How Can I Manually Upload Entries Into My Contest Using A CSV File?

With a Premium plan or higher, you can manually upload user entries into your contest using a CSV file. This is useful for importing entries from other sources, adding participants from offline events, or migrating entries from another platform.

Plan Required: Premium or higher

How to Access the Upload Feature

Go to your Dashboard
Find the giveaway you want to add entries to
Click the Manage Entries button
Click the Manually Add Entries button

Guidelines for Uploading Entries

You can only upload individual user entries – you cannot upload additional bonus actions or custom field data
Duplicate email addresses will be automatically skipped – if an email already exists in your giveaway, that row will be ignored
Maximum 10,000 rows per upload – for larger imports, split your file into multiple uploads

How to Format Your CSV File

Your CSV file must include all 6 column headers, even if some fields are left empty. Only the Full Name and Email Address fields are required.

Accepted Fields

Column Name	Required	Format / Notes
Full Name	Yes	The person’s full name
Email Address	Yes	Must be a valid email address
Phone Number	No	Include country code (e.g., +13128591982)
Date Of Birth	No	Must be in MM-DD-YYYY format
Country	No	Full country name (e.g., United States)
Entry Amount	No	Number of entries to give this user (defaults to 1 if empty)

Download the Template

Click the Download CSV file link on the upload page to get a boilerplate CSV template with the correct headers. You can then edit the data as needed.

Example CSV Format

Full Name,Email Address,Phone Number,Date Of Birth,Country,Entry Amount
John Smith,[email protected],+15551234567,01-15-1990,United States,1
Jane Doe,[email protected],,,Canada,5
Bob Johnson,[email protected],,03-22-1985,,1

Note how optional fields can be left empty – just keep the commas in place.

How to Upload Your CSV

Prepare your CSV file with the correct format and headers
Click Choose File and select your CSV file
Click Upload Entries
Wait for the upload to complete – you’ll see a confirmation message

Entry Amount Field

The Entry Amount field allows you to give users multiple entries in a single row. This is useful when:

Importing from another platform – Match the entry count users had in your previous system
Rewarding VIPs – Give certain users bonus entries
Offline events – Award different entry amounts based on participation level

If you leave the Entry Amount empty, each user will receive 1 entry by default.

Common Use Cases

Importing from Another Giveaway Platform

If you’re migrating from another giveaway tool, export your entries from the old platform, reformat the CSV to match SweepWidget’s column structure, and upload.

Adding Entries from an Offline Event

If you collected entries at a trade show, conference, or in-store event using paper forms or a separate system, compile them into a CSV and upload to combine with your online entries.

Pre-Loading Contest Participants

If you have an existing customer list you want to automatically enter into your giveaway, format their information as a CSV and upload. They’ll appear as entries without needing to visit the giveaway widget.

Troubleshooting

Upload fails or shows errors

Make sure all 6 column headers are present, even if some columns are empty
Check that the date format is MM-DD-YYYY (not DD-MM-YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD)
Ensure email addresses are valid
Keep file size under 10,000 rows

Entries not appearing after upload

Duplicate emails are skipped – check if those users already entered
Refresh the page to see updated entry counts
Click Re-sync entries if counts seem incorrect

Phone number format issues

Phone numbers must include the country code with a + sign (e.g., +13128591982 for a US number). Numbers without country codes may not be accepted.

Important Notes

Uploaded entries count toward winner selection – They’re treated the same as regular entries
Users can still earn more entries – If an uploaded user visits the giveaway, they can complete additional entry methods
No notification sent – Uploaded users don’t receive an email notification about being entered
Cannot upload bonus actions – Only the initial entry is created; users must complete bonus entry methods themselves