Import and export groups

A template’s groups are a table, so you can keep them in a spreadsheet. Download them, edit or add rows in Excel, Google Sheets or another spreadsheet app, and import the file again. You can also import groups straight from a file on the web or a shared Google sheet.

You find Import and export groups on the template’s General tab (in Elementor: in the RowSprout template tab). Save a new template once first, a draft is fine.

Export the groups

Choose a format and click Download groups. The file has a column per property and a row per group, plus the group’s ID, so an import of the same file updates these groups instead of adding them again.

Format	When to use it
CSV UTF-8, comma-separated	The default. Opens in Google Sheets, Numbers and most other apps.
CSV UTF-8, semicolon-separated	Excel in a language that uses a comma as decimal separator, such as Dutch, German or French.
Text UTF-8, tab-separated	Copying into a spreadsheet, or values with many commas and semicolons.
CSV, comma-separated, without byte order mark	Scripts and other software that don’t expect the byte order mark.

The download holds the saved groups: save the template first to include changes you just made.

Leading zeros and dates

Spreadsheet apps like to turn text into numbers and dates: postcode 0123 becomes 123. When you open the file in Google Sheets, turn off Convert text to numbers, dates, and formulas; in Excel, import it with Data → From Text/CSV and set such columns to Text. When a value comes back changed this way, RowSprout keeps the stored value and tells you.

A property whose value is a list with one item per line, such as RowSprout Pro’s Item list, is written as item 1 | item 2 | item 3 and read back the same way.

Import groups

Click Import groups…. A wizard in four steps reads the file and shows what it will do before anything is saved.

1. Choose a file or URL. Under Source, choose A file on this computer (CSV, text or an Excel workbook .xlsx) or A URL: a CSV, text or Excel file on the web, or the link of a Google sheet shared with Anyone with the link. Click Next, or Fetch to read the URL first.

   • A Google sheet or an Excel workbook with several tabs asks which Tab or Worksheet to import.
   • Advanced options hold the Character encoding (detected automatically; change it only when letters such as é or ü look wrong), Start import at row and My data has headers.

2. Delimiters. Choose the characters that separate the columns. The Data preview shows how the file is split. RowSprout already picks the most likely one, so usually you just click Next.

3. Columns. For each column in the file, choose what it fills under Import as: one of the template’s properties, ID (finds the existing group), — Do not import — or New property…, which adds a property to the template with the type and label you choose. One column must be the Title, the ID or the Href (URL/slug), so every row can find its group. Next time you import a file with the same column names, the choices of the last import are filled in for you.

4. Summary. You see what the import will do: New groups, Groups updated, Groups already up to date, Rows skipped and New properties, and anything to check first, such as values that don’t fit their property type or URLs used twice. Click Import: the groups are saved right away and the page reloads to show them.

How rows find their group

• A row with the ID of a group updates that group. Without an ID column, a row with the URL (Href value) of a group updates it.
• Any other row with a title becomes a new group. A row without a title is skipped.
• Two rows for the same group: the values of the last one are used.
• A property you don’t import keeps its value.

Groups that are not in the file

Groups of the template that no row of the file has stay as they are, with their pages. The summary lists them, and you can tick Delete these groups when importing, with their pages; the button then reads Import and delete. When the template has child templates, the text says so: their groups for those rows, and their pages, are deleted too. This cannot be undone.

As a safeguard, a file in which no row matches an existing group cannot delete anything: it is probably the wrong file.

Child templates

A child template’s groups come from its parent. Its import only updates the values of those groups, found by ID or URL, and skips other rows. An empty cell means the value is inherited from the parent.

Generate the pages

An import saves the groups but generates nothing. Update the template with Create & update pages to generate the new and changed pages (with RowSprout Pro’s Smart Generate, only those).

Groups without a title

A group without a title gets no page, also when you add it by hand: the Groups tab marks it, and saving tells you which groups wait for a title. Leave the URL/slug empty and it follows from the title.

More with RowSprout Pro

RowSprout Pro

RowSprout Pro adds:

• JSON feeds and REST APIs. A URL that returns JSON is imported like a spreadsheet: each item of its list becomes a row, with a column per field (nested fields as address.city). A feed with several lists asks which List to import. A JSON file from your computer works too.
• A request header. For a feed or file that needs a key, fill in Request header (optional) under Advanced options, as Name: value (for example X-API-Key: abc123). A token alone is sent as Authorization: Bearer <token>.
• Keep the groups in sync with this URL. The last step of the wizard can turn an import from a URL into a scheduled sync: see Keep groups in sync.
• Scripts and AI agents. wp rowsprout export-groups and import-groups, and the MCP abilities export-template-groups and import-template-groups, do the same without the wizard.

For developers

The wizard and the import have hooks for add-ons: convert another file format, change the request for a URL, add fields to the wizard’s steps, or act after an import. See Group import and export (CSV) in the hook reference.