Bulk Import
You can create or import users in bulk via the web portal interface using our Bulk Create option within the Users page.
You can download an example CSV file, which you can modify and use for your import. Once you have your CSV file populated according to the template and legend, upload the CSV file from your local file system and then begin the import process.
The system will validate your file and show you any data errors that need to be corrected before your user import can be processed.
Supported Data for Bulk Import File
To bulk import files, you will upload a CSV-formatted file that contains the data for each new user you wish to add. The table below lists each available column.
| Column Name | Description | Acceptable Values |
|---|---|---|
username | The login name for the new user | Required - Can be any text |
authentication_method | How the user's credentials are created. | password (default), password_with_imported_hash, email_signup, password_and_ssh_key, or any enabled SSO provider (see below) |
password | The new user's password. Only valid if the authentication_method is password | Any text that matches your site's password rules |
password_validity_days | How many days a password is valid before the user is required to change it. This overrides the site-wide setting. | Any whole number or 0. Can also be blank if not overriding the site-wide setting |
require_password_change | Should the user be forced to change their password when the log in the first time? | Y or N |
require_login_by | When the user must login for the first time, or be automatically disabled. | Text containing a date in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS followed by offset from UTC) Example: 2026-03-14T13:27:01-04:00 |
email | The user's email address. Required if authentication_method is email_signup | A valid email address |
full_name | The user's full name. | Text containing at least 2 words separated by a space |
company | The name of the user's associated company | Any text |
group_ids | Which groups this user is a member of | Comma-separated list of groups. Can be any combination of group names or numeric group IDs. |
site_admin | Is this user an administrator (who has full access to the entire site and its settings)? | Y or N |
self_managed | Does this user manage its own credentials (i.e., is NOT a bot/shared user)? | Y or N. Can only be Y if authentication_method is email_signup |
notes | Any notes about this user. Will be visible to all site admins on the users page. | Any text |
time_zone | What time zone the user is in | The time zone name |
root_folder | Root folder for FTP (and optionally SFTP if the appropriate site-wide setting is set.) Note that this is not used for API, Desktop, or Web interface. | Text containing a valid path to a folder the user has permission to access, e.g. When a user with a root folder logs in via FTP and the path does not exist (because it has been deleted), it will be automatically created, but the user will not have permissions to the folder. |
home_folder | Starting folder location for FTP or SFTP. Not used for API, Desktop, or Web interface. | Text containing a valid path to a folder the user has permission to access, e.g. Must be located within the root folder, if user has a root folder. |
ip_whitelist | A list of IP addresses the user is allowed to connect from. | Text containing the IP addresses in CIDR format, separated by newline (\n) characters. You may specify a range in CIDR format, such as 192.168.1.0/27. Example: 13.115.185.19713.211.6.58192.168.17.0/27If using a spreadsheet program to generate your CSV, make sure you're adding newline characters rather than typing \n in the cell. In Excel, this is done with Alt+Enter or Option+Return. |
enforce_ip_whitelist | Should this user be required to connect from a site-allowed IP address? If Y, then the "Bypass site IP whitelist" setting for the user will be disabled. If N, then the "Bypass site IP whitelist" setting will be enabled. If the user has their own ip_whitelist configured (see above), that list will still be valid even if this field is set to N. | Y or N |
ssl_required | Whether the user is required to use TLS or SSL when connecting via FTP. If this is set to Y, the user cannot connect with an unencrypted FTP connection. | Y or N. If left blank, will use the site-wide setting. |
access_expiration_date | Scheduled Date/Time at which user will be deactivated | Text containing a date in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS followed by offset from UTC) Example: 2027-03-14T13:27:01-04:00 |
ftp_permission | Whether the user is permitted to connect via FTP or FTPS | Y or N |
sftp_permission | Whether user can connect via SFTP | Y or N |
dav_permission | Whether user can connect via WebDAV? | Y or N |
restapi_permission | Whether user can connect via the web UI, Desktop App, or the REST API? | Y or N |
folder_permissions | Permissions to automatically assign to new users | Text containing a list of folders and permissions, separated by pipe symbols (|), to assign to the newly created user. |
SSO Providers Authentication Methods
Assign new users to an SSO Provider that is already configured for your site by providing the corresponding authentication_method value.
| SSO Provider | Value |
|---|---|
| Auth0 | auth0 |
| Azure Active Directory | azure |
| Box | box |
| Dropbox | dropbox |
| Idaptive | idaptive |
| Active Directory/LDAP | ldap |
| Okta | okta |
| OneLogin | onelogin |
| SAML (Other Provider) | saml |
| Slack | slack |
Bulk Import with Folder Permissions
Automatically assign folder permissions to users with the folder_permissions column of the import file. Supply a list of folders and permissions, separated by pipe symbols, to be assigned to the user.
Possible Permission Values
Use the permission values from the table below to limit what actions the user can take for each folder.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
admin | Can manage settings for the folder |
full | Can read, write, move, delete, and rename files and folders |
readonly | Can list and download files and folders |
writeonly | Can upload files and create folders |
readwrite | Shorthand for readonly,writeonly |
list | Can list files and folder, but not download |
bundle | Can share files and folders via Share Link |
history | Can view history of files and folders and create their own email notifications |
Example
Sales=readonly|Engineering=readwrite,history|Home/Adam=admin
This defines 3 permissions: Sales=readonly, Engineering=readwrite,history and Home/Adam=admin. The user will be given Read-Only permission on the /Sales folder, Read/Write and History permissions on the /Engineering folder, and Admin permission on the /Home/Adam folder. If any of those folders do not exist, they will be created automatically.
Advanced Usage Notes
Use a slash for the folder name to specify the Root Folder, for example: /=readonly. If a folder name contains a vertical bar, for example Sales|North-America, the vertical bar must be escaped with a preceding backslash: Sales\|North-America=readonly.
If site_admin is enabled for the user, then the value of folder_permissions is ignored, because site administrators have admin access to all folders.
Permissions are applied recursively to all sub-folders. To limit a permission to the specified folder name and not its sub-folders, add an asterisk * after the permission value. For example: Home=admin*
Bulk Import vs Auto Provisioning
Using the bulk import feature to create users is helpful when you are first implementing your Files.com site, and you have many existing users you wish to create. Bulk import can only create new users; it cannot modify existing users nor remove them.
An SSO Provider that supports automatic user provisioning and de-provisioning makes this process even simpler, and can update users and their group memberships.