CSV import: column reference and common errors

Hey Burrow imports these seven columns. Only the child's name, date of birth, trusted person's name and email address are required. For the step-by-step walkthrough, see Import your families from a spreadsheet.

Your headers don't have to match these names. The Match your columns step lets you point any column at any field.

The columns

Column	Example
Child name	Zoe Carter	Required
Date of birth	2019-03-14	Required
Room	Kindy	Optional
Allergies	Peanuts	Optional
Trusted person name	Amy Carter	Required
Email address	amy@example.com	Required
Mobile number	555 0142	Optional

Use one row per child. Siblings get one row each, with the same trusted person repeated on both, which is how Hey Burrow knows they're one family.

If you have First name and Last name as separate columns, for the child or the adult, set How are names written? to First and last name columns on the matching step.

Download a sample file gives you a CSV with these headers and two rows sharing one adult.

Dates

An all-numeric date is read according to your church's country. An Australian or New Zealand church reads 06/05/2025 as 6 May, and a United States church reads it as June 5.

Dates written another way are read as written, wherever your church is:

• 2025-05-06 and 2025/05/06
• 6 May 2025 and 6 March 2025
• May 6, 2025 and March 6, 2025

A numeric date that only fits one order is also safe anywhere.

Check it on the way through

Review import shows the date it read for every row, with your file's own value underneath whenever the two differ.

Limits

• 1,000 rows per file. Split a larger list and import it in parts.
• 255 characters per value.

Every error message, and what it means

These are the messages you can see in the ISSUES column on Review import. For a room that wasn't found, create the room first or fix the spelling in the file.

Message	What to fix
Child name is required	The row has no child. Every row is one child.
Child first name is required	The First name column is empty on this row.
Child last name is required	The Last name column is empty on this row.
Enter a first and last name	A single name field with only one word in it.
Date of birth is required	The cell is blank. Add the child's date of birth.
Enter a valid date of birth	Unreadable, or a date that doesn't exist.
Trusted person name is required	No adult on the row. Every child needs one.
Trusted person first name is required	The trusted person's First name column is empty on this row.
Trusted person last name is required	The trusted person's Last name column is empty on this row.
Email is required	The cell is blank. Add an email address for the trusted person.
Enter a valid email address	Usually a missing @, or two addresses in one cell.
Room 'Kindy' wasn't found	No room with the name in your file, Kindy in this example. Create it first, or check the spelling.
This value must be 255 characters or fewer	This is almost always a long note in Allergies.

The import saves the valid rows and skips the rest. Skipped rows aren't stored anywhere, so fixing them means a second upload containing only them.

Troubleshooting

• Every row failed. Check Match your columns first, because one column pointed at the wrong field fails every row. Edit column matching takes you straight back.
• Names with commas or apostrophes look mangled. Quote the field in your CSV, as "Whitmore, Isla".
• Accented names came through as symbols. Save your file as UTF-8 CSV (in Excel, CSV UTF-8).