Importing candidate notes in bulk moves the comment history from your previous ATS, CRM or hiring tool into PeopleForce, so recruiters keep the full context on every candidate.
The import only adds notes to candidates who already exist in your account. It never creates candidates. If you are migrating, import the candidates first and then run this import.
Step 1. Prepare your file
Download the template and use it as a reference. The import accepts .csv and .xlsx files.
Fill in three columns, one note per row:
Column header | What to put in it |
Candidate email/ candidate ID, or external ID | Required. One identifier for the candidate: their email, their PeopleForce candidate ID, or their external ID from your previous system. All three go in this one column. |
Note | Required. The text of the note. |
Note created at | The date the note was originally written. If a cell is empty, the note gets the date and time of the import. |
Tips for the file
Always include the Note created at column, even if it has no dates. If this column is missing or not mapped, every row fails and no notes are imported. Name the header exactly Note created at. A column called Created at is not mapped automatically.
Write dates in your account's date format. The default is DD.MM.YYYY. If a date can't be read, the note silently gets the import date instead.
Only the date is kept, not the time. Notes from the same day may appear in any order among themselves. If several same-day notes need to read in sequence, combine them into one note.
To import a chain of notes, use one row per note and repeat the candidate's identifier on every row.
Step 2. Import the data
Go to Settings → Import.
Select Candidate notes.
Upload your file and click Next.
Check the column mapping. Columns named Candidate email, Note and Note created at are matched automatically. Map any others manually, and make sure all three are mapped. Click Next.
Review the preview and click Import.
Validation. On the preview step, invalid values are highlighted in red. This happens when an identifier matches no candidate or a date is in the wrong format. Fix the file and upload it again. Pay particular attention to red identifiers: rows for candidates who don't exist fail with Candidate does not exist, and those notes are not imported.
Step 3. Track the import
Go to Settings → Import → History tab.
Wait until the status changes to Imported, then check the counts. Created shows the notes that were added. Errors shows the rows that failed.
Open the menu at the end of the row and select View logs. You'll see a line for every row, showing which candidate received each note and why any row failed.
