Data Uploader

Bring your spreadsheet. We handle the rest.

The Data Uploader is designed to feel like magic: drop in your CSV or Excel file and it automatically maps columns, cleans values, standardizes formats, and applies smart defaults so your data just works in PawPlacer.

It also links relationships on import—include the pet IDs or custom IDs you already use and the uploader connects adopters and fosters to the right animals while creating the supporting records for you.

Switch between the tabs to decide what you are importing. Pets, adopters, fosters, and volunteers each load their own presets so you only manage the fields that matter for that record type.

Supported Records

Pets: All of the standard pet profile fields, image hosting, status normalization, and custom identifiers.
Adopters: Contact details, status cleanup, email-based deduping, and optional links to pets through pet_ids (accepts both Pet IDs and Custom IDs).
Fosters: Availability, capacity, email-based deduping, and automatic foster assignments for any linked pets.
Volunteers: Core roster details with status mapping and custom field support.

How It Works

Choose: Pick Pets, Adopters, Fosters, or Volunteers.
Upload: Drag-and-drop a CSV, XLS, or XLSX.
Preview: See exactly how your data will look.
Confirm: Click Upload. Done.

That’s it—no templates to learn, no manual mapping required.

Link Pets to Adopters or Fosters

Need to bring historical relationships with you? Follow this two-step workflow:

Upload pets first and include a custom_id for every animal you want to reference later.
Upload adopters or fosters with a pet_ids column containing either PawPlacer pet UUIDs or the custom_id values you imported. The system automatically detects which type of ID you're using. Use comma-separated values for multiple pets in the same row.

The importer matches those identifiers inside your account, creates foster assignments that start today, and records completed adoptions marked as historical imports. Unmatched IDs are logged so the rest of your upload can proceed safely.

What We Handle Automatically

Column mapping: Detects and matches your headers to PawPlacer fields with AI-assisted suggestions.
Status mapping: Converts names like “Available”, “Fostered”, etc., to your account’s custom statuses and saves the correct custom_status_id (falls back to Intake when needed).
Clean arrays: Splits comma/semicolon/pipe lists (breed, color, images, special_needs), trims and normalizes values, and capitalizes breed/color nicely.
Smart booleans: Understands yes/no in many forms (yes, true, 1, no, false, 0, etc.).
Enums made simple: Normalizes species, sex, size, coat_length, age_category from common variants.
Microchip IDs: Preserves leading zeros and strips accidental decimals (stores as clean strings or null when empty).
Email deduping: Reuses existing adopters or fosters with the same email so you can safely refresh records without creating duplicates.
Custom IDs: Truncates safely to 12 characters when longer.
Sensible defaults: Fills missing values with safe choices (for example: species, size, coat length, visibility, and more). If a name is missing, it becomes “Unknown”.
Light cleanup: Trims whitespace, removes obvious placeholders like “N/A” and “unknown”, and standardizes formatting.
Relationship linking: When adopters or fosters include pet_ids, we attach them to matching pets automatically and create the downstream records for you.

One-Minute Steps

Go to Settings → Data Uploader.
Pick the record type you want to import.
Drop your CSV/XLS/XLSX.
Click Preview to glance at the results.
Click Upload.

You’ll see a success message with how many records were added. You can also download your cleaned data for your own records.

Notes

Supported files: CSV, XLS, XLSX.
Permissions: Admin-level access is required. If you’re blocked, ask an admin to grant access.
Pet limits: If you’ve reached your plan’s pet limit, you’ll see a prompt to upgrade before uploading more.

Need Help?

If anything looks off in the preview—or you just want us to do it for you—click “Contact Us” on the uploader page. We’re happy to help with any import, big or small.

Supported Records

Pets: All of the standard pet profile fields, image hosting, status normalization, and custom identifiers.

Adopters: Contact details, status cleanup, email-based deduping, and optional links to pets through pet_ids (accepts both Pet IDs and Custom IDs).

Fosters: Availability, capacity, email-based deduping, and automatic foster assignments for any linked pets.

Volunteers: Core roster details with status mapping and custom field support.

Link Pets to Adopters or Fosters

Need to bring historical relationships with you? Follow this two-step workflow:

Upload pets first and include a custom_id for every animal you want to reference later.

Upload adopters or fosters with a pet_ids column containing either PawPlacer pet UUIDs or the custom_id values you imported. The system automatically detects which type of ID you're using. Use comma-separated values for multiple pets in the same row.

What We Handle Automatically

Column mapping: Detects and matches your headers to PawPlacer fields with AI-assisted suggestions.

Status mapping: Converts names like “Available”, “Fostered”, etc., to your account’s custom statuses and saves the correct custom_status_id (falls back to Intake when needed).

Clean arrays: Splits comma/semicolon/pipe lists (breed, color, images, special_needs), trims and normalizes values, and capitalizes breed/color nicely.

Smart booleans: Understands yes/no in many forms (yes, true, 1, no, false, 0, etc.).

Enums made simple: Normalizes species, sex, size, coat_length, age_category from common variants.

Microchip IDs: Preserves leading zeros and strips accidental decimals (stores as clean strings or null when empty).

Email deduping: Reuses existing adopters or fosters with the same email so you can safely refresh records without creating duplicates.

Custom IDs: Truncates safely to 12 characters when longer.

Sensible defaults: Fills missing values with safe choices (for example: species, size, coat length, visibility, and more). If a name is missing, it becomes “Unknown”.

Light cleanup: Trims whitespace, removes obvious placeholders like “N/A” and “unknown”, and standardizes formatting.

Relationship linking: When adopters or fosters include pet_ids, we attach them to matching pets automatically and create the downstream records for you.