Clients & Pets
Move your clients into Chester
The Migration Center brings your clients into Chester without retyping them. Upload a file from your old app, scan paper cards, pull in phone contacts, or invite clients to fill in their own details.
The short version
- Open the Migration Center from your clients list.
- Pick a way in: a file from your old software (web), a scan, your phone contacts (phone), or invites.
- Check what Chester found, then import.
On your phone
- On the Clients tab, tap Migration Center →.
- Choose how to bring clients in:
- 📷 Scan card - photograph a paper intake card, then check what Chester read before saving.
- 📄 Upload PDF - the same, from a PDF of the card.
- 📱 Import contacts - pick people from your phone's contacts.
- ✏️ Add manually - type a client and their pets yourself.
- ✉️ Send invites - add a row per client with First, Last and Email, and Chester invites everyone who has an email.
- Tap + Add row for more rows.
On the web
- Click Clients in the left menu, then Import, to open the Migration Center.
- Click Import a list on the Send invites tile to open Import from CSV, then drop in the export file.
- Chester reads files from Gingr, Time To Pet, 123Pet/DaySmart, Scout and Pet Sitter Plus.
- It accepts .csv, .tsv or .txt files.
- If your old app exports clients and pets as two files, upload the client file first, and Chester asks for the pet file next.
- Check the preview, where rows matching an existing client's email are set to skip unless you change them.
- A row that matches only by name imports as a new client, so check for duplicates.
- Click the import button, which names the count, for example Import 24 clients + 31 pets →.
You can also Start scanning paper records or Add a client by hand from the same page.
What your client gets
- Importing a file, a scan or contacts doesn't email anyone. Those clients show as "Invited" in your list until they create an account.
- When you're ready for them to join, invite them (see Invite a client to their portal).
- Send invites, on your phone or in the web Migration Center, emails everyone on a list who has an email address.
Good to know
- Spreadsheet export from Excel? Save it as .csv first. Chester doesn't read .xlsx files.
- Importing an export file is web only. Your phone can scan cards, upload a card PDF, import contacts and send invites.
- No export file? Download Chester's CSV template from the Migration Center and fill it in.
- Who can import. Scanning, contacts and file import need the Import clients permission (owners by default). Adding by hand and sending invites need Manage client records.
- On the web, the Import button shows only with Import clients.
- Your plan's client limit still applies. If an import would go over it, Chester stops and says so.
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