How to Import Your Links
You can bring your existing links into Snipzr from a CSV file, or fetch them straight from Bitly or Rebrandly with a token. Nothing is created until you have seen a preview of exactly what will happen to every row.
Where to find it
- Open Settings.
- Find Imports and select Start an import.
Moving from a specific provider? Each one has its own walkthrough of what carries over and why people move: Bitly, TinyURL and Rebrandly.
The four steps
- File or token. Drop your export in, or open the Connect Bitly, Connect TinyURL or Connect Rebrandly tab and paste your token. A file is read in your browser and never uploaded; a token is used for the one fetch and never stored. Only the links you confirm on the following screens are created.
- Columns. We match the columns we recognize and show you five real rows. Change any column if something looks wrong.
- Check. You see how many links will be created, how many get a new address and how many will be skipped, with the reason for each. Nothing has been created at this point.
- Import. The links are created in the background. You can close the page; the report waits for you in Settings.
Exporting from your current provider
| Provider | The easiest way in |
|---|---|
| Bitly | Use the Connect Bitly tab with an access token; it works on every Bitly plan, including the ones that cannot export a file. Find the token in Bitly under Settings, then Developer settings, then API. If you sign in to Bitly with Google or Apple, set a Bitly password first (their token page asks for one). Plans with CSV export can drop the file in instead. |
| TinyURL | Use the Connect TinyURL tab with an API token; it works on every plan, and the free dashboard has no file export. Create the token in TinyURL under Settings, then API. Paid dashboards with CSV export can drop the file in instead. |
| Rebrandly | Use the Connect Rebrandly tab with an API key; Rebrandly has no file export, so the key is the way across. Find it in Rebrandly under your account. |
| Anything else | Any spreadsheet works. It needs a column with the destination address; a short link column and a title column are optional. Prepare your own file has the template and the exact column names. |
What happens to your back-halves
The back-half is the part after the domain, for example the spring in links.example.com/spring.
On your own domain, every back-half is kept exactly as it is. That is what lets a printed QR code keep working after you point the domain at Snipzr. If a back-half cannot be kept, the row is skipped and listed in the report rather than being created under a different address.
On the shared snipzr.com domain, back-halves are kept when they are free. If one is already
taken, a number is added and the report tells you which links this happened to. Links that lived on
your old provider's shared domain, such as bit.ly/3xYz, cannot keep their address anywhere: that
hostname still belongs to them, so those links come across under a new address.
On the Free plan, back-halves shorter than 6 characters are not available on the shared domain, so those links are created with a new one. Your own domain has no such limit.
Importing before your domain points at Snipzr
If you are moving a branded domain that is still live at another provider, add the domain first and then import. The links are created straight away and wait for the domain. After you point your DNS at Snipzr, the domain verifies and receives its certificate automatically, usually well within the hour, and the imported links start answering with their original back-halves.
Keep your links live at your old provider for 24 hours after you change your DNS, so that anyone whose computer has the old address cached still reaches your destination, and plan the DNS change for a quiet hour.
Created dates
When your file or provider carries a creation date, the imported link keeps it: your dashboard
reads in the order you built your links, and the export's created_at tells the truth about a
link's age. Analytics still start counting from import day. Rows without a usable date are simply
stamped with the import date.
The report
Every import leaves a report you can download from Settings, Imports. It has one row per line of your original file, including the ones that were skipped, with the old address beside the new one and a sentence explaining anything that changed.
Stopping an import
A running import can be stopped from the progress screen. Links already created stay created, and every link the stop arrived ahead of is listed in the report with that reason.
Moving in the other direction
Your links are never locked in: see How to Export Your Links for the CSV that takes them anywhere.
Limits
- Up to 5,000 links in one import, and up to 10 MB per file. A provider fetch stops at 5,000 links and says so; run another import for the rest.
- Imports count against your plan's monthly link allowance like any other link.
- New accounts can import up to 100 links a day. This lifts once the account has been active for a week and has recorded real clicks.
- Your email address has to be confirmed before you can import.
- Destinations go through our safety checks before anything is created. Flagged rows are not imported and appear in the report.