Title: Importing Multiple CSV Files
Last modified: April 17, 2020

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# Importing Multiple CSV Files

 *  Resolved [philbertdog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philbertdog/)
 * (@philbertdog)
 * [6 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-multiple-csv-files-2/)
 * I’ve mastered importing a single CSV file. Extremely useful feature!
 * I now wish to import a series of other CSV files containing additional data. 
   I’m wondering if my new CSVs need to include the record id numbers.
 * My fields look like this:
 * title,url,author,site,summary,publish_date,type,id
 * When I created my first CSV I filled the record id fields with numbers 1 to 2,000
   +. Was that necessary? Or does the system manage the record numbers?
 * What do I do with the record id field in the subsequent CSV’s I will be uploading
   with new data? Leave it blank?
 * I’ve uploaded and then deleted all 2,000 records a couple of times as I learned
   the system so the record ID situation is getting a tad confusing. When I download
   the CSV from the system it’s now showing IDs with numbers like 8,000+.
 * When uploading multiple CSVs what do I need to know about the record ID field,
   if anything?
 * Thanks!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/)
 * (@xnau)
 * [6 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-multiple-csv-files-2/#post-12690888)
 * When importing a CSV with an ID, for each record in the CSV, the plugin looks
   for a record with a matching ID in the database. If it finds it, that record 
   is updated with the incoming data. (if the import is configured in the settings
   to update matching records)
 * If there is no matching ID, the ID value in the CSV is discarded, the record 
   is imported and the ID for the record is automatically generated by the database
   using its internal counter.
 * If you are importing records and then deleting them, the counter is not changed
   by that, so next time the ID is assigned, it starts with the last number assigned.
   This is why you are getting those high values in the IDs. If you want to reset
   the database’s internal counter, you can do that directly in the database, the
   plugin doesn’t do that.
 * If you need to maintain a specific range of numbers as an identifier, you should
   do that as a separate column, it’s best not to try to use the internal ID number
   for that purpose.
    -  This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/).
 *  Thread Starter [philbertdog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philbertdog/)
 * (@philbertdog)
 * [6 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-multiple-csv-files-2/#post-12691904)
 * > If there is no matching ID, the ID value in the CSV is discarded, the record
   > is imported and the ID for the record is automatically generated by the database
   > using its internal counter.
 * Thank you, this is great. For my purposes I don’t need to be concerned with record
   IDs, so that just makes things even easier.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Importing Multiple CSV Files’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [philbertdog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/philbertdog/)
 * Last activity: [6 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importing-multiple-csv-files-2/#post-12691904)
 * Status: resolved