordered among themselves to match the order they appear in the file. Layers your file does not mention keep their place. Any layer the import has to create is added after all the layers that were already there, in the order it first appears in the file.
This matters most when you are merging one timeline into another, since the imported layers land below the ones already on the target timeline rather than pushing them down.
I exported my timeline as a CSV, edited it in Excel, and now the date format changed.
Try exporting your timeline as an Excel file instead of a CSV, or manually import the CSV into Excel before editing it.
Can I import a spreadsheet from Google Sheets?
Yes, by downloading it first. Preceden imports files rather than links, so in Google Sheets click File, then Download, and choose either the Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or the comma-separated values (.csv) option. Then import the downloaded file as described above.
If your spreadsheet has more than one tab, put your events on the first one. A CSV download only includes the tab you are viewing, and Preceden reads only the first tab of an Excel file.
My imported timeline has events that are missing letters. What can I do?
This usually means the CSV file's encoding is wrong. On Windows, save the file with UTF-8 encoding and run the import again:
What happens if something in my file is wrong?
The import is all or nothing. Preceden checks the whole file before it adds anything, so if it finds a problem anywhere, none of the events are added and you can correct the spreadsheet and upload it again.
The problems are listed by row number, like Row 2: The layer name is missing. Row 1 is the header row, so your first event is row 2, and anything wrong with the column names themselves is reported against row 1. Each row lists everything wrong with it at once, so you can fix a row in one pass rather than re-uploading after every correction. Besides missing layer names and rows with the wrong number of columns, the most common problems are dates: a start_date in a format Preceden does not support, or an end_date that falls before the start_date on the same row.
Empty rows are not a problem. The importer skips any row with nothing in it, so you do not need to delete the blank lines a spreadsheet app sometimes leaves at the end of an exported file.
I'm having problems. Who can I contact?
If you run into any problems with your import, email us at [email protected]. Please include the CSV file you are trying to import and anything you can tell us about what went wrong.