Import data from a CSV

Anything you can get into a spreadsheet, you can get into RotoAlpha. Export it as a CSV, upload it, tell RotoAlpha which column is which, and check the preview before it is written.

CSV is the fallback when pasting does not work cleanly, and the better path when your data already lives in a spreadsheet.

What a CSV needs

A CSV is a plain text file with one row per line and commas between the values. Every spreadsheet program exports one: look for Save As or Export and choose CSV.

Two rules:

• Put a header row at the top. RotoAlpha reads your headers to guess which column is which, so a file with headers saves you most of the matching step.
• One thing per row. One pick per row for a draft, one player per row for projections.

Your column names do not have to match ours. Anything unrecognized is simply left unassigned for you to set by hand.

Importing draft results

Open Draft Results in the left sidebar, choose Import Results…, pick Upload a file, and select your file.

The columns RotoAlpha can use are:

A file needs at least a player column and a manager column. An auction draft needs a price as well, unless you tick the box saying this source never recorded prices.

If you map neither Round nor Overall Pick, picks are numbered in file order, so make sure the file is in draft order before you upload it.

The two steps that follow

Match the columns. RotoAlpha shows its guess for every column in your file and you correct anything it got wrong. Common header names are recognized automatically, including several spellings of the same idea (manager, owner, franchise, fantasy team). Anything you do not want imported can be left as skipped.

Preview the matches. Every row is shown with the player it matched, tagged exact, fuzzy or none, with counts and a filter so you can look at just the ones that need attention. Nothing is written until you confirm.

Watch for these in the preview:

• Fuzzy matches. A name that nearly matched. Check them, then accept them individually or all at once.
• Unmatched rows. Pick a player by hand in the Player column or the row is left out.
• New players. Anyone the season does not know yet is created. The count is shown before you confirm.
• A player's team looks wrong. An export of an old draft usually carries the player's current real-life team rather than the team they were on that year. This is normal and does not affect anything RotoAlpha computes.

Importing projections

Projections have their own CSV import with its own column matching, because the interesting columns there are stats and dollar values rather than picks. See upload your own projections.

Fixing things afterwards

Nothing here is one-way. Draft picks can be edited on the Draft page, managers under Settings, and you can re-run an import: players that already have a recorded pick are left alone unless you explicitly ask for them to be re-imported.