# Import from File - Users **URL:** \ **Category:** Administration\ **Created:** [March 31, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231 "2025-03-31T05:32:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/1 "2025-03-31T05:32:41Z")
Hi, I have a problem with disappearing profile pictures. When I want to insert new users, using the Import from File feature, there doesn’t seem to be an option to ignore the profile picture column. I insert the pictures manually for each user after I create their profiles, because I couldn’t find a way to quickly generate the links to the profile pictures. I had to search for the links to the pictures in FileZilla and then insert them into the spreadsheet in order to restore the pictures. If I had to do it each time it’s time consuming. I believe there must be a better way of creating a bulk of new profiles. Please could you help. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![sandra](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/sandra/32/5_2.png) [@sandra](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/sandra)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/2 "2025-04-01T02:43:35Z")
Hi @Dechen The User Photo is not a required field, so when you are uploading it, you can select \* skip \* to not upload that column. There is a separate Upload Photos & Files option in System Admin which can be used to bulk-upload a zip archive of user photos. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/3 "2025-04-11T06:09:20Z")
Thank you, I will try that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2025, 5:19am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/4 "2025-04-21T05:19:50Z")
Is it possible to _skip_ the Password column when I want to use Update&Insert upload? I need to create a bulk of new profiles, but if I enter some passwords only, and leave some empty, it would wipe the other passwords off. Consequently the users who had changed their passwords would have to have their passwords reset, if that makes sense? ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 4:44am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/5 "2025-04-27T04:44:35Z")
Hi @sandra please could you let me know what to do about the above? It doesn’t seem like \*skip is available for passwords. only [custom] but I worry that if I use it it might erase all passwords.. ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/6 "2025-05-01T10:58:21Z")
Hi @sandra I would appreciate your or anyone response, because I am stuck here. I couldn’t find anything related to that on the forum…☹ ---
**Author:** ![tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/tiekubd/32/163_2.png) [@tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/tiekubd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/7 "2025-05-01T14:59:40Z")
Hi @Dechen Are you trying to create new users or update existing users with your import, or both? ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/8 "2025-05-04T04:41:33Z")
I’m creating new users using the same spreadhseet ---
**Author:** ![tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/tiekubd/32/163_2.png) [@tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/tiekubd)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/9 "2025-05-04T12:41:28Z")
Are you creating new users using the DataStructure-usersFull.xlsx or DataStructure-usersBasic.xlsx file? Please note that the password field is required when importing new users with any file. For this reason, if you need to both create new users and update existing ones, I recommend using two separate files — or two separate sheets within the same workbook. When updating users, the only required field is username. Let me know if I’ve missed anything. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/10 "2025-05-24T11:38:05Z")
Thank you @tiekubd I am using the usersBasic spreadsheet. If I have two separate sheets within one workbook, won’t they both be uploaded when uploading the file? I tried to upload a separate spreadsheet (usersFull) with just two users, but the system spit out an error. Previously I’ve uploaded usersBasic with 153 users on it. Not sure if system defines them by row numbers? ---
**Author:** ![tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/tiekubd/32/163_2.png) [@tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/tiekubd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/11 "2025-05-25T02:01:16Z")
Hi @Dechen The importer allows you to upload a workbook with multiple worksheets. It will import only the first (leftmost) worksheet and ignore the others. This means you can rearrange the worksheets to choose which one gets imported. What error did you receive when you tried importing ‘usersFull’? Would you like to share an anonymized version of your import file so I can take a look. Tieku ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 11:49am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/12 "2025-05-25T11:49:24Z")
![upload error](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/uploads/default/original/2X/1/15ad415344df341d27b204e435dbc8b37ec0ea19.jpeg) the system doesn’t seem to be recognizing the roles: Teacher, Administrator etc ? it also asks for the rows which have no data to be filled out. I have filled in just the first row.. ---
**Author:** ![tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/tiekubd/32/163_2.png) [@tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/tiekubd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/13 "2025-05-25T14:17:22Z")
Try this: Use Excel’s filter to find blank rows, then delete the entire row. ---
**Author:** ![sandra](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/sandra/32/5_2.png) [@sandra](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/sandra)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 6:01am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/14 "2025-05-26T06:01:55Z")
Hi @Dechen When importing, there is a dropdown to select the Mode, which enables you to select just `Import`, or just `Update`. If you choose `Update` only, there is an option to Skip Required Fields, which will enable skipping nearly all the fields. When you use the default `Insert & Update` mode, there are more required fields, since it cannot create records without a minimum of data. ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 4:04am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/15 "2025-05-27T04:04:18Z")
It seems Gibbon is not recognizing Administrator, Teacher, Student roles? I have just changed the long role names into their abbreviations but I got the same error. The error occurs for both the filled and empty cells. But when I go to filter, there are no Blank cells to be deleted. I don’t get this problem with the file in which I have all existing users listed (the spreadsheet I used initially to create the users). I can still use it to update their information. Yes, Update option is useful once the users are already created, but the problem occurs when I try using the Insert option to create new users. If I use the insert option, then I need to include the password field. Since I don’t know what passwords other users have created, uploading the file will reset their passwords. So I tried to follow @tiekubd advice and use a separate file. But then this error occurs. ![roles](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/uploads/default/original/2X/e/eefd93d520885154294cef70bfab5cdd08e943f7.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/user_avatar/ask.gibbonedu.org/tiekubd/32/163_2.png) [@tiekubd](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/tiekubd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/16 "2025-05-27T05:11:31Z")
The only way I might be able to help is if I can take a look at your import file. Feel free to anonymize the data by changing the real names. ---
**Author:** ![Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dechen](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/u/Dechen)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://ask.gibbonedu.org/t/import-from-file-users/15231/17 "2025-05-28T05:32:24Z")
Ok, the problem is solved. I have created a new spreadsheet and copied the data there. Not sure why it made a difference but it worked 🙂 Thank you for your responses 😀