Import a form or a list of candidates

What it is

Import brings an existing role into Binary instead of making you rebuild it. Click Import on the Forms home page and Binary asks "What would you like to import?", with two answers:

• Import a list of candidates - upload a spreadsheet and Binary creates a form filled with those people.
• Import only a form - paste a Google Form link and Binary recreates its questions, with no candidates.

Both create a new form. To add candidates to a form you already have, see Import candidates into a form.

If you want a Google Form's questions and the people who answered it, use Import a list of candidates and give it both: export the responses to a spreadsheet, then paste the form's link in the same step.

• Candidates, from anywhere - this page, Import a list of candidates. Creates a new form plus its candidates. Spreadsheet upload is Binary's universal import path, so this is the answer whether the candidates come from a Google Form, another ATS, or a spreadsheet someone keeps by hand. There is no missing per-platform integration to log as a feature request.
• Questions only - this page, Import only a form. Creates a new form with zero candidates. Point a user here only if they say they don't want the candidates.
• Into an existing form - the form's own Responses page, not this page. See Import candidates into a form.

Import only a form

1. On the Forms home page, choose Import, then Import only a form.
2. Paste the Google Form's link.
3. Continue. Binary reads the form and recreates its questions as a new Binary form.
4. You land on the new form. Review it in the editor and publish when you're ready - see Create a form.

Google Forms are the only supported form source.

Import a list of candidates

1. On the Forms home page, choose Import, then Import a list of candidates.
2. Upload your spreadsheet: a CSV file, up to 10 MB, with at least two columns and headings in the first row.
3. Under Confirm important fields, map your columns. "Candidate's name" is required. "Candidate's email" is optional but worth mapping, because you can't message a candidate without it. Binary detects a résumé or attachment column on its own.
4. To bring the questions across too, paste the Google Form's link in the same step.
5. Continue. Binary creates the form and imports each row as a candidate, then takes you to the new form's Responses page with a count of everyone imported.

If your spreadsheet links to résumés kept in Google Drive, Binary asks you to connect Drive so it can fetch them - see Connect Google Drive.

Notes & limits

• Both flows create a new form. Use Import candidates into a form to add people to an existing one.
• Spreadsheets must be CSV, under 10 MB, with at least two columns. A name column is required.
• Google Forms are the only form source; other form builders aren't supported.