Import and export data

Bring your existing feedback with you. Whether you're migrating from Canny, UserVoice, or a spreadsheet, import preserves your vote counts, dates, and history. Export anytime for backups or analysis.

CSV Import

Supported Data

Import posts into any board:

• Titles and content
• Statuses and tags
• Author information
• Vote counts
• Dates

Import Process

1. Go to Admin → Settings → Boards
2. Select the target board
3. Click the Import Data tab
4. Drop a CSV file or click to browse
5. Click Import Data to start the import
6. Review the results

CSV Format

Required Columns

Optional Columns

Example CSV

title,content,status,tags,board,author_name,author_email,vote_count,created_at
"Add dark mode support","It would be great to have a dark mode option for the app.","open","feature,ui","","John Doe","john@example.com","5","2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
"Fix login timeout","Users are being logged out too quickly.","under_review","bug","","","","2",""

Import Limits

Handle statuses

Handle tags

Tags are created automatically:

• New tags created on import
• Comma-separated in CSV
• Report shows created tags

Import Results

After import, you'll see a summary showing:

• Number of posts imported
• Number of rows skipped
• Number of new tags created
• Any row-level errors (expandable to view details)

CSV Export

Export Process

1. Go to Admin → Settings → Boards
2. Select a board
3. Click the Export Data tab
4. Click Export CSV
5. Download starts automatically

Export Format

Exported CSV includes:

Export Scope

Export is per-board. Select the board you want to export from the board dropdown, then navigate to the Export Data tab.

Use Cases

• Backup - Regular data exports
• Analysis - Import into spreadsheets
• Migration - Move to another system
• Reporting - Share with stakeholders

Migrate from Canny

Quackback has a dedicated Canny importer that connects directly to your Canny account and migrates everything automatically — no CSV export needed.

What gets imported

• Posts — titles, descriptions, and creation dates
• Votes — full vote counts preserved per post
• Comments — threaded discussions with author attribution
• Users — names, emails, and avatars
• Statuses — mapped to your Quackback workflow

Run the import

1. Go to Admin → Settings → Import
2. Select Canny as the source
3. Follow the authentication flow to connect your Canny account
4. Choose which Canny boards to import and map them to Quackback boards
5. Start the import

The importer runs in the background. You'll see progress and a summary when it completes.

CSV import from Canny

If you prefer to use a CSV export instead, you can still import manually. Export from Canny and map the columns:

• title → title
• details → content
• status → status
• votes → vote_count

Migrate from other platforms

From UserVoice

1. Export from UserVoice (CSV format)
2. Map columns:
   • suggestion_title → title
   • suggestion_text → content
   • status → status
   • vote_count → vote_count

From Spreadsheet

If you've been tracking feedback in a spreadsheet:

1. Add column headers matching Quackback format
2. Ensure dates are ISO 8601 format
3. Clean up status values to match your status slugs
4. Export as CSV (UTF-8 encoding)

Best Practices

Before Import

Data Cleaning

Common issues to fix:

Large Imports

Troubleshooting

"Invalid CSV format"

• Check file encoding (use UTF-8)
• Verify proper quoting for fields with commas
• Ensure consistent column count

"Status not found"

• Create the status before importing
• Check spelling matches exactly

"Date parse error"

• Use ISO 8601: 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z
• Or: 2024-01-15 (date only)

"Import stuck"

• Large files take time
• Check browser console for errors
• Try smaller batches

Next Steps

• Boards - Manage import targets
• Statuses - Set up statuses before import
• Feedback - View imported posts