Note: You do not need to bulk upload users if your company uses an HRIS integration

What is Bulk Upload?

Bulk Upload is a way to manually import or update large amounts of employee data in Nectar using a .csv file — instead of relying on an automated sync or as a temporary provisioning method while an automated sync is getting setup.

It allows admins to:

Add new users to Nectar in bulk
Update existing user information
Deactivate or reactivate users
Add or adjust Employee IDs (EEIDs) before enabling or switching an SFTP or HRIS integration

Bulk Upload acts as a flexible data management tool — especially helpful when:

Setting up Nectar before an HRIS or SFTP integration is live
Preparing for a new sync method (e.g., adding EEIDs or aligning data formats)
Correcting or standardizing data that would otherwise cause sync issues
Updating users manually for clients who don’t use automated integrations
Assigning certain users to certain products

Is Bulk Upload Right for Your Team?

Before you start the process, you will want to determine if Bulk Upload is the right User Provisioning method for your team. We recommend having a discussion with your Customer Success Manager to determine if Bulk Upload is how you should proceed. In most cases, Bulk Upload is used as a temporary or one-time provisioning method while an automation is getting set up.

Determine How You Will Manage Account Creation & Deactivation

With Bulk Upload, we can’t read an Active status column. In order to create new accounts or deactivate terminated employees, you will need to prepare the report accordingly and select an option from the pop-up during the Bulk Upload process (see below).

Append to or update users in the the current list

This will only make changes to users who are included on the .csv you upload. No other changes will be made to any other users.

This is great for making changes to certain batches of users (i.e. updating office locations, managers, or products).

Deactivate users not in the current users list

This will deactivate existing Nectar users who are not in the .csv upload.

You would likely export just your Active employees from your HRIS for the file and upload, or filter them out later.

Step 1: How do I prepare my bulk upload file?

You’ll first need to create an employee data report that includes all users you want to sync to Nectar. This report will serve as the source of truth for your user data. This is commonly built in your HRIS and exported. Click the button below to see our template for formatting requirements:

Use the CSV template file to get started.
For ease when uploading, only include the listed column headers.

Note: Your file must be in CSV (comma-separated values) format.

❗ Important Note:

Include Employee ID’s

Employee IDs, or EEIDs, act as a unique identifier for each user on your .csv file. When included in a your report, Nectar uses the EEID to accurately match and update existing users — even if other details like name or email change. This ensures that data stays consistent and users aren’t accidentally duplicated. If you do not include EEIDs, Nectar relies on email addresses instead, which can cause new accounts to be created when emails change. If you are unable to include EEIDs on your report, please talk to your Customer Success Manager about how email updates should be handled to avoid duplications.

What to include on the file

If you have any questions about what to include after reviewing the below table, please let your Customer Success Manager know.

*Red highlighted columns are required. If any of that information is missing, the user will not be synced.

*Blue highlighted columns are only applicable in rare scenarios if you have multiple products from our culture suite.

File Header	Corresponding Nectar Field	Purpose
first_name	First Name	Will show as their first name unless they have a Preferred Name set in which case this is only visible on their profile page
last_name	Last Name	Will show as their last name - currently no option for Preferred Last Name
preferred_name	Preferred First Name	Will display on the frontend instead of the First Name. *This will only sync if the field is blank in Nectar. This is to allow user’s control over this field themselves. Bulk Upload cannot be used to change this field, just fill it in for the first time.
email	Email	This will set the email their account is created with and uses. We recommend using work emails. *This is the unique identifier if you don’t use EEID or if that EEID is not unique across the account.
employee_id	Employee ID	This will act as the unique identifier over email if it is unique across the account. This means if the email changes on the report and we have this field, the email will update in Nectar seamlessly instead of creating a duplicate account. *Highly encouraged to use!*
manager_email	Manager’s Email	This will properly assign Manager roles/permissions and assign their teams in Nectar. This automates things like Team Insights and other Analytics.
department	Department	This will set the user’s department. *Functionality is for our system to ignore any special characters or spaces here to avoid any duplicate departments being created. For Example: Your file uploads `Account Services` Later, your file uploads `AccountServices` A duplicate is not created and that data is all synced under the existing `Account Services`
birth_date	Birthday	We do not process birth year. This is a required field if you want to send birthday shoutouts.
hire_date	Hire Date	We do need the year here so we can properly process the anniversary award. This is a required field if you want to send anniversary shoutouts.
office_location	Office Location	Sets their office location which can be filtered for in Analytics and utilized in Group Give.
phone_number	Phone Number	Used for Internal Comms SMS capabilities.
country_code	Country	Used to lock rewards and for PPP.
language	Language	This will set the platform language for users and will also be used if you have Internal Comms for any messages sent there (if applicable). The values you send us need to match the dropdown selections in Nectar. For example: Chinese Simplified is an option. We can read either `chinese simplified` or `chinese_simplified`. We cannot read `chinese`.
$CustomField or _CustomField	Maps to the matching Custom Property	This will update Custom Properties values. The character in front ($ or _) is what tells our system it’s a Custom Property. The Custom Property must be created first or they won’t be able to map it in the uploader. The Custom Property must appear on the file exactly how it is in Nectar (minus the prepending $ or _).
is_recognition_user	Adds them to the Recognition tool as a normal user - *does not* give them admin access**	We need a `TRUE` or `FALSE` status here. Users must be `TRUE` for either a recognition user or a comms recipient or you will receive an error if those columns are included in the report. *If we do not receive this column at all, we will default to adding them to the Recognition tool!*
is_comms_recipient	Adds them to the Comms tool Users list so they can receive Comms - *does not* give them access to the Comms tool as an admin, only allows them to receive Comms**	We need a `TRUE` or `FALSE` status here. Users must be `TRUE` for either a recognition user or a comms recipient or you will receive an error if those columns are included in the report.
is_comms_user	Gives access to the Comms tool as an admin	We need a `TRUE` or `FALSE` status here. Users must also be `TRUE` for either a recognition user or a comms recipient or you will receive an error if those columns are included in the report

🌟 If you want to manually manage or not include any information, you can simply leave it off the report. We will not wipe or overwrite any data fields that aren’t included on the report.

Extra columns that don’t get mapped during the upload process, will be ignored by the Bulk Uploader.

With the Bulk Uploader, the header names are flexible since you will be able to map those during the upload process. Using our headers will autofill the mapping for your review though, automating a little bit of manual work for you.

Step 2: How do I upload the file?

Go to the Admin section and click the Users tab.
Select Add Users, then choose Bulk Upload Users and click Continue.
Select your upload type. (See here to Determine How You Will Manage Account Creation & Deactivation above).
Click the Choose File button to upload your .csv.
Map your fields. (If you used our template format, these should auto-map for you and you can review them).
Click Validate Matches.
Fix any errors that will be outlined in red. (Also see Troubleshooting below for any additional assistance needed). Then click Complete Review & Continue.
Review your data and click Complete Upload.
Confirm the changes you are making paying special attention to any New Users being created.
1. If this confirmation page is showing more New Users than anticipated, it’s likely either EEID’s or emails changed for users on your file that’s different than what’s in Nectar, so new accounts are being created for them.
Success! The pop-up window will indicate the upload is completed. You can then refresh your page to see the changes reflected on your Users list.

Do users get invited when using the Bulk Upload?

There is no automation for email invitations being sent to new users when using the Bulk Uploader. Once you complete the upload, you will click the “Send Invites” or "Launch" to get those invitations sent to your users.

❗ IMPORTANT:

The “Send Invites” button will initiate email invitations to anyone who fits the following criteria:

Invited = No
Account Created = No

This means it will go to anyone who hasn’t been invited or logged in for the first time before.

If you’d like to avoid the email invitation being sent to people who weren’t just added with the recent upload, you should Filter for Invited = No → Select All → Bulk Actions → Send Invites.

Maintenance

If you are using Bulk Upload as your long-term user provisioning method, we recommend thinking about how you would like to maintain your User list to keep it up-to-date. Depending on the frequency changes are made to your employee roster, here are your options:

Manual User List Updates One-by-One: This would not require a .csv upload, but instead you would create new user accounts following these instructions and deactivate accounts one-by-one when needed.

Manual Recurring Bulk Upload: This is a great option especially if you hire in batches. We recommend doing a weekly .csv upload to create new accounts and clean up your User list.

Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you have questions about what might work best for your team.

Troubleshooting

Commons Issues

Issue	Additional Information	Solution
No column for email address, first name, and/or last name	If you aren’t sending us these three required fields, the upload will fail.	You need to add these to the report ensuring the data is also there for all users.
Generic Error Message - EEID’s are not unique	If multiple users have the same EEID, changes will not be made.	Please check your file for duplicate EEID’s and adjust accordingly in your source data (HRIS) to avoid the error in the future.