---
title: "Host import | Vizito Help Center"
description: "Host import | Import hosts from a CSV file: the file format, what a second import does (adds duplicates, does not update), the Delete existing hosts option …"
url: https://vizito.eu/faq/account/import-hosts/
language: en
---

# Host import

Hosts are the colleagues a visitor can pick under “Here to see?”, and the people who get the notification when their visitor arrives. You can add them one by one under “Hosts” > “Manage hosts”, or import a whole list from a CSV file. This article is about the import: the file it expects, and, above all, what happens to the hosts you already have when you import again.

Companies on Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace do not need the import: see [Azure Synchronization](https://vizito.eu/faq/integrations/azure-synchronization/) and the other host integrations under Integrations.

## The file

Your file needs to be in CSV format, encoded as UTF-8, and no larger than 10 MB. This is a correct file:

```
"cn","telephoneNumber","mobile","mail"
"Jane Doe","","+3299888888","jane@vizito.be"
"John Doe","","+3299888887","john@vizito.be"
```

-   **The first line is the header** and is required. The file can only contain these four columns, in any order:
    -   `cn`, the name of the host as the visitor sees it. Required.
    -   `mail`, the email address the notification goes to. Optional. Several addresses for one host are separated by a comma inside the same cell.
    -   `mobile`, the mobile number for the text message, in international format such as `+32471123456`. Optional.
    -   `telephoneNumber`, the internal extension shown to the visitor after signing in. Optional.
-   **An unknown column** rejects the whole file with “CSV header contains unknown field(s)”. Excel exports often add an empty trailing column; delete it.
-   **An invalid email address** rejects the whole file as well, with “An email address in your CSV file is invalid. Line number: " and the row. Fix that row and import again; nothing was imported.

The “Import hosts” dialog links to a sample file you can start from.

## Import the file

1.  Open the [Vizito backoffice](https://backoffice.vizito.be/) and select “Hosts” > “Manage hosts” in the left menu.
2.  Click “Import data”. The “Import hosts” dialog opens.
3.  Choose the file.
4.  Decide about “Delete existing hosts”, explained below.
5.  Click “Start import”. Vizito confirms with the number of hosts that were imported.

The new hosts are on the tablet as soon as it returns to the welcome screen; tap “Sign In” and “Back” to force it.

## What a second import does

**There is no preview.** The import runs the moment you click “Start import”, and there is no screen that shows what is about to change. What it does is fixed, so you can predict it:

-   **An import adds; it never updates.** Vizito does not match the rows in your file against the hosts you already have, not on name and not on email address. A host who is already in the list and also in the file ends up in the list twice. Importing the same file twice doubles every host.
-   **“Delete existing hosts” replaces the list.** With that option switched on, Vizito deletes every host of this location first and then imports the file, after asking “This action will delete all existing hosts, are you sure you want to continue?”. That is the way to update hosts through an import: export or maintain the complete list, and re-import it with this option on. Everything not in the file is gone afterwards, including hosts that were added by hand and the “Pinned” flag on hosts you had pinned. Hosts that come from a Microsoft Entra ID or Google synchronisation are deleted as well, and come back at the next synchronisation.
-   **A rejected file changes nothing**, with or without the option. The list is only deleted once the file has passed validation.

So the two ways to keep an imported host list up to date are: import only the new rows, without the option, or import the whole list with “Delete existing hosts” on. Correcting one host’s address is quicker by hand: click the host under “Manage hosts” and edit it.

**Test with two rows first.** Before importing three hundred colleagues, make a copy of the file with two rows, import it, check the two hosts under “Manage hosts” and on the tablet, then delete them and import the full file. This shows you in a minute whether the encoding, the phone format and the columns are right, on two hosts instead of three hundred.

## Related articles

-   [Host configuration](https://vizito.eu/faq/account/hosts/) explains the host fields, pinned hosts and the notification a host receives.
-   [Sign-in field configuration](https://vizito.eu/faq/general/sign-in-fields/) covers “Here to see?” and what happens with an empty host list.