# Import employees from a spreadsheet

Bring your whole staff list into Mays at once — paste or upload an export from your POS or payroll, check the rows Mays AI finds, and import them into a location. No invitations are sent.

For: Admins · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Team & roles](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles) · Last updated October 10, 2026 · Mays Team

Adding a whole team one by one takes a while. Instead, paste or upload the staff list you already have — from your POS, payroll or a spreadsheet — and Mays AI turns it into people you can check and import.

There's no template to fill in: Mays reads the names, phone numbers, emails, roles and PINs from whatever columns your export has. Importing is for **admins**.

## Import a list

1. Go to **Locations & Users → Users** and click **Import employees**. (On a narrow window it's under **Actions**.)
2. Either click **Upload a file** and choose a **.csv**, **.tsv** or **.txt** file, or copy the rows from your spreadsheet and paste them under **Paste staff export**. From Excel, save as CSV first — or just copy and paste the cells.
3. Click **Preview import** and wait a few seconds while Mays reads the list.

![The Import employees page with the Upload a file box for .csv, .tsv or .txt files and the Paste staff export box, and the Preview import button](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__import-employees__01-paste-or-upload.57217f6e39.png)

4. Check the preview:
   - **Import into location** — everyone in this import goes to the one location you pick here. It starts on the location selected in the sidebar.
   - Each row has **First name**, **Last name**, **Email**, **Phone**, **Role** and **PIN**. Click any cell to fix it; change **Role** with its drop-down.
   - **Status** tells you what will happen to each row: **New** will be imported, **Exists — will skip** matches someone already in your organization, and **Invalid** is missing something (a first name, or both phone and email). Fix an invalid row and it turns **New**.
   - The line at the top counts them: *3 new · 1 already exist (will skip) · 1 invalid · 5 total*.

![The import preview with Import into location set to North, five rows with name, email, phone, role and PIN, and statuses New, Exists — will skip and Invalid, with the Import 3 employees button](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__import-employees__02-review-rows.8add7b9467.png)

5. Click **Import N employees**. Mays confirms how many were imported and how many rows were skipped. Click **Done**.

Staff at other stores? Run the import again for each location.

## After the import

**No texts or emails are sent** — the people are added quietly and are **Active** straight away. Let them know themselves:

- **Employees** install the app ([Installing the Mays apps](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/install-the-apps)) and sign in with the phone number from the import. Nothing else to set up.
- **Managers and admins** also need a password for the web app. Open each one from the **Team members** list and click **Email Reset Link** on the **Access & security** tab (Mays confirms with *"Reset link sent to (their email)"* and they choose their password from the email), or have them click **Forgot password?** on the sign-in page.

## How Mays reads your list

- **Roles** come from the file: *owner* or *admin* becomes **Admin**; *manager*, *supervisor* or *lead* becomes **Manager**; everyone else is an **Employee**. Check the **Role** column before you import.
- **Duplicates are skipped, never overwritten.** A row whose phone number or email already belongs to someone in your organization is skipped, and the same person listed twice in one file is imported once. To change existing people, edit them on the **Team members** page.
- **Kiosk PINs** are only set when your list has a PIN column. Anyone imported without one can get a PIN later on the **Access & security** tab of their page, under **Kiosk PIN**.
- **Not imported:** wages, and any location column (the whole import goes to the location you picked).
- Someone imported **without an email** can only use the phone app.

## Good to know

- Importing doesn't use your AI credits.
- Very long lists can be cut short. If people are missing from the preview, import the list in smaller parts.
- If the preview shows a warning at the top, read it — it tells you when part of the list couldn't be read.
- Imported employees are added to that location's schedule, ready to be given shifts.

## Related articles

- Team & roles: [Add and invite team members](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-team-members) — Add people on the web or from the app. Employees get a text with a link to the app; managers and admins get an email to set a password. Plus resending invites and checking delivery.
- Team & roles: [Roles and permissions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/roles-and-permissions) — What the built-in Admin, Manager and Employee roles can do, how location access works, and how to build a custom role from individual permissions.
- Mobile apps: [Installing the Mays apps](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/install-the-apps) — Get the Mays app on iPhone, iPad or Android — where to download it, which phones it runs on, what it asks permission for, and how to sign in the first time.
- Team & roles: [Add and manage locations](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-and-edit-locations) — Add your stores to Mays, keep their address, phone, email and time zone up to date, and find each location's billing, phone receptionist and scheduling settings.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/import-employees