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Aha! Ideas | Import data into your account and portals

You probably already have ideas-related data that you want to bring over. (Unless you are coming to Aha! Ideas for an entirely fresh start, in which case — welcome!) If you have a spreadsheet filled with existing requests or a list of users you want to add, then you will want to do a CSV import. There is a lot that you can automatically populate and you can even import workspaces from another Aha! Ideas or Aha! Roadmaps account.

Note: If you are transferring your account from UserVoice, you can import ideas and contacts directly through the UserVoice import.

Import data by CSV

A CSV import is the most basic, flexible data import option. You will load your data into our import template, and then follow the prompts in Aha! Ideas to create or update records.

To start importing your information into Aha! Ideas, navigate to the workspace you want to import into. (Importing is not available at a workspace line level.) Then select Settings ⚙️ Workspace Import from CSV. Follow the steps listed below. You must be an owner or administrator in Aha! Ideas to use the import functionality.

Select the type of information you would like to import

You can choose from the following record types:

Idea votes
Ideas
Idea organizations (Advanced)
Contacts
Users
Workspaces

Notes before you begin a CSV import

When importing ideas, you may also import scorecard metrics. If you leave a metric blank, a score of zero will be imported for that metric. If you set a metric value above or below the metric's range, the import will error.
If you are importing formatted text (such as an idea's description or comments on an Aha! Ideas record), you will need to use HTML formatting, e.g. for line breaks, for paragraph breaks, or for bold formatting.
You may also update your Aha! Ideas data when importing.
Importing contacts requires an administrator with customization permissions.
Importing users requires an administrator with billing permissions. You also have the option to choose whether or not to send those users an email invitation to the Aha! Ideas account.
If the total users being imported exceeds the account's available paid seats, every user will still be imported so that Aha! Ideas administrators can activate/deactivate the users as needed.

Select where you want to add the information

If you are importing new records, they will be associated with the record that is selected in this step:

Workspace
Ideas portal

Prepare your CSV file

We have templates and guides that make the import process as pain-free as possible. Click the What fields can I import? button and take a moment to review the supported fields for your workspace. We have also provided a template you can use by clicking Download template CSV.

Please be sure to convert any dates to YYYY-MM-DD format before importing.

Note: If you are importing fields that have values already configured in Aha! Ideas, you should ensure that the data in your CSV file will match. Otherwise, you will get an error on import. Examples of these fields are feature status fields, the Created_by field, or predefined custom fields.

Upload your CSV file

When you upload your CSV file, you will be prompted to map the Aha! Ideas fields to your fields. After you confirm the right column headings, click the Import button. The import will happen automatically; when it is complete, you will see a confirmation message with a link to the location of your newly created Aha! Ideas data. If there are any errors during the import, an error message will be displayed with instructions on how to correct the problem.

Troubleshooting common problems

The Import from CSV feature only supports files that have UTF-8 encoding. UTF-8 encoding supports all writing systems around the world, including special Asian- and European-language characters. However, there are some characters that are often found in exports from bug tracking systems that are not valid for UTF-8. In that case, you may see this error message during the import:

CSV file is invalid: invalid byte sequence in UTF-8.

The most common cause for this message is the existence of curly quotation marks and apostrophes — often with text that was created in MS Word or Outlook. There are two ways to convert your CSV file to UTF-8 encoding:

If you are using Windows, you can get Excel to save in UTF-8 encoding. Visit this link for instructions.
If you are using Excel on a Mac, you can save as MS-DOS Comma separated. This will convert to 7-bit ASCII, which is compatible with UTF-8.

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Getting started

Congratulations! Your Aha! Ideas account and ideas portal are both full of data. It is time to invite users.