CSV import

If your running order already exists in a spreadsheet, import it rather than retyping it. Up to 500 rows at a time.

Open the Controller and click Import CSV in the header.

Your spreadsheet does not need specific column names

This is the most important thing to know, and the opposite of what most importers expect: there is no required format. The importer reads whatever headers are in your first row and lets you map each column to a timer field yourself.

The four fields you can map to are title, speaker, notes, and duration. Anything you do not need, leave as (ignore).

It guesses the mapping for you where it can — case-insensitively:

Anything it does not recognise starts as (ignore) — just set it yourself from the dropdown.

No single column is required. The only rule is that at least one column must map to something, or you will get "Map at least one column to a timer field before importing."

Duration format

The duration cell accepts either:

• mm:ss — 45:00 is forty-five minutes
• A plain number of seconds — 2700 is also forty-five minutes

Never use h:mm:ss. 1:30:00 does not import as ninety minutes — it becomes 90 seconds, silently, with no warning. For anything over an hour, use minutes: 90:00.

A missing, blank, or unparseable duration becomes 5:00 rather than failing. That is a silent default, so check the preview.

A worked example

Session Title,Presenter,Duration,Notes
Registration & Coffee,,30:00,Foyer
Opening Keynote,Dr Amara Okafor,45:00,Autocue needed
Panel: The Year Ahead,Various,50:00,4 chairs on stage
Closing Remarks,Sam Whitfield,10:00,

The importer will map Session Title → title, Presenter → speaker, Duration → duration, and Notes → notes on its own — all four headers are recognised.

There is no downloadable template in the app; copy the block above as your starting point.

Importing, step by step

1. Click Import CSV in the Controller header.
2. Choose your .csv file. It parses immediately.
3. Under Map columns, check each header's dropdown and correct anything mis-guessed.
4. Check Preview — it shows the first 10 rows only, with a "… and N more rows" note underneath.
5. Click Import N timers.
6. On success you will see "Imported N timers successfully." and be returned to the Controller after a moment.

What the import does to your existing rundown

Imported sessions are added to the end. Nothing is replaced or overwritten, so importing twice gives you two copies of everything.

Every imported session is created as a plain Countdown with no schedule. That means:

• No time-of-day start times, so the Agenda will show — for each row and Schedule health will report "no planned schedule".
• Nothing is flagged as a break — set that yourself afterwards by editing the session.
• Add start times afterwards via Edit on each session if you need drift tracking.

Errors and gotchas

The importer never tells you a row was wrong. There is no per-row validation and no row is ever skipped — every row in your file becomes a session. A blank title becomes an empty title (displayed as Untitled); a bad duration becomes 5:00. The preview is your only check, and it only shows the first 10 rows. For a long file, spot-check the rundown afterwards.

Tips for a clean file:

• Export as CSV UTF-8 from Excel or Google Sheets.
• Make sure row 1 is your headers, not a title banner or a merged cell.
• Delete trailing empty rows — blank rows still import as Untitled sessions at 5:00.
• Quote any field containing a comma: "Panel: Risk, Reward, and Regulation".

Related

• Controller — editing sessions after import, and adding schedule times
• Agenda — why imported sessions show no start times