Create custom fields during imports

When we shipped auto-creating field options during imports, we tackled one of the biggest friction points in the import process: having to pre-create every dropdown option before your CSV would import cleanly. Today, we're going further.

Previously, if your CSV had columns that didn't map to any existing field in People, you had to leave the import, go set up each custom field and tab, then come back and start over. For churches migrating from another system, that could mean creating 15+ custom fields across several tabs before even getting to the actual import. And if you missed one or misspelled one, that meant profiles with that data would be silently ignored—not great!

Now, on the Match fields step, when you hit a column that doesn't have a matching field, you can pick "Create new field" right from the Planning Center field dropdown. You'll give it a name (pre-filled from your column header), choose a field type, and assign it to an existing or new tab. For dropdown and checkbox fields, we'll automatically create the options based on the values in your CSV.

Dialog box for creating a custom field titled "Serving Areas" with checkboxes on a website, showing options for field placement and tab naming.

We support all custom field types except File and Section Header. Fields aren't actually created until you finalize the import, so you can tweak and adjust as needed.

Redesign to highlight matched and unmatched columns

The import flow was due for a fresh coat of paint to match our current design language, and we took the opportunity to make field matching easier to read — it's now much clearer at a glance which columns are matched and which are not.

Web interface for matching fields from a CSV file with people fields for import. Includes settings, CSV column names, and status indicators.

A few more import improvements

Alongside the headline changes, we smoothed out a few more things:

  • More flexible formatting handling — multi-select columns, like checkbox fields, can now be separated with pipes, semicolons, or line breaks.

  • Automatic name and city/state splitting — importing a single full-name or city/state column? We now have options to split it into first and last name, or city and state, for you.

  • Smarter matching — we now recognize more common column names from other systems, so more of your fields line up automatically.

We hope this cuts down the time you spend on initial (and subsequent) data imports. If there are other parts of the import process you'd love to see smoothed out, we'd love to hear it!

💙 The People Team,
Zane, Usborn, Shawn, Shane, Saryn, Kody, James, Gabi, Fred, Dave, and Benson