Problem with importing members

[BabsSaul]

Hi
I'm quite new to working with S2 and have just upgraded to Pro as we want to import a CSV of members (bringing over from Aweber).
But... I'm getting "Line #1. Missing or invalid Email address ( ); please try again." for each entry and I'm not sure why.

I'm including a blank column headed ID and then have columns for Username, Email, password and Role - but that's it. I'm sure I'm just missing something so if someone could guide me that would be great.

Thank you

Babs

[BabsSaul]

Hmm - time to roll up my sleeves, take the cost on the chin and manually add them all. But there will be others so if anyone can help, that would be great.

[boldplans]

Had the same problem here tonight. Did you ever solve this mysterious error?

[BabsSaul]

I didn't unfortunately so had to add each manually. I am hoping to find the answer before the next import as this was the primary reason for upgrading.

[boldplans]

Thanks for the reply. FYI, Right now I'm actually using a CSV importer and it's actually importing all of my passwords correctly too. Amazing.

[beckyddesign]

BoldPlans - what "CSV importer" are you using? Are you able to import custom fields? This is where the S2 import function just doesn't work. A work around method would be appreciated!

[boldplans]

Anyone who is interested, please contact me privately. I've had a great deal of problems with all wordpress user importers except for one which is a little limited but seems to work. We'll see how it does importing over 70,000 members. But what I don't want to do is turn this into a discussion here about another product, respecting the good folks I see here. I think private messages work and I'll make sure to check the ability to have board members email me.

[BabsSaul]

That is really useful to know, boldplans - will be in touch.
Thank you for sharing!

And to be fair, what you're suggesting is something that the S2 plugin does not do, so I don't see a problem, but respect your viewpoint and would certainly not want to encourage anything unfair.

[boldplans]

And to be fair, what you're suggesting is something that the S2 plugin does not do, so I don't see a problem, but respect your viewpoint and would certainly not want to encourage anything unfair.

Here is the problem:

(1) I'm working with another script that only gets part of the job done.

(2) I've had to personally make a few changes to get the whole job done properly.

(3) It wouldn't be fair to the S2M people here who have an import product that many of us can't get working yet. They seem responsive and very much wanting to fix it but it is long overdue. Let's give them that chance.

(4) I definitely do not want to be providing any support here. Disrespectful and I've already been caught up in the time suck with people having problems. Have huge obligations too so must respectfully watch my time.... everyone needs to pay the bank or landlord.

[Cristián Lávaque]

I didn't unfortunately so had to add each manually. I am hoping to find the answer before the next import as this was the primary reason for upgrading.

Babs, I'm sorry I wasn't around in late Nov '11 when you first posted this. Could you post the first lines of your CSV that caused the error? Please change any private info to fake values.

BoldPlans - what "CSV importer" are you using? Are you able to import custom fields? This is where the S2 import function just doesn't work. A work around method would be appreciated!

Becky, could you also post the first lines of your CSV that's giving trouble to import the custom fields? I know it's not a standard format, but the importer does work when using the right format.

[beckyddesign]

ID Username Password First Name Last Name Display Name Email Website Role Custom Capabilities Registration Date First Payment Date Last Payment Date Auto-EOT Date Custom Value Paid Subscr. ID Paid Subscr. Gateway
StacyCor 2710corwin Stacy Corwin Staxxxy@hxxter.com subscriber 01/15/12 12:47 PM 2710 Victory Palm Dr. Edgewater St. Petersburg College Veterinary Technician Student FL 32141
creepyalligator flatbread Chris Leigh cxxx7@xxil.com subscriber 01/15/12 12:10 PM buttholf Middlebury United States Veterinary Student VT 5753

This doesn't paste very well, but the basic problem is that the built in fields are in columns as you would expect, but the custom fields line up with the label side by side the data, making it impossible to import properly. Why let us create custom fields if they can't be imported from another list?

[boldplans]

I tried everything, including using your exact user example to appear in a csv file.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16865#p60928

Also did what is in the FAQ -- but that shows quotes around the fields. I just found this:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6183#p13278

I'll try that one.

[boldplans]

I got it to work only with the sample file. Apparently you must have the format of the file stay the same as the sample, e.g. you must have an ID field at the beginning which remains empty. You can include field names and then the data, e.g. start with username and omit ID if you don't have one and S2member will create one realizing there is no ID.

Without consistency, I get the following errors as well:

Line #3. Network. The Username and/or Email ( abcde21/ abcde21e@abcde.net ) are in conflict w/ Network rules.

I have no idea what this means. Earlier it was that some user names had only 3 characters. Fixed that with a plugin or just didn't import those. Now I'm stuck. The importer is very finnicky and I can't get it to work consistenly unfortunately. Pasting data into the import didn't work either.

I guess there is a way to use it but only those who really know how this works will be able to format the file to get it to work (try this with just 4000 members if you need to limit imports to 100 at a time.) If I figure it out I'll let others know but I'm stuck and will try another plugin.