# Bring your readers. Not a bought list.

> Bring your list in from a CSV or JSON file: match the columns, choose the newsletters and labels, and nobody gets an email. Request import first.

Your readers came with you. Import them from a CSV or JSON file, match each column on one screen, and **nobody on the list gets an email**. PixelGlass looks at each request first, so a bought list never reaches an inbox.

**Early access.** This guide uses a feature in early access. PixelGlass turns it on for a publication on request while it is new.

## By hand, in the admin

1. Open **Audience** and press **Import**. Answer what you will send them, where they signed up and how many people, tick that everyone asked for your email, and press **Request import**.
2. When PixelGlass turns import on for your site, upload a CSV with a header row, or a JSON list, and press **Continue**.
3. Match each column under **Import as**: Email, Name, Joined, Confirmed, Subscribed, Complimentary, Labels or Skip.
4. Choose the newsletters to subscribe them to, the labels they all wear, and a tier for the comps. Every import also gets a label of its own.
5. Press **Import**. When it is done, the page counts who is New, Updated, Subscribed, Comped and Skipped.

## With your agent


No tool imports members, and an agent cannot ask for import on your behalf: a person answers the questions and uploads the file. Your agent can read your export with you and tell you which column is which before you upload it.

## Examples

- **A newsletter that moved.** An essayist exports her subscribers from her old platform, asks for import, and **brings all of them over with their join dates**.
- **Comps that came along.** A trade newsletter marks its press list in a column. Matched to Complimentary, those readers land comped on the Press tier.
- **One label to find them.** A gardening site imports its workshop sign-ups. The import's own label finds those readers later, for a newsletter of their own.

## Questions

### How do I import subscribers into PixelGlass?

Press Import on the Audience screen and request it. Once PixelGlass turns it on, upload a CSV or JSON file, match its columns, and press Import.

### Why does PixelGlass review an import first?

To keep bought and scraped lists out of people's inboxes. You say what you will send, where the readers signed up and how many there are, and that they asked for your email.

### Does an import email my readers?

No. Nobody on the list gets an email. Imported readers are confirmed, unless a Confirmed column says otherwise.

### What happens to an address that is already a member?

The member is updated with the values you mapped. A blank cell never empties what is there.

### Does a reader who unsubscribed join my lists again?

No. A reader who left every list stays off them, whatever the file says. An address whose mail bounced or was reported as spam stays stopped.

### Who can import members?

Admins and the owner. When the import is done, they get a notification with how many members were made and updated.

## See also

- [Manage your member list](https://pixelglass.co/guides/manage-your-member-list): Find any reader by name or address, filter by status, plan, newsletter and label, add a person by hand, and change many members at once.
- [Start a newsletter](https://pixelglass.co/guides/start-a-newsletter): Every PixelGlass site starts with a newsletter. Name it, choose who joins, and send any post to it. Set up by hand; your agent writes the issues.
- [Comp a member](https://pixelglass.co/guides/comp-a-member): Comp a reader on any tier, for good or until a day you choose: a guest writer, a partner, a press pass. They read what the tier opens and pay nothing.
- [Members and comments](https://pixelglass.co/features/community): Give readers a member account with no password, a conversation under every post, and badges that honour your supporters. Moderated by your team.
- [Newsletters](https://pixelglass.co/features/newsletters): Send every post as a newsletter: many lists, two email designs, opens and clicks, links you can fix after sending. From $9 a month.
- [Every guide](https://pixelglass.co/guides)
- [Pricing](https://pixelglass.co/pricing): every feature on every plan, 14 days free
- [Create your site](https://pixelglass.co/signup)