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Planning Center (PCO) is for churches and houses of worship. You move data by exporting CSVs and dropping them on Settings → Data & knowledge → Import & export. There is no Planning Center connector: no live sync, no plan ingest, no webcal calendar import. Coming-from is CSV / guided export only. Empty-state Imports is drop-first. Drop files on the empty state; don’t lead with pick-target-first. There are no in-product “Coming from Planning Center” cards. Who can import (web UI): organization owner or admin on the active org. Prefer in-app target templates when you need a known-good column set. Shared mapping traps: Coming from another system.
Video walkthrough coming. Until it ships, follow the export steps, Soundcheck Frames, and PCO screenshot Tips below.
Soundcheck Imports empty state with Drop a season pile, Drop or choose files, and Create from scratch. Sidebar shows Settings → Data & knowledge → Import & export.

Imports empty state: Drop a season pile, Drop or choose files, and Create from scratch. Nothing writes until you confirm.

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Who it’s for

Worship pastors, music directors, and church ops who already run Services and People in Planning Center and want the same worship team, songs, and services as gigs in Soundcheck.

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What moves / what doesn’t

Do not expect CCLI numbers, charts, or plan order to land as fields. The Songs mapper has no CCLI column. It does keep Planning Center’s Song ID, so a setlist you rebuild can name songs by that ID.

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Official export steps

Prefer Planning Center’s public help host help.planningcenter.com (not support.planningcenter.com).

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Crew: Services People (worship team)

  1. In Planning Center Services, open People.
  2. Export a CSV (scheduler+). This is the roster path.
  3. Limit the export to the worship team / roster. Do not dump the full congregation.
Official help: Export a CSV file. Broader export overview: Export data.
Screenshot placeholder: (1) Services → People → Export CSV with the worship-team filter visible. Caption as Planning Center product UI.

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People database (trap: whole church)

People → Actions → Import & Export CSV (or download from a list) is a different export from Services People. If you Import & Export the People database, you can ingest the whole church. Filter to the worship team before you upload, or you’ll invite people who aren’t on the rotation. Official help: Export data.
Screenshot placeholder: (2) People → Actions → Import & Export as a trap contrast next to the Services People path. Caption clearly so operators don’t confuse the two.

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Prepare CSV field names (PCO import template shape)

Planning Center documents default CSV field names for profile data imports in Prepare a CSV file for import. That page requires First Name and Last Name. Email columns are Home Email, Work Email, and Other Email. Phone columns include Mobile Phone Number. Sample sheet: Import Fields Template. Planning Center’s own CSV import is profile data only. It isn’t a plan, order-of-service, or song-catalog ingest path. Use their field names as a mapping reference when you reshape an export for the Crew target.

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Songs: date-windowed CCLI / usage reports

  1. Open Songs, create a report, export CSV.
  2. Widen the date window to the slice you need. Planning Center song reports are CCLI / usage reports for a date range, not a catalog dump.
  3. Flatten arrangements into one row per song you want in the repertoire.
  4. Keep the Author column. The mapper binds Author to Artist, and the artist keeps two songs with the same title apart.
  5. Keep the Song ID column. The mapper binds it to the song’s Song ID, and a re-import with the same ID updates that song instead of adding one.
Official help: Create song reports.
Screenshot placeholder: (3) Songs → report builder → CSV with the date window visible. Remind operators that a narrow window means an incomplete repertoire.

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Plans / calendar: will not import as files

  • There is no plan or order-of-service CSV from any source.
  • Planning Center Services calendar is webcal. Operators often try ICS/webcal; the importer rejects it.
After Crew and Songs are in, rebuild Setlists and Events (services as gigs) from schedules you already keep, or enter them in the product. If you’re packing a season folder before you drop files:
Drop the zip or the CSVs on Settings → Data & knowledge → Import & export. The empty state accepts files first; review detected targets, then map / preview / commit.

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Field map (source → import targets)

Email is hard-required on Crew. Dedup is email. Phone-only rows fail.
Soundcheck Imports map step for pco-people-sample.csv showing Home Email mapped to Email, Mobile Phone Number to Phone, and Position to Positions.

Map columns: Home Email → Email *, Mobile Phone Number → Phone, Position → Positions (AI suggested). Map these PCO headers explicitly.

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Mapping traps

  • Target for roster rows is Crew.
  • Heuristics do not bind Planning Center Home Email / Work Email / Other Email or Mobile Phone Number. Map those columns yourself.
  • Keep the Author column; it maps to Artist. Same title + empty artist collapses.
  • Song reports remain date-windowed usage, not a catalog. There is no plan CSV.
  • Import Songs before Setlists when the setlist names songs by Song ID (song_external_id or Song ID). An ID that matches no song stops that setlist with an error; it never creates a song named after the ID. A row that also has a song title falls back to the title.
  • There is no CCLI column on the Songs target. Don’t invent one.
  • ICS / webcal is rejected.
Full shared traps: Coming from another system.

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Import order

Suggested for houses of worship:
  1. Crew (Services People: worship team)
  2. Venues / Clients when you have directory sheets (optional BYO)
  3. Songs (date-windowed report; Author maps to Artist)
  4. Setlists (you rebuild; not a PCO plan CSV)
  5. Events (services as gigs)
Canonical product order: Crew → Venues → Clients → Songs → Setlists → Events (Inventory and Leads when you need them).

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Import path

  1. Open Settings → Data & knowledge → Import & export. Drop files on the empty state (drop-first). Review detected targets (Crew, Songs, Setlists, or Events), map columns (especially Email / Artist), preview, commit.
  2. Save a mapping template if you’ll re-export the same shape.
  3. After commit: open Gigs, ask people to accept invitations, spot-check Show Prep, re-import once (expect 0 new rows).
Soundcheck Imports Review before import card for pco-people-sample.csv detected as Crew with Cancel and Confirm 1 import.

Review before import: file detected as Crew (100% of headers match MEMBER). Cancel and Confirm still stand between you and the write.

Soundcheck Imports preview for pco-people-sample.csv showing 2 new crew, 1 new position, 0 errors, and dry-run copy before commit.

Preview dry run: 2 new crew, 1 new position, 0 errors. Nothing commits until you confirm.

No Google Sheets connector. Follow the official export links above for Services / People / Songs. Signup can stop at SMS / one-time verification before you ever reach an org:
Planning Center Get started Verify step showing One-time verification and a generic We couldn't verify your request Please try again banner.

Planning Center signup can stop at SMS / one-time verification

One bad row doesn’t block the file: valid rows commit and rows with errors are skipped. Download the error CSV from the results screen, fix those rows, and import them again. See When a row is bad. Full wizard: Operator data imports. Season recipe: Importing your season.

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Practice samples

House-of-worship practice files: docs/sample-imports/customers/house-of-worship/ (volunteer team, worship songs, service schedule). Those CSVs use sample-import headers, not native Planning Center exports. You still must map. That folder has no setlists file. Setlists and Events are rebuilds (the service schedule is a sample-shaped events practice file, not a PCO plan dump).

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FAQ

No. Coming-from stays on CSV / guided export into the wizard. No live sync, no OAuth, no plan ingest.
Heuristics only bind email, e-mail, and email address. Map Home Email, Work Email, or Other Email to email yourself.
No. The importer rejects ICS / webcal. Rebuild services as Events from a CSV or by hand.
Not into the Songs mapper. There is no CCLI column there. Keep the Song ID column instead: setlists can name songs by it.
Use Services → People for the worship team. People Import & Export can dump the whole church. Filter before you upload.

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First-week checklist after commit

  1. Confirm Crew count matches the worship team (not the whole church).
  2. Spot-check a few people for email and phone.
  3. Confirm Songs count matches your widened date window (widen and re-export if the repertoire looks short).
  4. Rebuild at least one Setlist and one Event (service as a gig).
  5. Ask people to accept invitations; spot-check Show Prep.
  6. Re-import the same Crew / Songs files once (expect 0 new rows).
  7. Save mapping templates for the next season export.

Coming from another system

Hub for Planning Center, Back On Stage, Master Tour, and more

Operator data imports

Imports wizard, targets, and permissions