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Bulk Import and Export Q&A Records

Users have the ability to bulk import and export Q&A records to the Answer Library using CENTRL's standard Excel template.

For more information on Q&A records, please see our introduction article below:

Note: Only users who have the Answer Library property enabled and Write permission can bulk import Q&A to the Answer Library. Please see our full help article below for more information on Roles and Permissions:

This article covers the following topics:

Bulk Export

First, navigate to the Answer Library Module, as highlighted in the screenshot below:

Answer Library Module

  1. At the Answer Library Screen, click on the Export All Q&As button as shown below.

    Bulk Import and Export Q&A Records 1

  2. In the Export All Q&As screen, click the 3 dots icon, then select any of the three export options.

    Note: This export will contain all of the Q&A that can be bulk imported back on the platform.

  3. Click the Export Button to receive an email with your exported Q&As.

Bulk Import

  1. At the Answer Library Screen, click on the dropdown arrow next to Add New Q&A, and select the Bulk Import option as shown below.

    Bulk Import and Export Q&A Records 3

  2. You can download the approved template by clicking the Download Template link. Click the Next button to proceed.
  3. For more information on attaching and uploading files, please see our full help article below:
  4. Click the Next button to proceed.

  5. On this next step, select which attributes you wish to import by clicking on the associated checkbox(s). When finished, click the Import button to initiate the import process.

    Note: Any unique formatting (e.g. line breaks, bold, Italics) in the Import template will be retained when imported into our UI.

  6. At this stage, the import has begun and will resume in the background. You will receive an email notification confirming that the process is in progress, and you will receive another when it is completed. You can copy the link to the log for this import, so that you may view the results later. Click the Close button to return to the Answer Library.

     

Importing Verification Data

Status, Verified By, and Verified On are now preserved when importing Q&A records, instead of being discarded. The following rules apply:

  • All or nothing: Status, Verified By, and Verified On must either all be left blank, or all be provided for a given row. A row with only one or two of these three fields filled in will be flagged as invalid.
  • Status must exactly match one of the values available in the Verification dropdown (for example, Verified, Not Verified, or Expired).
  • Verified By must be the email address of a valid, active user in the system. (This is the one place the import/export template uses email instead of full name — the Answer Library table, the record's details page, and exports elsewhere continue to display the user's full name.) If the importing user doesn't have permission to assign verification to the specified user, the row is flagged as invalid.
  • Verified On must be a valid date in one of the following formats, and must be today's date or a date in the past:
    • MM/DD/YYYY
    • YYYY-MM-DD

Rows with invalid or incomplete verification data are not imported; they're flagged as errors in the Import Logs.

Import Logs

  1. At the Answer Library Screen, click on the dropdown arrow next to Add New Q&A, and select the Import Logs option as shown below.

    Bulk Import and Export Q&A Records 9

  2. You can view Import Details by clicking on the desired file name..
  3. You will see a table of errors and warnings if any, at the bottom of the Import Details pane. You can download the imported file using the Download File button.