Exporting and Importing Payees
Downloading your payee list as CSV, and adding many payees at once from a CSV file
Exporting payees
On the Payees list, Export CSV downloads exactly what's on your screen — whatever type tab, search term, and filters are currently applied. Want everyone? Clear your filters first. Want just your AEA contractors? Filter to that, then export — the file matches the view.
The download is a .csv file (there's no PDF or Excel option here) with one row per payee:
| Column | Contents |
|---|---|
| Name | Payee's display name |
| Type | Employee, Loan-out, Contractor, or Vendor |
| Union | Union code, or "Non-union" |
| Agreement | The union agreement type, if any |
| Job title | |
| Department | |
| Rate | Their current pay rate, formatted (e.g. "$2,500/wk") |
| Onboarding | Onboarding status |
| Rep | "Yes" if the payee is also a representative (agent, manager, business manager, or attorney), blank otherwise |
| Status | Active or Archived |
Importing payees
Bulk-adding a roster is the main reason to use CSV import rather than adding people one at a time. On the Payees list, click Import CSV.
Getting the template
Inside the import drawer, click Download template. It comes pre-filled with one example row per payee type, so the accepted format is visible at a glance rather than something you have to infer.
What the file needs
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
type | Required. One of employee, loanout, contractor, vendor |
firstName, lastName | Required for employee, loan-out, and contractor rows (a person) |
businessName | Required for loan-out and vendor rows (a company) |
email | Required |
phone | Optional |
addressLine1, city, state, zip | Optional |
department | Optional, free text |
startDate | Required |
paymentMethod | One of check, direct_deposit, setup_later. Defaults to setup_later if left blank. direct_deposit still needs routing and account numbers added on the payee's own page after import — the CSV can't carry those. |
hasEin | Loan-out rows only. Must be yes, true, 1, or y to confirm the loan-out corporation has its own EIN — a loan-out can't be paid on an individual's SSN, so a loan-out row without this is rejected. Other payee types ignore this column. |
At minimum, the file needs type, email, and startDate columns present — without all three, nothing can import.
Deliberately narrow scope
CSV import covers identity, contact info, start date, and payment method only — enough to get someone into the roster. Union assignment, pay rates, bank account numbers, and documents are set per payee afterward, the same way you'd set them for anyone added by hand.
Importing the file
Drag your completed CSV onto the drop area (or click it to browse) — .csv only. Greenroom validates every row client-side, using the exact same rules as the manual Add payee form, and shows you a preview before anything is saved: how many rows are ready, how many have errors, and — for each error — which line and what's wrong.
Click Import to bring in the valid rows. Import is partial by design: rows that pass import even if other rows in the same file don't. Rows that fail come back with their line numbers so you can fix just those and re-upload.
Imported payees aren't invited automatically
Payees created by CSV import are not sent a portal invitation. Review what came in, then invite each one from their own page when you're ready — the same as you'd do after adding a payee manually.
Duplicate emails
The same guard applies whether you add a payee by hand or by CSV: each email can only belong to one active payee per company. If a row's email already matches an existing active payee, that row is rejected with a message naming the payee it collides with (so you can tell whether it's a genuine duplicate or someone re-running an import after a partial failure). Archiving a payee frees up their email for reuse.
Next steps
See Chart of Accounts (GL Codes) for the separate chart-of-accounts import, Reports & Exporting Data for payroll and report exports, or Adding Payees for adding someone one at a time.