CSV IMPORT · SPREADSHEETS · ANY ITEM POOL
Drafting movies, songs, an office pool, or a league on a platform with no import? If the list already lives in Google Sheets or Excel, you do not have to retype it. Upload the file or paste the rows, check a preview of every row, and import. It is the bulk path for any pool that is not on Sleeper or Yahoo.
48 new, 2 updated, 1 already in the pool. Nothing saved yet.
Open the link from your commissioner in any browser, enter a display name, and draft from your phone or laptop. No drafter account required.
It is the bulk way to fill a draft's item pool from a file. Sleeper and Yahoo leagues have their own one-click imports; CSV covers everything else, such as a custom draft of movies, songs, restaurants, or office-pool picks, a league on a platform with no import, or a ranked list you built in a spreadsheet. It is free on every plan.
In League Setup it is the Or import a CSV link under Bulk Add. The paste-based Bulk Add stays the quick path for a plain list of names. Only the commissioner and league admins can import. The import window lets you download a sample file and the current pool, so you never start from a blank sheet.
One header row, then one item per row. name is the only required column. Headers are not case-sensitive, and the importer recognizes these names:
| Column | Header names it recognizes | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| id | id, item id | Present on a downloaded pool; lets a re-upload update that item |
| name | name, player, item, item name, player name | Required. The item as it appears on the board |
| category | category, cat, group (position also works when there is no category column) | Groups and filters the pool |
| notes | notes, note, commissioner notes | Commissioner notes on the item |
| rank | rank, ranking, overall rank, rk | A positive whole number |
| bye | bye, bye week | Optional bye week |
Every other column becomes a custom field shown on the item, up to 8 of them. There is no column-mapping step, so name your columns with the headers above. Comma, semicolon, or tab separated is detected automatically, which means you can copy cells straight out of Google Sheets or Excel and paste them in. Excel's UTF-8 CSV export works as is.
The sample in the import window mixes three kinds of pool. A blank cell just means that item has no such field.
name,category,rank,commissioner notes,Team,Age,Year,Director,Artist Patrick Mahomes,QB,1,Strong arm,KC,31,,, Ja'Marr Chase,WR,2,Watch the injury report,CIN,,,, The Godfather,Drama,3,Tiebreaker pick,,,1972,Francis Ford Coppola, Spirited Away,Animation,4,,,,2001,Hayao Miyazaki, Bohemian Rhapsody,Rock,5,,,,1975,,Queen Billie Jean,Pop,6,Clean version only,,,1982,,Michael Jackson
Download the current pool from the import window. It includes an id for every item. Edit the file in Sheets or Excel and upload it again. Rows with an id update that item in place, so picks, drafters' queues, your rankings, and notes stay attached to it.
A blank cell on an id row clears that field, but only for columns that are in the file. A category cannot be changed on an item that has already been picked. A completed draft can still be downloaded as a CSV, but it no longer accepts imports.
| Append | Replace | |
|---|---|---|
| Rows with an id | Update that item | Update that item |
| Rows without an id | Added as new items | Added as new items |
| Items not in the file | Left alone | Removed if still available and unpicked |
| Picked items | Never touched | Always kept |
| During a live draft | Allowed | Not allowed |
Replace syncs the pool to the file, and it asks you to confirm before it removes anything.
A row without an id never updates an existing item. If its name and category match an item already in the pool, it is skipped as Already in the pool. Tick Add rows that match existing items as extra copies to import them anyway. The same name repeated within a single file imports as separate items. To edit items that already exist, use the downloaded pool with its id column.
Optionally. Tick use CSV ranks and the import also rewrites the commissioner's ranked list: ranked rows in rank order, then unranked rows in file order, then any items that were not in the file. It is off by default, and it only works before the draft starts or while it is paused. If the file changes nothing else, the import button becomes Update ranked list.
Everyone in the draft. Custom columns appear on each item's details line, for example #1 · Team KC · Age 31, in League Setup and in the draft room for every viewer, guests included. Draft room search matches their values too. Keep private information such as phone numbers, emails, or personal notes about people out of the file.
Append and id updates are allowed mid-draft, and connected drafters see new or changed items live without refreshing. Replace waits until the draft is not running.
Is CSV import free? Yes, on every plan. A very large pool can make your draft a large draft that needs the Premium large-draft unlock — see Pricing. The preview shows the resulting item count before you commit.
How big can the file be? Up to 2,000 rows and 8 custom columns. A custom column header can be up to 40 characters, and a value up to 100.
Can drafters import their own lists? No. Import is for the commissioner and league admins. Drafters build their own queue in the draft room.
Do I need to match the sample's column order? No. Columns can be in any order. Only the header names matter.
Can I import from Sleeper or Yahoo instead? Yes. Fantasy leagues have dedicated one-click imports: see the Sleeper import and the Yahoo import.
Also useful: custom drafts, how to run a draft, importing from Sleeper, importing from Yahoo, or all guides.