# Importing submissions

> From FilmScorecard Help: https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-submissions

Four steps take a CSV of submissions and turn it into the season's submission
list: choose the file, say which column holds what, match its categories to
yours, then check every row before you commit. A FilmFreeway export arrives
with most of the mapping already worked out; a CSV from anywhere else goes
through exactly the same four steps with more of it left for you.

**Nothing is written until you confirm.** You can upload, remap columns, remap
categories, sort, hide columns, correct values and walk away, and the season is
exactly as you left it. The confirm dialog says so in as many words: "This is
the first write; nothing has been saved yet."

Once you confirm, the import runs in the background and the
[Imports](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/imports.md) screen takes over.

**A festival connected to FilmFreeway gets its films without this page** — the
sync brings them in on its own; see
[Connecting FilmFreeway](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/connecting-filmfreeway.md). A CSV import still works
beside it: the two share one duplicate rule, so neither brings a film in twice
(see [How a duplicate is recognized](#how-a-duplicate-is-recognized)), and a
sync that comes round while your import is queued or running changes nothing
and leaves the work to the next sync.

## Starting an import

1. Open **Imports** in the left navigation, under your festival's name.
2. Choose **Import submissions**, top right.

The **Import submissions** button on the [Submissions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md)
toolbar, and the one in its empty state, both lead to the same place.

The address of the four-step flow is:

```
/org/<organization>/<festival>/<season>/imports/new
```

Opening that address on its own always starts at step 1 with an empty drop
target. There is no "you have an unfinished import" prompt — see
[Leaving halfway through](#leaving-halfway-through).

## Who can import

Everyone in your organization who can open the season, with the same buttons.
Owners and staff members have identical capability here, exactly as on
Submissions. The one thing that is not the same for everybody is **saving a
column-mapping template**, which needs access to the whole festival rather than
to one season — see
[Who can do what](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/mapping-your-columns.md#who-can-do-what).

That includes step 3's **FilmScorecard default list**: anyone running an
import can map a file's category to it, and that category is then added to
your organization's library when the import runs — see
[Step 3](#step-3-match-the-files-categories-to-yours).

Anyone else who opens the address — including hosts of other festivals — sees
an ordinary "page not found". A logged-out visitor is sent to the log-in
screen first.

## Step 1, choose a file

Drag the export onto the dashed panel, or choose **Choose a file**. Only one
file at a time; dropping several uses the first.

The card is explicit about what it takes: **any `.csv` export — FilmFreeway's
columns are recognised, others you match yourself.** A FilmFreeway export is
read as FilmFreeway writes it, so the smoothest file is the one you downloaded
and did not open in a spreadsheet. **A CSV from any other platform, or a
spreadsheet you keep by hand, is accepted just the same** — FilmScorecard will not
recognise its headings by name, so it works out what it can from the values and
asks you about the rest on the next screen.

Every file goes to step 2 next, whatever FilmScorecard made of its columns. The
button reads "Reading the file…" while that step loads.

### When a file is refused

The drop target is replaced by an amber block naming the file and the problem,
with a **Choose a different file** button. **The message stays inside the card**
— nothing appears at the top of the page — and nothing has been saved, so
there is no half-finished import to clean up.

| Message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "That file is larger than 4 MB. Export it again with fewer rows, or split it and import in two batches." | The size cap is 4 MB. Splitting the export in two and importing twice is supported and safe. |
| "This file could not be read as CSV. Check that it's a comma-separated export, then try again." | The file will not read as comma-separated text at all. **Unfamiliar column headings are not a reason for this message** — those are handled on the next screen. |
| "There are no submissions in this file. Check that you exported the season you meant to." | The file has a header row and no data rows, or is empty. |
| "Choose a .csv file." | The file name does not end in `.csv`, or is longer than 255 characters. |
| "Choose a file to import." | Nothing was actually dropped or picked. |
| "That file could not be read. Try choosing it again." | Something went wrong in transit or in storage. Nothing was written. |
| "You do not have permission to import into this season." | Your account cannot import into this season. |

### What FilmScorecard reads from the file

- **Every column is stored**, whether FilmScorecard recognises its heading or not,
  and every one of them can be shown in the preview grid on step 4. **Being
  stored is not the same as being imported**: only the columns you give a field
  on step 2 fill anything on the submission. The rest are dropped — see
  [Columns that are not imported](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/mapping-your-columns.md#41-of-77-file-columns-are-not-imported).
- **Headings are matched loosely.** Case, spaces, underscores, punctuation and
  accents are ignored, so "Submitter E-mail", "submitter_email" and "Submitter
  Email" are one column.
- **Two columns with the same heading** both survive; the second and any
  further ones get their file position added to the name — `Notes (14)` — so
  you can tell them apart in the column picker. A column with no heading at all
  becomes `Column (14)`. Only the first of a repeated heading can be matched by
  name; the duplicate is still choosable by hand.
- **Rows where every cell is empty are dropped**, so the row count you see
  matches the rows a person counts in the file.

## What a FilmFreeway export brings in

**A FilmFreeway export's columns are matched by their FilmFreeway names, and
nearly all of them now have somewhere to go.** On top of the title, the
category, the submitter's name and contact details, the work's details, its
credits, its synopsis and statement, the screener and the links, the import
fills:

| Group | Fields, in FilmFreeway's words |
| --- | --- |
| **The submitter's personal details** | Birthdate, Gender, Pronouns, Address, Address 2, Postal code, Country |
| **The work** | Project title (original language), Synopsis (original language), Lyrics |
| **Technical specs** | Camera, Lens, Focal length, Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO / film |
| **Links** | Twitter, Facebook |
| **Background** | Submitter biography, Cover letter, Screenings / awards, Distributor information |
| **The entry's own record** | Submission fee, Discount amount, Discount code, Optional label, Submission deadlines |
| **The festival's decision** | Judging status — see [Judging status sets the selection](#judging-status-sets-the-selection) |

They land on the submission's
[Information tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-information-tab), in its
collapsed cards, and **only your festival's staff can read them**. They are
never shown to a judge, on the filmmaker's own submission page or scorecard, on
the public film page, or to a connected AI app.

**These fields are matched by column name only.** FilmFreeway's export binds
every one of them on step 2 without asking. On a file from anywhere else they
are never guessed from the values: each one sits in the list of fields with no
column, where you can give it a column by hand.

**Page count and Completion year need no column of their own.** When the file
has no Page Count or Completion Year column, they are read from the column you
gave Runtime and Completion date — a screenplay's "112 Pages" in FilmFreeway's
Duration column, the year of its Completion Date — and step 2 says so: "Derived
from Duration", "Derived from Completion Date".

**A re-import does not fill these in on films already here.** A row whose film
is already in the season is skipped or adds a category entry, exactly as
before, so a film imported before these fields existed keeps them empty until
somebody types them in.

### Judging status sets the selection

**FilmFreeway's Judging Status column decides a new submission's selection**,
matched without regard to capitals:

| Judging Status in the file | The submission arrives as |
| --- | --- |
| Selected | **Selected** |
| Not Selected | **Not Selected** |
| Anything else, or blank | **In Consideration** |

It counts **on the film's first import only**. A row for a film already in the
season changes nothing about its selection, so a decision somebody made here
since is never overwritten. **Submission Status is not read at all.**

Judging Status decides the selection and nothing else. **Whether a new film is
offered to judges is a separate choice you make in the confirm dialog** — see
[Ready for judging or On hold](#ready-for-judging-or-on-hold).

### What a FilmFreeway export carries that is not imported

These columns are left out on purpose. Each stays in the stored copy of the
file, readable in step 4's grid, and nothing on the submission holds it:

| Column | Why it is not imported |
| --- | --- |
| **Rating**, **Recommendations** (all five), **Flag**, **Assigned Judges**, **Submission Notes** | They are judging done on FilmFreeway. Judging here starts fresh with your own judges, blind, on your own scorecards. |
| **Submission Status** | A submission's status here is its own; the selection comes from **Judging Status** instead. |
| **Your festival's own questions** | Every festival writes different ones, and a submission has no place to keep a festival's question and its answer. |

## Step 2, say which column holds what

One row per thing FilmScorecard imports, a dropdown naming the column it will read,
and three real values from that column. **Every import answers this screen** —
a FilmFreeway export sees it already filled in, an unfamiliar file sees it with
more left to do, and neither is skipped.

The short version:

- **Only Project title is required.** Everything else may be left empty, and
  "Left empty" is a real answer rather than an unfinished one.
- **A column feeds at most one field.** Choosing a column another field is using
  moves it, and that field turns amber where it stands.
- **Two columns can be joined** for names, credits and text — first name plus
  last name, joined with a space.
- **One column for both Directors and Writers is one credit.** A film's name
  goes to Directors and a screenplay's to Writers; nobody is credited twice.
  Two separate columns are read as they are.
- **A column no field uses is not imported.** The file itself is untouched and
  the column still shows in step 4's grid, but nothing about it reaches the
  submission.
- **The fields are named the way FilmFreeway names its columns** — Submission
  link, Submission password, Submission date, Name of school, Film color,
  Submission categories, Trailer URL, Project website, First name, Last name,
  Email, Phone, City, State.
- **You can save the mapping as a template**, shared by every season of the
  festival, and it applies itself the next time a file with the same columns
  arrives.

The whole screen — the two sections, the amber rows, the column picker, joins,
the two lists at the bottom, and templates — is
[Mapping your file's columns](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/mapping-your-columns.md).

Press **Continue to categories** when it looks right. That is the first thing
saved on the import, and it is only the map: nothing has reached the season.

## Step 3, match the file's categories to yours

The file carries the category name the submitter chose. Your organization has
its own list. This step reconciles the two, and **the preview cannot open until
every name in the file has an answer.**

The table has two columns, *In the file* and *Your category*. Each row is one
distinct category name from the file, in alphabetical order, with the number of
rows that name it underneath. **A name FilmScorecard can match is filled in for
you** — capitals, spaces and punctuation aside; anything else is drawn with an
amber edge, an amber picker and the words "Not in your categories" — meaning
the name is in none of the lists below.

**The match is made against your whole library, not just this season.** If the
file names a category your organization has written down but this season has
not started running yet, that still counts as a match — and choosing it
attaches it to the season when the import runs.

**And then against FilmScorecard's default list.** A name that neither this
season nor your library answers, but one of the default list's categories does,
is filled in from the default list. Your own categories always come first: a
default category is only offered, and only filled in, when you hold nothing by
that name. See [Importing from the default list](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md).

Open a picker and you get three kinds of answer:

1. **Map to a category.** The list comes in up to three groups: **On this
   season** first, then **Organization library** — everything else you have
   written down — then **FilmScorecard default list**, the default categories
   your library does not hold yet. All are A–Z, with a search box that
   matches anywhere in a name, and the list does not reorder as you pick. The
   number beside a category in the first group is how many submissions are in
   it today; a category that is not on the season yet has no number, because
   nothing has been entered in it here. Archived categories are not offered.
   **The group headings are only drawn when more than one group has
   something in it** — with a single group there is nothing to tell apart.
   - Picking from **On this season** simply maps the rows.
   - Picking from **Organization library** also **attaches that category to
     this season** when the import runs — it joins the season's line-up
     carrying the library's default judge pay, exactly as attaching it in
     festival settings would.
   - Picking from **FilmScorecard default list** **imports that category into
     your library** when the import runs — its description, length, default
     judge pay, its own creative scorecard and your Film Technical or
     Screenplay Technical and Press Kit, exactly as the library's import
     would — and then attaches it to this season like a library pick, at that
     judge pay: $2.00 a scorecard for a short category, $4.00 for any other
     (see [A category](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/importing-from-the-default-list.md#a-category)). Two
     names in the file mapped to the same default category import it once.
   - With nothing on the season, nothing in the library and nothing left on
     the default list, the list reads "No categories yet."
2. **Create "<name>" as a new category.** It offers the file's name, unless a
   category in the list already has that name, capitals aside. **Type a name
   into the search box that matches no category and it offers what you typed
   instead** — "Create "Animated Shorts" as a new category". Choosing it asks
   one more question — **Film** ("Video file or link") or **Screenplay** ("PDF
   upload") — because a category's type can never be changed afterwards; the
   answer is recorded once you pick the type, and the picker then reads
   "*name* · Film". The new category takes the file's own spelling, or the
   name you typed, and is written in three places: your **organization's
   library**, the festival's list of what it offers, and this season's line-up
   — so next year's season can use it too. **It gets your shared technical and
   press kit scorecards** — Film Technical or Screenplay Technical for the type
   you chose, and Press Kit — **and no creative scorecard**: its creative slot
   reads **Missing**, and it cannot be judged until you attach one in the
   [library](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/categories-and-scorecards.md#attaching-scorecards).
3. **Don't import this category.** The option says what it costs:
   "Submissions only in this category won't be added", and the row keeps saying
   so once it is chosen. A submission entered in this category AND one you do
   import still imports, through the other one; a submission whose categories
   are all set this way is left out of the import.

**Choosing any of these records a decision; it does not create anything.**
Nothing is imported into your library, created or attached until the import
runs, so abandoning the import leaves nothing behind.

The search box and the two actions are separate on purpose: a search that
matches no category still leaves Create and Do not import reachable at the
bottom, with Create offering the name you typed.

The footer counts what is left: "3 of 11 categories unmatched. Map it to
continue." in amber, or "All 11 categories mapped." once you are done.
**Continue to preview** stays inert until the second sentence appears.

### Rows that name more than one category

A single cell can carry several categories. FilmScorecard splits them on
**semicolons, vertical bars and line breaks** — deliberately **not** on
commas, because real category names contain commas ("Micro Short, under 5
minutes").

The consequence is worth knowing: a cell written as `Short Film, Documentary`
arrives as one category name spelled exactly that way, and turns up in this
step as a name your season does not have. Map it, create it, or exclude it —
whichever is right — and the rows follow your choice.

When a row does split into several categories:

- **Every one of them counts equally.** The submission is entered in all of
  them and is judged separately in each, against that category's own
  scorecards. **The order they appear in the file means nothing** — the first
  one listed is not special, and there is no "main" category. See
  [A submission competes in every category it is attached to](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#a-submission-competes-in-every-category-it-is-attached-to).
- **A row is skipped only if every one of its categories is set to "Do not
  import".** One usable category is enough to import it.
- If two different file names are mapped onto the same category of yours, the
  submission is attached to it once, not twice.

Three categories on one row means three sections on the submission's
[Scoring tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-scoring-tab) once it lands, and a
`+2` pill beside its category on the list.

### When there is no category column

The table shows a single row reading **"No category column in this file"**,
carrying the whole file's row count. Choose one category for the lot, or create
one. **"Don't import this category" is not offered here** — importing a file by
importing none of it is not a choice worth making.

You get this row in two cases: the file genuinely has no category column, or
**you left Submission categories empty on step 2**. If the second one was a
mistake, **Back to columns** is the way out.

### Smaller things about this step

- **Back to columns**, beside the primary button, re-opens step 2 with your
  mapping intact. It is the way to fix a wrong category column — which is
  usually what is behind a table full of names your season has never heard of.
  Changing that column gives this step a different list of names, so answers you
  had already given may come back unmatched.
- Your choices are saved when you press **Continue to preview**, so coming
  **Back to categories** from step 4 finds them as you left them.
- If a category you had mapped to is deleted from the season in the meantime,
  that row reverts to unmatched rather than quietly pointing at nothing.
- **A default-list pick survives the category arriving by another route.** If
  somebody imports that category into your library from the Library, or
  another import brings it in, before this one runs, your choice still stands
  and the import uses the library's copy rather than importing a second one.
  A default category that has been taken off the default list altogether
  reverts to unmatched.
- A bookmarked link to step 4 with anything still unmatched lands you back on
  this table.
- If the choices cannot be saved you see "Those choices could not be saved. Try
  again." under the footer and stay where you are.

## Step 4, check the file

The heading reads "Check the file, then import", and the line on the right
reads **"Nothing has been saved yet."** — true right up to the confirm button.

### The four numbers at the top

| Stat | What it counts |
| --- | --- |
| **Rows read from the file** | Every data row. Underneath, how many of the file's columns a field actually uses — "13 of 77 columns mapped to fields". The other 64 are in the file and in this grid, and are not imported. |
| **Will import** | Rows that will produce something. The sub-line breaks it into new submissions, new category entries and rows with a blank field, and those three add up to it. |
| **Exact duplicates, skipped** | Rows already in the season. Nothing changes on them. |
| **Look like new versions** | Rows that resemble something already here but differ in a way that matters. They are counted inside Will import, not beside it. |

### Reading a row

Every row of the file is on screen, skipped ones included. The first columns
are always there:

- **#** — the row's number in the file. It is the number the error report and
  the cell editor use, so it is the number worth quoting.
- **Project Title** — pinned, always the second column, and it cannot be turned
  off.
- **What happens** — the outcome, in words. See
  [What each outcome means](#what-each-outcome-means).
- **Type** — **Film** or **Screenplay**, as FilmScorecard worked it out. This is not
  the file's own Project Type column; it is the conclusion. See
  [How the type is decided](#how-the-type-is-decided).

**Rows that will be skipped as duplicates are drawn in a muted fill**, so a
file that is mostly a re-export reads at a glance.

The row number and Project Title stay put while the rest of the grid scrolls
sideways.

### Sorting

**Every column heading sorts, including What happens and Type.** Click once for
ascending, again for descending, **a third time to go back to file order** —
there is always a way back to the order the export had.

- **Project Title breaks every tie**, and does not reverse with the direction.
- **Dates sort chronologically and running times by real length.** "Sep 1" after
  "Aug 9", and "9:40" before "11:02" — not the order a plain text sort gives.
- **Numbers sort as numbers**, including ones with a currency mark or a trailing
  unit such as `$18,000` or `112 pp`.
- **Hiding the column you sorted by drops the sort**, and the caret and the
  footer note clear with it rather than describing an order you cannot see.

The footer names the current state: "Showing 50 of 312 rows and 13 of 77 file
columns. Sorted by Runtime, descending." — or "In file order." when nothing is
sorted.

### Choosing columns

**Choose columns**, top right of the grid, lists **every column in the file, in
file order** — not alphabetically, so the column you just saw in the
spreadsheet is where you expect it. The number beside each name is its position
in the file.

- **Picks apply immediately** and the popover stays open.
- **The search box** narrows the list, and the select-all row then reads "Select
  all 9 matching" and applies to those nine only.
- **Project Title is marked Pinned** and cannot be turned off.
- **Row number, What happens and Type are not file columns**, so they are not
  listed and cannot be hidden.
- The footer reads "13 of 77 shown" and offers **Reset to default**.

**This list is every column in the file, not every column that will be
imported.** A column you gave no field on step 2 can be shown here and read
here; it is still not imported.

The preview opens with Project Title, Category, Tracking Number, Judging Status,
Submitted Date, Submitter Name, Submitter Email, Submitter Phone, Runtime,
Synopsis, Video Link, Cover Page Acknowledgement and DCP Delivery Terms —
whichever of those your file actually carries, plus whatever columns you mapped
onto those fields under other names.

**Your choice is remembered in this browser**, per season, so the next export of
the same season opens with the same columns. It is not kept on your account:
another computer, another browser or a private window starts from the defaults
above, and clearing your browser's stored site data resets it. If your browser
will not let a page store anything, the picker still works for as long as you
stay on the page.

### How many rows you see

**Rows per page** in the footer offers 50 (the default), 100, 150 and **All
rows**, each labelled with how many rows that actually gives you. Once
everything is on screen the footer adds "Every row in the file is shown."

**Showing more than 25 file columns holds the page at 25 rows**, and the footer
says "Wide selection, page size held at 25 rows." Narrow the column selection
and your page size comes back.

### Correcting a value before it imports

**Click any cell to edit it.** Only *What happens* and *Type* refuse — both are
conclusions FilmScorecard drew, not data you typed.

- **Short fields edit in place.** The text is selected when the editor opens, so
  typing replaces it. **Enter** saves, **Escape** cancels, clicking away saves.
- **Long fields open a small panel** — Synopsis, Short Synopsis, Logline, Key
  Cast, Director Bio, Director Statement, Previous Screenings, Awards, Notes to
  Programmer. It names the column and the row ("Row 42, *The Long Way Home*"),
  gives you a five-line box, and offers **Save**, **Cancel** and — once you have
  changed something — **Back to the file value**. On the last three rows of the
  page it opens upward so it is not cut off.
- **A changed cell keeps a small indigo square**, and the toolbar above the grid
  counts them: "3 values changed on this import. The file itself is untouched."
- **Only one editor is open at a time.**

**Edits never change the uploaded file.** They are overrides, held against the
import and applied when it runs. The stored copy of your export keeps the values
FilmFreeway sent, whatever you type here.

**Editing a cell in a column no field uses changes nothing.** The edit is kept
and the indigo square appears, but that column is not imported, so there is
nothing for the correction to reach. If the value matters, give the column a
field on step 2 instead.

Because the outcome of a row depends on its values, an edit can change what the
row will do — a corrected Submission ID can turn an import into a duplicate.
The *What happens* column may be one edit behind; the confirm dialog is not.

## What each outcome means

These seven sentences are the whole vocabulary. They appear in the grid, in the
confirm breakdown, and nowhere else with different words.

| What happens | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Imports** | A new submission, with everything FilmScorecard looks for. |
| **Imports, new category entry** | This submission is already in the season, and this row adds a category it was not in. No second submission is created; only the category entry is added, and the submission then competes in that category too. |
| **Imports, no synopsis** (or **no email**, **no category**, **type unclear**, **length unreadable**) | It imports, but the file left that field blank, and the cell names which. A row with more than one gap lists them all, and the full text shows when you hover a cell that is cut off. See [What counts as a missing field](#what-counts-as-a-missing-field). |
| **Imports as a separate submission** | Same submitter, title and credits as something already in the season, but the screener link, running time, page count or completion year is different. FilmScorecard treats it as a possible new version and **imports it as its own submission** — nothing is merged, replaced or overwritten. Deciding between the two is your call afterwards. |
| **Skipped, duplicate** | Every category this row names is already recorded against this submission. Nothing is written and nothing is changed. |
| **Skipped, category not imported** | Every category on this row was set to "Don't import this category" on step 3. |
| **Skipped, invalid row** | No Project Title. This is the only thing that makes a row unimportable. |

### How a duplicate is recognized

**The file's Submission ID is the key, and only within this season.** Two
submissions with the same ID in two different seasons are two submissions;
nothing is matched across seasons.

**A submission that has been moved to another season takes its ID with it.**
Import the same row into the season it now lives in and it is a duplicate
there; import the old season's export again and the row lands as a brand-new
submission, because nothing is left in the old season to match it against. See
[Moving and importing](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#moving-and-importing).

- **With a Submission ID**, a row that shares an ID with something already in
  the season attaches to it. Categories it already has are duplicates;
  categories it does not are new category entries. A row can be part duplicate
  and part new.
- **Several rows of one file sharing an ID** — which is how FilmFreeway, and
  most platforms, export a multi-category entry — become one submission
  competing in several categories, not several submissions.
- **Without a Submission ID**, nothing can be an exact duplicate. A title on its
  own never matches: the row imports as a new submission, and if it also looks
  like a re-cut of something already here it says so as *Imports as a separate
  submission*.

**This is one to think about on step 2.** The Submission ID is only read if you
gave it a column, so leaving it empty on a re-export turns every row into a new
submission.

**The FilmFreeway sync uses the same key.** On a festival
[connected to FilmFreeway](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/connecting-filmfreeway.md), a film the sync has
already brought into the season is a duplicate here — its row reads *Skipped,
duplicate*, or *Imports, new category entry* for a category it is not in yet —
and a film you imported from a CSV is never brought in a second time by the
sync, which takes it over and keeps it up to date from then on. One thing an
export cannot do for a synced film is add what the sync left out, such as its
screener password: the row is a duplicate, and a duplicate changes nothing.

### What counts as a missing field

Only four gaps are called out, and each only when **a field has a column and
this row left it empty**:

- the submitter's email address,
- the category,
- the running time — reported as **length unreadable** when the length column
  is there but cannot be read, or as **type unclear** when FilmScorecard could
  not settle whether the row is a film or a screenplay (it imports as a film),
- the synopsis.

An export that has no Synopsis column at all is not a file where every row is
missing a synopsis; it is simply a different export, and no row is flagged for
it. **The same is true of a field you left empty on step 2** — no column, no
gap, no flag.

**A gap never stops a row.** It imports as it is, and you can fill the value in
before you confirm or on the submission afterwards.

### How the type is decided

In this order:

1. **A Project Type or Format column FilmScorecard recognizes wins.** "Feature
   Screenplay", "TV Pilot", "Stage Play" and "Manuscript" read as Screenplay;
   "Short", "Feature", "Documentary", "Animation", "Music Video", "Web Series",
   "Experimental" and the like read as Film.
2. Otherwise **a page count means Screenplay and a running time means Film.**
3. Otherwise it is treated as a **Film**, and the row carries *Imports, type
   unclear*.

Each of those depends on the column you gave the field on step 2.

### How lengths and other values are read

- **Running time is stored exactly, in seconds.** `00:07:05` is seven minutes
  and five seconds; **`2:53` is 173 seconds**, not "about three minutes". A bare
  number is read as **minutes**, so **`14` means 14 minutes.** A value FilmScorecard
  cannot read is left unset and reported as a gap; the row still imports.
- **Page counts are whole numbers** — `112`, `112 pages`, `112 pp` all read as
  112.
- **One column can play both parts.** FilmFreeway's Duration column carries a
  running time on one row and a page count on the next; if the value will not
  read as a running time, FilmScorecard tries it as a page count before calling it
  missing. That is why Duration maps to Runtime alone, and Page count reads
  "Derived from Duration" on step 2 rather than needing a column of its own.
- **Completion year** is read from a year column when the file has one, and
  otherwise from the year of the completion date.
- **Dates** are understood as `2026-07-27`, `Jul 27, 2026` and `07/27/2026`. The
  slashed form is read in US order, month first, because the source is a US
  platform. That includes a submitter's **Birthdate**.
- **Yes/no columns** accept yes, y, true, 1 and no, n, false, 0. Anything else
  is left unanswered, which is not the same as No.
- **Budgets** are read as money and stored to the cent, and so are the
  **Submission fee** and the **Discount amount**.
- **A value that cannot be read imports as empty, and never stops the row.** An
  unreadable birthdate, fee or discount amount, or a cell longer than its field
  can hold — 4,000 characters for a short field such as an address or a camera,
  20,000 for a long one such as a cover letter or lyrics — leaves that field
  blank on the submission. The value is still in the stored copy of the file.

## Confirming the import

The bar under the grid states the commitment plainly — "148 rows will be
imported into Pacific Coast Film Festival, 2026 season." — with **Back to
categories** and **Import 148 rows**.

**The confirm dialog is never skipped.** It opens on "Checking the file against
the season…" while the server recounts everything with your edits applied, then
shows the final breakdown. **Only the lines that apply are listed** — a line
whose count would be 0 is left out:

- New submissions
- New category entries on existing submissions
- New submissions with a blank field — with a line under it saying which
  blanks, for example "3 without a synopsis", and that they import with the
  field left empty for you to fill in later
- Exact duplicates, skipped *(in amber)*
- Possible versions, imported as separate submissions
- Left out: every category set to Don't import
- Skipped, no project title

**These numbers are the true ones**, counted against the season as it is at that
moment, and the figure on the button matches them. They are worked out once,
when the dialog opens, so a keystroke behind an open dialog cannot move the
number under your finger — close it and open it again to recount.

Under the breakdown, the dialog asks one question — see
[Ready for judging or On hold](#ready-for-judging-or-on-hold) — and then
choose **Import 148 rows**, or **Back to preview** to keep working.

Once it starts you are taken to [Imports](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/imports.md), where the job card
takes over. As the dialog says: "The import runs in the background. You can
leave this page; the batch appears in Imports either way, and you can roll it
back for 30 days."

**Two things that promise does not survive.** A batch that created a
submission you have since moved to another season must not be rolled back —
the rollback would strip the moved film's screener and length and then fail
without finishing. That is a known gap. And **a batch judges have started
scoring cannot be rolled back at all**: the rollback is refused, and nothing is
removed. See [Rolling a batch back](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/imports.md#rolling-a-batch-back).

**The import writes what you mapped.** The job reads the column map stored when
you left step 2, not the file's headings, so what lands in the season is what
you were looking at — even if somebody changes a template or a category
afterwards.

**Categories picked from the default list are imported first**, before any
submission is written, and they stay in your library whatever happens to the
batch afterwards — a failure or a rollback takes them off the season, not out
of the library.

### Ready for judging or On hold

Under the breakdown sits a choice headed **New submissions**, with two options:

- **Ready for judging** — selected when the dialog opens. The batch's new
  submissions are offered to your judges exactly as every import before it,
  once judging is open.
- **On hold** — the batch's new submissions arrive **On hold for judging**. No
  judge is offered them until you set them Ready on the Submissions screen,
  one at a time or in bulk. See
  [Holding a submission out of judging](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#holding-a-submission-out-of-judging).

Leave it on Ready and the import behaves exactly as imports always have.

**It decides the batch's new submissions and nothing else:**

- **Every submission the batch creates takes it** — an *Imports* row, an
  *Imports* row with a blank field, and an *Imports as a separate submission*
  row alike.
- **A film already in the season is never touched.** A *Skipped, duplicate*
  row changes nothing, and an *Imports, new category entry* row adds its
  category without changing whether that film is Ready or On hold. So you can
  re-import a file that also carries films you have already released to judges
  without pulling them back.
- **Nothing on any screen says who put a film on hold, or when** — a hold that
  came with an import included. The film simply reads **On hold**.
- **It is not a season setting.** The next import asks again, and starts on
  Ready again.
- **Selection is separate.** The file's Judging Status still decides whether a
  new film arrives Selected, Not Selected or In Consideration — see
  [Judging status sets the selection](#judging-status-sets-the-selection).

Held submissions appear on the Submissions list as they are written, with
**On hold** in the Judging column, and the season's dashboard counts them —
see [The two warnings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-judging.md#the-two-warnings).

### When confirming is refused

| Message | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| "Every category in the file has to be mapped before you can import." | Go back to categories and finish the mapping. |
| "An import is already running for this season. Wait for it to finish, then try again." | One import at a time. Watch the job card on Imports. |
| "This import has already been submitted. Refresh the page." | Another tab already sent it. Refresh and look at Imports. |
| "That import is no longer available. Start again from Imports." | The draft is gone — cleared, or older than seven days. |
| "Something in that request is not valid. Refresh the page and try again." | Refresh and try once more. |
| "You do not have permission to import into this season." | Your account cannot import here. |
| "That did not work. Try again." | Something went wrong in transit. Nothing was written. |

## Leaving halfway through

You can abandon an import at any point before you confirm, and the season is
untouched — no submissions, no categories, no history row.

What that costs you is the work, not the data: **FilmScorecard does not list
unfinished imports and does not offer to resume one.** Choosing **Import
submissions** again starts at step 1 with an empty drop target, and the fastest
route back is to upload the file again. **Back to upload** on step 2 does the
same thing and leaves the draft where it is; it deletes nothing. Your browser's
Back button still leads to a screen you left open in the same session.

Unfinished uploads are deleted automatically after seven days, along with the
stored copy of the file.

**A draft started before the Map columns screen existed asks it again.** Any
column answers such a draft carried are not read any more — one screen, one
answer.

## What is not here yet

- **No merging.** A row that looks like a new version imports as a separate
  submission and stays that way; there is no "merge them instead".
- **No custom fields.** Columns you leave unmapped are stored with the import and
  shown in the preview, but nothing on the submission holds them and they are not
  imported. That includes your festival's own questions.
- **No refreshing films already imported.** A re-import never fills in or
  updates a field on a film that is already in the season. On a festival
  connected to FilmFreeway, the sync does that instead — see
  [Connecting FilmFreeway](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/connecting-filmfreeway.md).
- **No way to manage your templates.** You can save, apply and update a column
  mapping, but there is no list to rename, tidy or delete from — see
  [Templates](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/mapping-your-columns.md#templates).
- **No cross-season matching.** Every import is judged against the season you are
  importing into and nothing else. Templates are the one thing shared, and they
  are shared across the seasons of one festival, never between festivals.
- **No generic creative scorecard.** A category created from the file — rather
  than matched to one of yours or to the default list — has no creative
  scorecard to be judged on until you attach one.
- **No "every import starts on hold" setting.** Each import's confirm dialog
  asks, and starts on Ready for judging.