Bulk Import: user_name column not found

[JockoApex]

Hi,

I have read the documentation and found several postings re this on the forum. Still no luck.
I have deactivated all plugins except:
Simple WordPress Membership and
SWPM Bulk Import Members From CSV

My theme is Woo Commerce 2.2.8.
I have tried renaming the column by typing in “user_name” in case that cell had been corrupted. Still no luck. Once I get the message “One of the required columns not found in CSV: user_name” I hit close and then under Import Results there is a ball within a wheel that keeps spinning.
Per the template, it is the first column. I have tried with non formulated data in the Column cells and with the following formula in the cells =CONCATENATE(LEFT(B2,1),C2) which gives me 1st initial and last name as a login name. Same results.

Any suggestions? Any additional info I can supply that might give you more of a clue on what I am doing incorrectly?
TIA
Jocko

[mbrsolution]

Hi, you have mark this support thread as resolved. Is it resolved? If it is what was your solution if you don’t mind me asking?

Thank you

[JockoApex]

Hi,
I discovered I was originally creating a CSV file using the CSV UTF-8 (Comma Delimited) CSV format, once I used the used the Comma Separated Format CSV format the issue resolved itself.

Thanks for the follow-through!

[hapo]

Hi,
i have the same problem – using am mac with safari and chrome. but neither the UTF-8 nor the Comma seperated CSV-Format work. Still get the message “user_name column not found”. Any suggestions?

thx in advance,
hapo

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by hapo.

[admin]

Hi hapo, Since switching the export format didn’t fix it, the issue is most likely one of these:

Hidden BOM character in the file — Excel/Numbers on Mac often adds an invisible “byte order mark” at the very start of the file even when you export as plain CSV. This gets prepended to your first column header, so it’s technically not user_name anymore even though it looks correct. Fix: Open the CSV in a plain text editor (TextEdit in “Plain Text” mode, or VS Code/Sublime) instead of Excel/Numbers, and check the very first characters of the file.
Wrong delimiter, depending on your Mac’s regional settings, “Comma Separated” exports can still use a semicolon (;) instead of a comma. Open the file in a text editor and confirm the header row actually uses commas: user_name,email,password,…
Extra/renamed header cell — double-check there’s no trailing space, hidden character, or renamed cell (e.g., Username instead of user_name) in that first column header. The column name must match exactly, case-sensitive.

Quickest way to isolate it: Download the plugin’s official sample CSV template from Simple Membership > Import Members, and only replace the data rows — don’t retype or rebuild the header row. If that imports fine, the header row in your original file is the problem.

[hapo]

Hello Admin,

thank you for your advice. I think you are right, the regional settings are the topic. Located in Europe and using a Mac it seems that MS Excel is using semicolons instead of commas. in the past there seemed to be a way to force the use of commas, but the actual OS does not offer this option.

My workaround: I export CSV from excel or numbers, open the file with a plain text editor and replace the semicolons with commas. Now the bulk import Works.

[admin]

Good to hear that you got it sorted out. Thank you for sharing your solution.

[Author]

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