Importing promotional codes
You need: Promotional codes — edit.
Promotional codes are the one import with full job tracking. Unlike the other CSV imports in Importing from a CSV, you can see a running import's progress, and you get told if one is already going.
One active import at a time, per person
The import tracks an active job for you. Before starting, the screen tells you whether you already have one running.
This is a guard rather than a limitation. It stops the common accident of starting an import, seeing no immediate feedback, and starting it again — which would apply the same file twice.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| No active import | Clear to start |
| An active import | Yours is still running. Watch it rather than starting another |
| An active import you don't recognise | Something you started earlier and left. Check its progress before clearing it |
Running one
- Check no import is already active for you.
- Upload the CSV.
- Follow the progress as it runs.
- Confirm the result before telling anyone the codes are live.
Progress
The progress figure is polled, so it lags slightly — a number that hasn't moved for a few seconds is normal. Large files take proportionally longer.
Closing the screen does not stop the import. It runs to completion on its own, and you can come back to its progress.
Clearing a stuck active job
You can clear your active import. What that means is worth being precise about:
Clearing removes the record that you have an import in progress. It does not undo rows already imported, and it isn't a cancel button. Use it when a job is genuinely finished or abandoned and is blocking you from starting a new one — not to stop a running import you've changed your mind about.
If you clear a job and start the same file again, the rows that already imported may be applied twice. Check what landed first.
Before importing
The general advice in Importing from a CSV applies here too, particularly:
- Test with a few rows first. Confirm the format is accepted before committing a large file.
- Keep the file. It is your record of exactly what was issued.
- Imports are not transactional. A failure partway leaves earlier rows in place.
After importing
Open the promotional codes list and confirm the codes exist with the dates and validity you expected — see Promotional codes. If they need to be part of a campaign, confirm that too, because a campaign relationship is hard to add afterwards.
If it goes wrong
Removing imported codes uses the campaign delete described in Promotional codes, which only proceeds when nothing has been redeemed. Once customers start using codes, they stay — expire the campaign instead.