Switching to Joined
Bring your church over in an afternoon.
Export your people from the software you use today, import the file into Joined, and look over anyone who matches a person already here before it’s saved.
What comes over
Everyone in your directory.
The People import reads a CSV spreadsheet from any system that can export one, and each column goes where you point it.
- Names
- First and last name in their own columns, or one full-name column that Joined splits for you.
- Email and phone
- Emails are checked as they come in, and both are how Joined spots someone who’s already here.
- City
- Where each person lives.
- Serving teams
- A column of teams, separated by commas or semicolons, becomes each person’s serving tags.
- Membership stage
- Visitor, Regular attender or Member.
Not in the importer yet: households, groups and giving history.
How it works
Four steps, in this order.
Export from your current system
Most church software can save your people as a spreadsheet. Save it as a CSV file. If you’re starting from scratch, Joined has a template with the right columns.
Import the file
Drop the file into People. Joined matches each column by its name, and you can change any match before a single row is read. Columns you don’t map are left out.
Review duplicates before anything merges
Rows that share an email or phone with someone already in Joined, or with an earlier row in the file, are set aside for you. Skip them, update the person who’s already here, or add them anyway.
Invite your team
Add your staff and volunteers and give each one a role, so everyone sees what their work needs and nothing more.
What stays safe
Nothing is final until you say so.
An import only adds what you approved, and you can take it back.
Undo any import
Undo removes the people an import created and puts back the records it changed. You can do it from the results or from import history later.
Nothing merges on its own
Joined never combines two people without you. Possible duplicates wait in a review list, and you choose which details to keep.
Problem rows come back to you
Rows Joined can’t import, like one without a name or with an invalid email, are listed in an errors file you can fix and import again.
A record of every import
Import history lists each file with how many people it created, updated and skipped.
Timeline and help
A calm move, at your pace.
Write to us with any question about your export, before or during the move.
- Before you switch
- Tell us what you use today and what you’d like to bring. We’ll answer your questions about your export and what comes over.
- The afternoon
- Export, import and review. Reading the file is quick; looking over the matches is where your time goes.
- The weeks after
- Invite your team, keep your old system open for reference while everyone settles in, then turn it off when you’re ready.
Questions
What churches ask about switching.
Any system that can export your people as a CSV spreadsheet. Joined doesn’t connect directly to other church software: you bring a file, and Joined reads it.
Not through the importer yet. Today it brings people and their details. After importing you can group people into households in Joined. Tell us what else you’re bringing.
Joined notices when a row repeats an earlier row’s email or phone, or matches someone already in Joined, and sets those rows aside so you decide what happens to them.
Yes. Undo removes the people that import created and restores anyone it updated. Edits made to those people after the import are lost when you undo, so undo early if something looks wrong.
Not yet. Joined is in early access, and churches are invited to use the connected application. When your church is invited in, you’ll move your real records over with the same steps. How the preview handles data
Ready when you are.
Joined is opening to churches in small groups. Join early access, or tell us about the move you’re planning.