Importing a spreadsheet

If your vendors live in a spreadsheet, you can bring them all in at once. Import works on every plan. Your plan's vendor limit still applies.

Import your file

1. Make sure the first row of the spreadsheet has column headings. Your own headings usually work as they are (see below).
2. In Excel or Google Sheets, save or download the sheet as CSV.
3. In GreenlightSubs, go to Import / export.
4. Choose the file and click Check file. Or copy the cells, paste them into Paste CSV text and click Check pasted text.
5. Check the preview. It shows which column became what (for example *General Liability COI expiry ← "GL Exp"*), lists every column that will be ignored and why, and shows the first 3 rows as they'll be saved. Nothing is saved yet.
6. Click Import to save, or Cancel to fix the sheet and try again.
7. Read the result. It tells you how many vendors were added, how many documents were recorded as on file, which rows were skipped and why, and who will be emailed next.

A file can be up to 2 MB and up to 2,000 rows. Commas, semicolons and tabs between columns all work.

Don't have a spreadsheet yet? Download our free COI tracking template. It's already in the right format.

Column headings

Headings aren't case-sensitive, and spaces and punctuation don't matter (E-mail, Phone # and W9 on file? all work). Only a name column is required.

• Name (required): the vendor's company name. Company, Company name, Vendor, Vendor name, Subcontractor, Subcontractor name, Sub, Business and Business name also work.
• Contact: the person you deal with. Contact name and Contact person also work.
• Email: where upload links and reminders go. E-mail, Email address and Contact email also work. If a cell holds more than one address (a@x.com; b@y.com), the first is used and the others are saved in the vendor's Notes.
• Phone: Phone number, Phone #, Tel and Mobile also work.
• Trade: Category and Type also work.
• Notes: internal notes. Note and Comments also work.

Columns we don't recognise (an insurer, a policy number, a coverage limit) are listed in the preview as ignored. Nothing is dropped without telling you.

Expiry dates and W-9s

Add one column per document. Short headings are matched to the document types in Settings:

• GL, General liability → General Liability COI
• WC, Workers comp, Workers' compensation → Workers' Comp COI
• Auto, Automobile → Auto Liability COI
• Umbrella, Excess → an umbrella document type, if you've added one
• License, Contractor license → Contractor License
• COI, Insurance → General Liability COI, unless another column (such as GL Exp) already covers it
• W9, W-9 → W-9

A word like Exp, Expiration, Expires, Expiry or Exp date after the name is fine: GL Exp, WC Expiration, Auto Exp Date. A license column needs one of those words, so a column of license numbers isn't read as dates. The document type's exact name, such as General Liability COI, always works too. A column whose heading has # or Number in it is never read as dates.

• Documents that expire: enter the expiry date of the vendor's current document, or leave it blank. Dates like 2027-03-31, 03/31/2027, 3/31/27, Mar 31 2027 and 31-Mar-27 all work, and so do dates Excel saved as plain numbers. Dates are read month first (US style); a column that has day-first dates like 31/03/2027 in it is read day first throughout. Two-digit years more than 20 years ahead are read as the 1900s, so 12/31/99 is 1999.
• Documents that don't expire (like W-9): enter Yes, Y, X, On file, Received or the date you got it. Blank, No, None or N/A means it's missing. Anything else is reported back to you and left as missing.
• Exempt (or Not required, Waived) marks that document as not required for that vendor, the same as the switch on the vendor's page.

If a date can't be read, that one document is left as missing and reported. The vendor is still added.

Imported dates are saved exactly like dates you type in by hand: documents on file without an attached file. The vendor shows as compliant until the date gets close. You can attach the certificates later, or let vendors upload them.

What gets skipped

• A row whose name matches a vendor you already have (not counting archived vendors). Nothing is duplicated, so it's safe to import the same file twice.
• A row with no name, or with an email address that doesn't look right.
• Any rows past your plan's vendor limit. The result tells you how many weren't imported. After you upgrade, import the same file again and the vendors already added are skipped.

After the import

Nothing is emailed during the import itself. The result page tells you what the next daily run (around 8 a.m. US Eastern) will do:

• Vendors whose dates are all well in the future aren't emailed. Their first reminder goes out 30 days before each expiry date (or whatever you set in Settings).
• Vendors with something required missing, expired, or expiring within that window get one email with their upload link at the next run. A required document with no column in your file (often the W-9) counts as missing.
• Vendors without an email address can't be reminded.

Not ready for vendors to hear from you? Tick Don't email these vendors yet in the preview, or click Don't email them yet on the result. That pauses reminders for just the imported vendors. Resume them all with the button that appears on the result, or one at a time with Resume reminders on each vendor's page. See How reminders work.

Exporting

On every plan, Download CSV on the same page exports every active vendor and document: status, expiry date, insurer, policy number and coverage.