How do I add or update users? - CSV Upload
Last updated: February 24, 2026
Add Users through CSV Upload
Users with the "Users: Create" permission will be able to upload a user CSV.
"Users: Edit" permission will be needed in order to optionally download the exiting user directory.
Resource - Downloadable Example CSV Template
Add Multiple Users
If you're creating or updating less than 15 users, it may be faster to create/update users manually.
1. Open the left navigation and click Administration > People > Users.
2. Click the + Create New User button.
3. Ensure Upload Users is selected in the Choose Creation Method dropdown.
Prepare a CSV for Upload
The CSV must contain a header row with the following columns explicitly named.
Required Columns
First Name
Last Name
Email
Salesforce Username*
For organizations that do not use our Salesforce integration, Ambition will use Email as a uniqueness constraint for users.
If a user has multiple @company email addresses (ex. travis@yourcompany.com and travis.truett@yourcompany.com), select a single, most reliable email to be tied to that user.
Ambition will not overwrite a user's email address through the CSV upload, but create a new account for each email address. If a user's email needs to be updated, you can make those changes in their settings.
*Salesforce Username
If you use our Salesforce integration, Ambition will use Salesforce Username as the uniqueness constraint for users. Include an additional column on the CSV you wish to upload containing Salesforce Usernames.
Salesforce Usernames must in the form of an email address, xxxx@xxx.com.
Are you updating existing users?
If you are updating current users, you can download your current user directory in CSV form, Actions > Export CSV, that can then be amended and re-uploaded into Ambition.
A column of "Manager Name" will be listed on the downloaded CSV of your user directory. Ambition will display the corresponding "Manager Name" alongside "Manager Email" to account for cases where an email is not descriptive of the user's name.
Before re-uploading the CSV into Ambition, delete the "Manager Name" and "Last Active" and "Activation Date" columns.
Optional CSV Columns
Time Zone
Supported Time Zones found here.
Format examples: US/Eastern, America/New_York.
If this column is included every row must have a value.
Is Manager
True or False.
If this column is included every cell must have a value.
If you are updating an existing user from True to False ensure that the user is no longer managing any groups, otherwise Ambition will not make a change.
Is Admin
True or False.
If this column is included every cell must have a value.
Manager
If your organization uses our Salesforce integration, populate the column with the manager's Salesforce Username* instead of their email address. *(In some cases, an employee's Salesforce username and email address will not match.)
The cells will contain a manager's username.
To be assigned as a user's manager, the manager must have an active account in Ambition.
If the username in the manager field belongs to a user that does not have the "Is Manager" permission, Ambition will automatically assign it during the upload process.
If the manager information does not belong to user with an active Ambition account, it will clear an existing manager if previously set.
If the cell is empty, it will clear an existing manager if previously set.
Group Memberships
Including group membership information will result in users being added as a member of the respective group. If the user needs to be assigned as a manager of a group, that assignment will be done in with " - manager" column on the CSV or done manually in the group editor.
Set column name(s) to reflect group types existing within Ambition. Each cell value will be the name of an existing or new group.
Need guidance creating group types prior to upload, check out this article.
The cells will contain the name of the group where the user should be made a member.
Ambition will automatically create groups that do not currently exist in Ambition.
Group types will not be created through this process. Only existing group types can be selected as mapping options.
Group membership is a case sensitive field. Differences in spelling and capitalization from existing group names will create net new groups. Group names cannot contain semicolons.
Group Managers
Set column name(s) to reflect group types existing within Ambition.
The cells will contain the name of the group(s) where the user should be made a manager. Group managers are made a manager over all group members.
If a manager manages multiple groups in the same group type, separate the group names with semicolons. Ex. Account Executive;Sr. Account Executive.
Differences in spelling and capitalization from existing group names will create net new groups. Group names cannot contain semicolons.
If the user being assigned as a group manager does not have the "Is Manager" permission, Ambition will automatically assign it during the upload process.
If the manager manages multiple groups, the manager can be removed as a manager from a specific group by omitting that group name from the upload.
If the cell is empty, it will remove the manager from managing all groups in that group type.
Integration IDs
Unique identifier keys on on an integration's Data Format page and the integration IDs themselves are both case-sensitive.
Unique Identifiers used in Ambition Integrations other than Salesforce.
Ex: Phone Extension, Employee ID.
Correlating data integrations must be established first before Integration IDs can be uploaded. Reach out to gethelp@ambition.com with questions.
While Integration IDs will be mapped in the upload process, you are unable to map a single column to multiple Integration IDs. We recommend adding a separate column for each respective Integration ID.
Note that including a column for Integration IDs, but leaving cells blank will result in removal of ID for any users with blank cells.
Ambition will automatically create groups that do not currently exist in Ambition.
For example, if you already have a Location Group Type included in your CSV that Susan is in the "Chicago" Location; however, if that Location does not already exist it will be created and Susan will be added to it.
Check out the Groups documentation to better understand Ambition's hierarchy system.
Example File Format
Header rows are required
First Name | Last Name | Time Zone | Role | Region | Team | Phone Extension | |
Joey | Freshwater | joey@freshwater.com | US/Eastern | Account Executive | Southeast | Alpha Dogs | 4233 |
Agnes | Goodman | agnes@goodman.com | US/Pacific | Account Manager | Northwest | Omega Cats | 1233 |
Downloadable Example CSV Template
Upload CSV
1. Note: If you do not have an active Salesforce integration, you will not see this step. Skip to the next step.
Choose the User Source from the dropdown. Here you have two options, both of which follow the same process but require different fields in the CSV upload file.
A.) Salesforce: For customers with active Salesforce integrations, requires Salesforce usernames.
B.) User Integration: Used for any integrations outside of Salesforce.
2. Click the Upload CSV button and select the CSV you desire to upload.
Ambition will detect how many rows of users you are uploading. Click Next to begin mapping.
Map CSV Fields to Ambition
3. Ambition will attempt to auto-detect the number of accounts and map correct fields. Verify that CSV fields match the appropriate Ambition field.
If you have columns on your CSV that do not map to an Ambition field, notably Manager Name, Last Active, Activation Date, or additional, internal employee information, remove those columns the CSV and re-upload.
4. After verifying field mappings are correct, click the Create/Update Users button.
Encountering an error upon uploading the CSV?
If at anytime you experience an error message, feel free to reach out to gethelp@ambition.com
Below are common error messages and how to resolve them on your own:
Error Message: Unable to process the file upload: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'entity'.
Cause: Attempting to update a user who is synced through Salesforce where the user's email address and Salesforce Username differ.
Resolution: Add a column of Salesforce Username that contains the user's Salesforce Username as well as keeping the required Email column. If applicable, downloading the User Directory CSV will contain a Salesforce Username column.
If you have questions about adding a Salesforce Username column, or need assistance with bypassing this error, contact gethelp@ambition.com
Error Message: The following accounts with the 'username' field could not be found in the system: Problematic username(s) listed.
Cause: Attempting to update a user through the Salesforce User Source who does not have a Salesforce account.
Resolution: Remove users without Salesforce account from the current CSV. Either manually update the respective users OR prepare a CSV that contains non-Salesforce users. Select User Integration during Step 1 of the Add User Process.
If you need assistance with bypassing this error, contact gethelp@ambition.com
Error Message: The following accounts with the 'username' field could not be found in the system: ". Are you sure these are correct?
Cause: Attempting to update a user(s) through the Salesforce User Source that appears twice on the CSV.
Resolution: Remove duplicate user(s) from CSV and reupload.
If you need assistance with bypassing this error, contact gethelp@ambition.com
Are my new users invited to Ambition?
Users added to Ambition through CSV upload will not automatically be invited to Ambition.
When viewing the user management page, you can invite all users who have not yet logged in by clicking the Actions button.
Click on Invite # Users to send out email invitations.
If you only want to invite a segment of your uninvited users, learn more here.
-- OR --
Within the "Last Login" column, you can invite a user for the first time or resend their invite if they have not yet logged in.
Users can also be invited from within their settings.