Import guests and vendors from a file, a photo or text

Start an import

• Guests: on the event, click Import list.
• Vendors and sponsors: Import vendors in the vendor book, or on an event's Vendors tab (they're then booked on that event too).

Drop a CSV or Excel file, a PDF, or up to 6 photos — of a printed or handwritten list, say — or switch to Paste text and paste a list from an email or a chat.

Spreadsheets are read directly. Photos, PDFs and text are read by Claude, with your own Claude API key (see below).

Add instructions to say how to read it: "use sheet 4", "only the rows marked confirmed", "column C is the table number", "ignore the notes column", "skip the staff list on page 2". An Excel file with several sheets uses the first one unless you name another; picking a sheet works without Claude, and anything more is followed by Claude. Your instructions are shown at the top of the review.

Review before anything is saved

The review shows how many were Found, Ready, Need attention, Duplicates and Skipped; click a number to see those rows. Every cell can be edited, and edits save as you go — you can close the page and come back within a week.

The checkbox at the top of the list selects or unselects every row shown — filter or search first to act on just those.

Columns (spreadsheets) shows how the file was read: which row has the column names — titles above it, like the event's name, are left out — and what each column is. Set a column to Don't import to leave it out, or give two columns the same field to join them (first and last name). Reading the file again replaces edits made to rows; it doesn't need Claude.

Each row says what's wrong and offers a fix:

• an email that isn't valid, or a likely typo (Use gmail.com);
• a phone number without its country code;
• someone twice in the file, already on the event, or in your guest book under another spelling;
• a blocked guest;
• no email or phone, so the invitation can't be sent (Make private lets the door find them by name);
• a field Claude couldn't read for sure (a dashed outline): check it against the original.

Apply suggested fixes fixes every row at once; Skip rows with problems leaves the rest out. Rows with a problem must be fixed or skipped before you can save. If the import goes over the event's capacity or your plan, the review says so at the top.

Saving adds the guests to the list without sending anything — send the invitations when you're ready (see Send invitations).

Vendors: find details online

Find details online looks each vendor up on the web for their website, category, public email, Instagram and logo. What it finds appears under the row with ✦ and a link to where it came from; accept or reject each one, or Accept all. Nothing changes until you accept it. A vendor already in your book is matched: saving fills in what it's missing and never overwrites what you had.

It's included on paid plans and uses your Claude API key — roughly a few cents per vendor.

Connect Claude

In Settings → Claude (AI imports), create a key in the Anthropic Console (API keys), paste it and click Check and save. VenueWS checks it with Anthropic and stores it encrypted; it's never shown again (only its last four characters). Anthropic bills you directly. You can pick the model, replace the key or disconnect at any time.

Uploaded files are not kept — only the rows read from them, until you save or for a week. Guest data is never searched online.