CSV formats | FullHouse Docs

The exact file format for importing scheduled chat messages, with examples and error messages.

This page covers the files you can bring into and take out of FullHouse.

Scheduled chat import

Use this to add a whole script of scheduled chat messages at once. Import it from either place:

Webinars → your webinar → Set up → Room timeline → Import chat
Webinars → your webinar → Set up → Chat & questions → Scheduled chat → Import CSV

Columns

Columns are read by position, in this order. The names in a header row don’t matter.

Position	Column	Required	What goes in it
1	`time`	Yes	When the message appears, measured from the start of the video.
2	`name`	Yes	The sender’s name. Longer than 80 characters is cut to 80.
3	`message`	Yes	The message. Longer than 1,000 characters is cut to 1,000.
4	`role`	No	`host`, `moderator` or `attendee`, in any case. Empty or anything else counts as `attendee`.

Time formats

You write	It means
`90`	90 seconds
`1:30` or `01:30`	1 minute 30 seconds
`90:00`	90 minutes
`1:02:03`	1 hour, 2 minutes, 3 seconds

Whole numbers only, up to 24 hours. Fractions such as 1:30.5 and negative times aren’t accepted.

Example

time,name,message,role
0:15,Maya,"Welcome in, everyone! Say hi and tell us where you're watching from.",host
0:32,Sarah M.,Hi from Leeds!,attendee
0:48,Devon,"Grabbing a notebook, one sec",
12:05,Team Support,Drop your questions in the Q&A tab and we'll get to them.,moderator
1:02:40,Sarah M.,"She said ""book the call first"" and it finally clicked",attendee

Rules

Header row. Optional. The first row is treated as a header if its first cell is time, timestamp, t, seconds or offset, in any case.
Commas and quotes. Separate columns with commas, not semicolons or tabs. If a value contains a comma, quote mark or line break, put it in double quotes. Write a quote mark inside quotes as two quote marks.
Line breaks. A quoted message can run over several lines.
Encoding. The file must be UTF-8. The invisible marker some spreadsheet apps add to the start is fine. In Excel, choose CSV UTF-8 when saving.
File. A .csv or .txt file, up to 2 MB. The Import CSV button’s file picker only offers .csv, so use Import chat to pick a .txt file.
Row limit. The first 2,000 usable rows are imported, and the rest are ignored. To add more, import a second file.

What the import does

It adds to your messages. It doesn’t replace them or check for duplicates, so importing a file twice gives you two copies. To start again, use Clear all chat first.
It skips bad rows silently. A row is skipped if it has fewer than three columns, a time it can’t read, or an empty name or message. You aren’t told which rows, or how many. Compare the count beside the Chat track with your file.
It doesn’t check your video’s length. A message timed after the video ends imports, but never appears.
It applies straight away. Messages are live in every session as soon as the import finishes, with no separate save.

Errors

What you see	What it means	What to do
No usable rows found. Expected columns: time, name, message.	Every row was skipped. Often the file uses semicolons, or the columns are in the wrong order.	Check the file against the example above.
Upload a CSV or text file up to 2 MiB.	The file is too big, or isn’t `.csv` or `.txt`.	Split it, or save it as CSV.
Upload a UTF-8 text file.	The file isn’t UTF-8. Older Excel exports often aren’t.	Save it again as CSV UTF-8.
The upload is too large.	The upload is over 3 MB.	Split the file.

Export your chat

Export gives you a file you can edit and import again.

Where	File name	Time format
Room timeline → More chat actions → Export chat as CSV	(webinar address)`-chat.csv`	`1:02:40`
Chat & questions → Scheduled chat → Export CSV	`chat-timeline.csv`	Seconds, such as `3760`

Both have the columns time,name,message,role. To replace your script from an edited export, clear the chat first, or you’ll end up with both versions.

Registrant exports

To download your registrants, with their sessions and what they did in the room, see Registrants.