Skip to content
Get started
Browse the documentation

Publish your first items

Create a configuration from your first spreadsheet, drop the file, read the review and publish: the whole first import, with what each screen shows and what lands on the site.

  • WordPress
  • Joomla
  • 7 min read
  • Updated October 13, 2026
On this page

This walks through the first import from start to finish. Before you start: a connected site and a spreadsheet (the example file 01-first-import.csv is ideal). The screens below are WordPress posts; Joomla works the same way with a few differences, noted where they matter.

1. Create the configuration#

A configuration remembers where your files go and how their columns map to the destination. You set it up once, with a sample file; afterwards you only drop in new files.

  1. On the Dashboard, select New configuration.
  2. Give it a Name (1), choose your Sample file (2) and select Continue to mapping (3). The name is for you: Weekly articles, Price list.
The New configuration page with the name, the sample file and the Continue to mapping button marked
Name it, choose the sample file, continue. Files are private to your workspace and removed after 30 days.

The editor opens while the file is read. It shows the sample file's name, its number of columns and its rows (5 columns · 8 records to preview).

The Sample file box with the file's name and size, and the Use a different file area marked
The sample file. If it is the wrong one, use a different file.

2. Say where it goes and how the columns map#

  1. Destination. Choose the Destination site (1) and the Content type (2): Posts for WordPress articles, Articles for Joomla. A site with only one writable type chooses it for you.

    The Destination box with the destination site and content type lists marked
    Where every file of this configuration is published.

  2. Record ID. Choose the column whose value stays the same for an item in every file. A column named ID is suggested for you. This is what makes the next file update items instead of duplicating them (choosing the record ID).

    The Record ID box with the column list marked
    The record ID column. Without one, items are matched by slug or title.

  3. Fields. Every field the site offers is listed with where its value comes from. Columns named like a field are chosen for you: here Title takes the Title column and Content the Body column. Fields without a matching column use the site's default or keep what is there.

    The Fields section with the Title and Content fields and their sources marked
    Title comes from the Title column and Content from the Body column. Other fields keep their defaults.

  4. Status. With no Status column, the editor sets Status to a fixed value that publishes nothing live: Draft in WordPress, Unpublished in Joomla. Your first items therefore appear as drafts you can read on the site before releasing them.

    The Status field set to a fixed value, with the mode list and the value list marked
    A fixed Draft. Change it to Published, or map a column, when you are ready.

  5. Categories and tags. Under Tags and categories, choose Replace with configured terms, then the column that holds each. Missing categories and tags are added to your site when you publish.

    The Tags and categories section with the category mode, the category column and the tag column marked
    Category from the Category column, tags from the Tags column, split at commas.

  6. Preview. The panel on the right shows how a row will look when published. Pick any of the first 50 sample records; the preview updates as you change the mapping. Nothing is sent to your site while you preview.

    The Preview panel with the record chooser and the Open in window button marked
    The preview resolves every field the way publishing will.

  7. When a new file is uploaded. Leave Let me review, then publish with one click. You see what will change before anything is published.

    The When a new file is uploaded box with the name, the two publishing choices and the email option marked
    Review first: the default and the safest.

  8. Select Save configuration.

    The Save configuration button at the end of the editor
    Saving checks the mapping against your site and the sample file.

The dashboard shows a message, Saved "Weekly articles" as version 1. Your next upload uses it., and a card for the configuration.

The dashboard with a card for the new configuration and the message that it was saved
The configuration's card is where you drop files.

3. Drop the file#

On the configuration's card, drop the file where it says Drop the next file here (or select it). That is the whole action.

The configuration's card on the dashboard with its name, destination and drop area marked
Drop this week's file on its card.

The page for the file opens at once and shows its progress: Reading your file, then Preparing content and Comparing with published content. You can leave the page; Content Uploader emails you when it needs you or is done (unless you switched emails off).

The run page while the file is read, with the status, the four steps and the progress message marked
Read file, Check, Review, Publish. Your site is not touched yet.

4. Read the review#

When the check is done, the page shows What will change. For the first file everything is New: eight items.

The review summary with the file name, the status label and the New, Updated, Unchanged and Errors counts marked
Eight new items. Nothing to update or skip yet.

Open any item to see exactly what will be published, field by field:

An opened new item showing the fields that will be created
The first item, opened: its title, status, author, content, category and tags.

Because the categories and tags do not exist on your site yet, the page lists them under New on the site after publishing, so there are no surprises:

The list of categories and tags that will be added to the site when publishing
Five categories and seventeen tags will be created.

5. Publish#

For the first file of a configuration, the page asks you to look once more: This is the first file published with this configuration. Tick I reviewed the changes above, then select Publish 8 changes. Below the button, the page says how much of your plan's allowance this uses (25,000 record writes left on the Medium plan until 12 November.).

The confirmation box with the warning, the I reviewed the changes above tick box and the Publish button marked
Tick the box, then publish. This is the first moment your site changes.

Publishing runs in the background. A progress bar shows how many items are done, and you can leave the page: you are emailed when it has finished.

The publishing progress bar
Publishing. Items are sent in the background, a few at a time.

When it is done the page says Published with the number of items, and the run is marked Done.

The Published box with the count of published items marked
Published: all eight items.

6. Check your site#

Open your site's administration. The eight items are there with the title, body, category and tags from your spreadsheet. With the fixed Draft or Unpublished status they are not visible to visitors yet: review them and publish when you are ready, or change the configuration's Status to Published for the next file.

The Sites page keeps one result per item with its ID on the site and its attempt history (publishing results).

What next?#

  • Next week: drop the new file on the same card. Items that did not change are shown as unchanged and cost nothing: updating existing content.
  • Images: add a column with image file names and a ZIP, or web addresses: where images come from.
  • Something looks wrong? Troubleshooting lists the messages you may see and what to do.

Was this article helpful?

Related articles