Import Ideas

← Back to Idea Management section

• Availability
  • Plan: All
• Roles and Permissions

  All users can import ideas from a CSV file.

Save your existing backlog as a CSV file. Include at least a description or summary field, and feel free to include any other fields from the list below. Your backlog fields don't need to have the same name as the ProdPad fields (e.g. Description), they can be mapped before being imported. The fields that can be imported are:

• Title – The title helps give context to an idea when browsing a list of ideas
• Description – The main description or summary of the idea. This is the only required field
• Problem statement – The problem you are trying to solve
• Value statement - The value it will add
• Added by - The email address of the user you want to show as Added By
• Owner - The email address of the user you want add as the Owner
• State - The state you want to the ideas to appear in (Unsorted/Backlog/Archived)
• User Stories – How the users will interact with the system
• Functional Specifications – Outlines the functionality of the system
• Impact - the value for the Impact this Idea will have (must match the scales used in your account)
• Effort  the value for the Effort this Idea will take to develop (must match the scales used in your account)
• Tags – Tagging your ideas adds context and helps to organise them and improve search results. Tags can be mapped from multiple fields
• Product - the name of the product you wish to add the Idea to when imported (must match the name of an existing product)
• Persona - The persona you want to add to the idea, supports multiple persona mapping
• Idea Notes – Anything in this field will be added as a comment on the idea
• External URL – Link to the idea on another tracking tool such as Pivotal Tracker or JIRA
• External ID – ID of the idea in another tracking tool
• External Title - the title or name of the resource you are linking to the idea

Once you've got your CSV file ready, you can import it into ProdPad.

Locate the '...' button on the ideas page, and click the Import from CSV option.

👀 You can use this sample CSV to easily create your own version.

Once you save, your ideas will be imported, and you'll be able to add more details (e.g. tag your colleagues in them so that they can follow and join the discussion etc). An email will be sent your way to confirm the upload has been completed and you will get an error report for any issues with the import.

If you're looking to bulk upload your existing ideas, you can do so via the bulk update option.