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Import volunteer history

Summary

If your church is moving to Safe Pathways from another provider, or from binders and spreadsheets, nobody has to start at zero. The volunteer history import brings in prior training and screening dates from a spreadsheet, pre-clears the basics, and flags anything it cannot read. This article walks through the upload, the preview, duplicate review, and the results.

Who this is for

  • Church Administrators bringing existing volunteers into Safe Pathways
  • Account Owners

What you’ll need

Make sure you have:

  • Admin access with permission to import volunteer history
  • A spreadsheet in .xlsx or .csv format (a sample template is downloadable on the page)
  • Volunteer names at minimum; emails, training dates, screening dates, and reference status if you have them

Before you start

Imported volunteers arrive pre-cleared on the basics: Safe Pathways assumes the onboarding conversation happened, the six-month participation period passed, and references were completed at your previous provider. Two things stay live: every volunteer still acknowledges your policy in Safe Pathways, and a training date more than one year old imports as expired, so those volunteers will need a renewal.

Emails matter more than they look. A blank email gets a placeholder so the import can proceed, but a volunteer cannot log in until a real email is added. And if your church uses Planning Center, make sure emails here match Planning Center exactly: records are matched by email, and mismatches create separate accounts that will not sync.

The importer follows the same principle as every Safe Pathways import: valid rows come in, problem rows are reported with reasons, and nothing blocks the batch.

Steps to import volunteer history

1. Open Import History

Select Import History in the left menu of the Admin Dashboard.

2. Download and fill the template

Use the “Download sample CSV template” link on the page. The column instructions sit right beside it: First Name and Last Name (or one Name column, split automatically), an optional Single Name column for one-name people, Email, Training Date (flexible formats like 2025-09-07 or Sept 7 2025), Last Screening Date, and References (TRUE if completed). Lines starting with # are ignored.

[Screenshot: Import Volunteer History upload step, showing the template download link, column instructions, and the file drop area]

3. Upload your spreadsheet

Select “Choose file” and pick your .xlsx or .csv. Safe Pathways parses it on the spot.

4. Check the column matches

If your file has columns the importer does not recognize, they are listed at the top as ignored, along with the columns that matched. Nothing is guessed silently.

5. Review the preview

The preview shows every parsed row: how many have a real email versus a placeholder, each training date (with an “expired” flag where it is more than a year old), each screening date, and a warnings column explaining anything questionable. Untick any rows you are not ready to bring in.

[Screenshot: Preview grid showing parsed rows with checkboxes, training and screening dates, and the warnings column]

6. Select Import Selected

The import runs, creating and setting up the selected volunteers.

7. Decide any potential duplicates

If the import finds people who look like existing records, it pauses and lists them. For each one, choose Link to Existing (attach the history to the current account), Create New, or Skip. Bulk buttons apply one choice to all rows, then Confirm and Continue finishes the import.

8. Read the results

The summary shows Added, Updated, and Skipped, with every skip reason listed. From here, Import Another File runs the next batch, and View Community takes you to your updated list.

What happens next

Imported volunteers appear in Community with their screening basics pre-cleared and their dates on record. The next step is assigning pathways: anyone with a blank or expired training date needs one, and assignment is also what sends each volunteer their invitation email. See Getting Started: Assigning Pathways.

Skipped rows are not lost causes. Fix them in your source file and import the file again; people who already exist are matched by email and updated rather than duplicated.

Troubleshooting

Lots of rows show warnings

  • Read the warning text on each row; it names the exact problem.
  • Dates the importer cannot read are the most common cause. Reformat them (2025-09-07 style is safest) and upload again.

An imported volunteer cannot log in

  • Their row had no email, so a placeholder was generated. Add their real email on their profile and they can sign in.

Training shows as expired for long-serving volunteers

  • Any training date more than one year old imports as expired on purpose, so renewals are not missed.
  • Assign the appropriate pathway and they will renew through Safe Pathways.

The duplicate review keeps appearing

  • The people in your file already exist in Safe Pathways. Choose Link to Existing to attach the imported history to their current accounts instead of creating copies.

Some rows were skipped

  • The skip reasons under the summary name each one. Fix those rows in your source file and import the file again.

Notes

  • History import pre-clears the onboarding conversation, six-month participation, and references. Policy acknowledgement still happens in Safe Pathways.
  • A training date more than one year old imports as expired.
  • A blank email gets a placeholder; the volunteer cannot log in until a real one is added.
  • Valid rows import and problem rows are reported with reasons; nothing blocks the batch.
  • Importing history does not assign pathways and does not email anyone.
  • Planning Center churches: match emails exactly, records sync by email.

Last reviewed

June 11, 2026