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Import/ Export Projects
Alejandra Pizarro avatar
Written by Alejandra Pizarro
Updated this week

Only Admin users with Edit Account Settings and Data set as On have access to the CSV Import & Export Tool.

You can use the CSV Import/Exporter to:

  • Add new Projects

  • Export Projects details

  • Update Existing Project details

  • Assign Restricted Project Managers to Projects

You cannot delete Projects in Runn with the CSV Tool. You will have to delete them manually in Runn.

You can click on the Table of Contents on the right to jump to any section anytime.


First-Time Account Setup

1. Set up Rate Cards (Optional)

If you need to use rate cards for your projects, you must manually create the rate cards before assigning them to the projects via the CSV uploader.

2. Download Template

  1. Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings

  2. Click CSV

  3. Click on the Projects Tab, expand Projects

  4. Click Download Template CSV

You will see some samples from the template for your reference. You can remove them and add your actual data to the file.

3. Preparing your data in the CSV file

Data Format and Requirements

Refer to the Data Format and Requirements section to prepare your data.

Here are some points to note:

Column headers

  • It is recommended that the column header names stay the same as those you see in the file downloaded from Runn. This way, Runn can automatically map the data into the system

Can I use my own column header names in my CSV file?

If it is more convenient for you to use your internal naming conventions in the column headers, it is also possible. You will have to manually match the data with a few clicks during the importing process

Our CSV tool allows you to match the column headers into Runn's format with just a few clicks. See the help article here.

Assign Rate Card is a MUST

  • If you will use rate cards, it is strongly recommended that you add and assign the reference rate cards during the initial project import.

  • If you assign the reference Rate Cards after the project is created, the rates on the rate card will NOT be automatically applied to the Project. You must take extra steps to manually update the Project Rates Project by Project.

Remove all unrequired columns

  • If you have other columns on your spreadsheet that are not listed in the downloaded CSV file, please remove all these columns before importing

Remove Optional columns if you don't need it

  • If the field is marked as optional and you don't need to import data against it, you can delete the column entirely from your spreadsheet.

  • Importing a file without the optional column will not delete any data in Runn

Ensure no duplicated records

  • Make sure that there are no duplicated projects and each record has a unique Project Name

4. Importing Project Data

Jump to the Importing CSV file in Runn and follow the steps to import your CSV file.


Updating/Exporting Existing Data

If your account already has Projects data and you want to add new projects or update existing data, you can easily download the existing data, make the changes and re-import the CSV file to Runn.

The data in the newly imported CSV file will overwrite/add to existing data in Runn.

1. Exporting Existing Data

  1. Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings

  2. Click CSV

  3. Click on the Projects Tab, expand Projects

  4. Click Download Existing Projects CSV (Only Active Projects are exported)


  5. Update the data in this CSV file.

Project ID column

The downloaded file contains a numeric Project ID column, which is a unique identifier in Runn.

Please do not make any changes to this column, or the CSV importer may not be able to identify which data point you would like to update.

The Project ID in the CSV Tool is different from the Project ID in the Reports. Please DO NOT use the Project ID in the reports for CSV import.

2. Preparing your data in the CSV file

You can add or update any role data from the CSV file according to the formatting requirements.

Here are some points to note:

Column headers

  • It is recommended that the column header names stay the same as those you see in the file downloaded from Runn. This way, Runn can automatically map the data into the system

Can I use my own column header names in my CSV file?

If it is more convenient for you to use your internal naming conventions in the column headers, it is also possible. You will have to manually match the data with a few clicks during the importing process

Our CSV tool allows you to match the column headers into Runn's format with just a few clicks. See the help article here.

Do not change the Project IDs

  • When updating existing data, please do not make any changes to the Project ID column, or the CSV importer may be unable to identify which data point you want to update.

  • If you would like to add new projects, you can leave the Project ID blank and just enter the project data in a new row:

Assign Rate Card is a MUST

  • If you are adding new projects and will use rate cards, it is strongly recommended that you assign the reference rate cards in the CSV file

  • If you assign the reference Rate Cards after the project is created, the rates on the rate card will NOT be automatically applied to the Project. You must take extra steps to manually update the Project Rates Project by Project.

Remove all unrequired columns

  • If you have other columns on your spreadsheet that are not listed in the downloaded CSV file, please remove all these columns before importing

Ensure no duplicated records

  • Make sure that there are no duplicated projects and each record has a unique Project Name

3. Importing CSV file in Runn

After preparing the CSV file, you can import the updated data in Runn.

  1. Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings

  2. Click CSV

  3. Click on the Projects Tab, expand Projects

(Skip this if this is your initial account setup or you are just adding new data)

If you want to remove and replace existing tags/ Project Editors/ Project Workstreams with the ones in your file, you can choose Replace mode before clicking the Import button if you want to remove and replace tags/ Project Editors/ Project Workstreams with the data in your file.

Read this help article to learn more.

4. Click Import Projects CSV

4. Upload Projects

Drag your file to the screen or click Import Projects CSV

5. Matching the columns

On this screen, the items on the left are the column headers in your CSV file, while the items on the right are the column headers required in our CSV Tool.

If you haven't changed the column headers, they should be exactly the same. In this case, click Confirm

What do I do if the column headers are not the same?

Check out this help article to learn more.

6. Reviewing Entries

Carefully scroll through the page and check if all the information is correct.

❌ What to do if there is an error?

Check out this article to learn more about how to fix errors.

If everything looks good, click Complete Import

Congratulations! You have successfully imported projects! 🎉

7. Validating the data

You can validate if the data are successfully uploaded by following the steps below:

  1. Go to the Project Planner

  2. You should now see all the updated projects data in Runn:


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