Importing / Parsing a CSV into a collection | Payload | Page 1

next belfry May 20, 2023, 5:44 PM

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Hi there, anyone already done a CVS import to pre-populate a collection? Thanks in advance #1031993785971900556

severe rock May 22, 2023, 1:27 PM

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Hello @next belfry - I've heard of people doing this, there may even be a code example in the discord archive

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However, you could create a script to loop over each entry in your CSV and hit the create endpoint for that collection

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You could also do it via a migration script in mongodb, but the API route feels easier to me

next belfry May 22, 2023, 3:50 PM

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Thanks @severe rock - do you think it would be a good use case for a plugin?

severe rock May 22, 2023, 3:52 PM

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@Ab

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@next belfry It could be if enough people are importing a lot of data!

mighty temple May 22, 2023, 7:20 PM

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@next belfry Here's an example script doing an import from csv https://payloadcms.com/community-help/github/user-csv-import-for-a-collection

Payload CMS

Payload is a headless CMS and application framework built with TypeScript, Node.js, React and MongoDB

next belfry May 29, 2023, 4:35 PM

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Thanks a lot Elliot - I actually ended up writing a complete DB seed script using Payload in 'local' mode - really handy feature 👍

visual ridge Jul 7, 2023, 12:02 PM

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Just a word of warning for anyone who ends up here, there's some divergence between data operations between dashboard and local API and this can lead to some pretty difficult to diagnose bugs on programmatic data interactions - two discussions in GH: https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/discussions/2889 and https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/discussions/2785

vital stirrup Oct 5, 2023, 8:39 AM

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@next belfry @mighty temple I am using next-payload and want to give user the option to upload bulk data in a collection, how can I achieve that..?

vital stirrup Oct 5, 2023, 8:40 AM

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mighty temple <@1029713634466734170> Here's an example script doing an import from csv https:/...

This option won't work for me, I need to do it using hooks or something, any help about that..?

coarse flame Jan 20, 2026, 5:29 AM

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Hello, am looking for this functionality in 2026 as non technical ppl is interested in using the dashboard to bulk load csv and export backups.
I'd have to say, looping thru the csv and load items 1 by 1 via REST or payload local API is VERY slow.
5000 rows can take you 1 to 2 hours.

You can build your own functionality within the application code, like concurrently in batches of 1000 etc, but its a lot of hassle, when you need to deal with things like exhausting connection pools, load interruptions due to connection issues, etc.

If you have access to the db connection strings, I'd recommend using an external db management tool like dbeaver instead to do these kinds of db things, like import and export csv, backups etc.

#Importing / Parsing a CSV into a collection