Importing appointments and clients to Acuity Scheduling

You can import appointments and clients to move information into Acuity in bulk. Importing is a great option if you’re coming to Acuity from another service and already have established clients and scheduled appointments. This guide explains how to format your data to make imports successful, how to import clients and appointments, and how to undo imports.

Tip: If you get started and decide you want more hands-on help setting up Acuity Scheduling, you can hire a vetted expert. 

Prepare your spreadsheet to import appointments

Before you begin, organize your appointments into a spreadsheet.

If you're migrating from another scheduling program, export your appointments from that program. For help exporting existing appointments from another program, contact that program’s support team.

Note: Importing appointments won’t update existing appointments; it only adds new appointments to Acuity. Importing appointments you’ve already manually added to Acuity creates duplicates.

Break your spreadsheet of appointments into groups of 1,000 rows, and save each group as a separate .csv file. If you try to import a spreadsheet with more than 1,000 rows, Acuity will reject your file.

Your .csv file needs to include the following columns: 

• Start date and time. Dates need to be formatted MM/DD/YYYY.
• End date and time. Dates need to be formatted MM/DD/YYYY.
• Client's name
• Appointment type or service

You can also include the following columns:

• Client’s phone number
• Client’s email
• Which calendar the appointment should be assigned to
• A notes field

Click here to download a sample file.

It’s not possible to import:

• Columns other than those listed above. To import more information, combine it into the notes field.
• More than one notes field. If you have multiple notes fields, combine them into one notes field.
• Canceled appointments. Remove them before you begin.
• Payment information.
• Images.
• Appointment time zones. All imported appointments have your time zone setting.

Import appointments

To import appointments:

1. In Acuity, click Reports.
2. Click Import/export, click Import appointments, then click Choose file.
3. Select your .csv file, then click Open.
4. Click Import.
5. Acuity automatically detects what information each column contains. Use the dropdown menus to add or correct the information, then click Preview appointments.
6. Use the dropdown menus in the Calendar section to control which calendars Acuity adds the imported appointments to.
7. Use the dropdown menus in the Appointment types section to control how Acuity treats the appointment types of your imported appointments. See the options below.
8. Click Import appointments.

Note: Importing appointments won't import any availability settings, availability groups, or other settings.

Appointment type options

Use these options to choose how Acuity handles appointment types for your imported appointments.

Option	Effect
Create a new appointment type for this and immediately delete it.	The appointments will import with the appointment type listed in your spreadsheet. The appointment type won’t exist anywhere else in the system, and you won’t be able to schedule new appointments of this type.
Create a new appointment type for this.	The appointments will import with the appointment type listed in your spreadsheet. The appointment type will be added to Acuity, and you can schedule new appointments of this type.
Don’t import anything of this type.	These appointments won’t be imported.
One of your existing appointment types	The appointments will import. They'll have the appointment type you selected in the dropdown menu.

Import group classes

You can import group classes using the same steps you use to import any other appointment, but it requires some setup work. You must create a new group class type, then offer it on your calendar. When you import your data, Acuity will populate it with your clients.

To import group classes:

1. In Acuity, create a new group class type, and offer it on your schedule at the date and time of the class session you want to import.
2. In the spreadsheet you’re going to import, create a separate row for each class attendee.
3. Follow the steps for importing appointments.

Undo an appointment import

If an import causes a problem, undo the import and try again. To undo an import:

1. In Acuity, click Reports.
2. Click Import/export, then click Import appointments. The Recently imported appointments field will appear.
3. Find the import you want to undo, click Undo this import, then click OK.

Notifications for imported appointments

Acuity sends reminder text messages, reminder emails, and follow-up emails for imported appointments if they have client contact information in the appointment details. Those emails won't send if the client's information isn't in the appointment details, even if it's somewhere else in Acuity, like the client list.

The easiest way to ensure Acuity sends automated notifications for your imported appointments is to include client contact information in the spreadsheet you import. You can also add the information manually by editing each imported appointment. To send text reminders for upcoming appointments, ensure the imported appointment includes the client's phone number in the correct formatting.

Acuity doesn't send confirmation emails for imported appointments.

Prepare your spreadsheet to import clients

Before you begin, organize your clients into a .csv file.

If you're migrating listings from another program, start by exporting your contacts or clients from the other program.

To learn more about getting a .csv file of your contacts from other programs, visit their documentation:

• Outlook
• Google
• Excel
• If you use another program, ask their support team for help exporting your data.

Acuity can import the following fields:

• First name
• Last name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Notes

Images and any other fields won't be imported. If you have other fields you want to keep, label them all as notes. Acuity will add all columns labeled notes to the Notes about client field in the client record.

Import clients

To import a list of your clients:

1. Organize your clients into a spreadsheet.
2. Ensure your columns match our data requirements.
3. Break the list into groups of 5,000, then save each group of 5,000 clients as a separate .csv file. If you try to import a spreadsheet with more than 5,000 rows, Acuity will reject your file.
4. In Acuity, click Clients.
5. Click Import/export, then Import clients.
6. Select the .csv file you want to import, then click Import.
7. Use the dropdown menus at the top of the page to link your columns with Acuity data fields.
8. Click Import clients.

Undo a client import

If a client import causes a problem, undo the import to remove the problem data, edit your spreadsheet, and import your clients again.

To undo a client import:

1. In Acuity, click Clients.
2. Click Import/export, then Import clients.
3. Click Undo this import for the import you want to undo, then click OK.