Replace or modify the participant database in Copernico

Updated October 27, 2026 15:12

When you import a participant file into Copernico (Participants → import participants button → Import from file tab), after loading the file you can choose between two load modes: replace or Modify. To decide which of the two options to use, consider the following.

The import steps are explained in Importing participants.

1. Replace

Is this the first import?

Use the replace option.

It is not the first import, but you want to replace the existing database with a new one

Use the replace option.

With this option, each participant in the file with the same ID as an existing one replaces it, and those that do not exist are created, as the message under the load mode says. Copernico asks you to confirm before importing.

⚠️ Important: if the race has Live, import the participants with the same unique identifier (“id”) they had in Copernico until then, so that followers do not lose the participants they follow. You can get the identifiers by exporting the Participants table to CSV (first column). If you are not familiar with this field, see Unique athlete ID.

2. Modify

Do you want to add fields to the existing data?

Use the Modify option.

To modify existing participants, Copernico finds each one by their unique identifier (“id” column) or, if the row does not have it, by their event and bib number. Prepare a spreadsheet with the “id” column (or the event and bib columns) and add the columns with the values you want to import or change, for example, Name, Club, Team Name and Team Type. Only values that differ from the current ones are changed.

Keep in mind:

To change a participant's bib number, the row must include their “id”.
Rows that do not match any participant are added as new participants if Add new participants not found in the system is selected; it is selected when you choose Modify. If you only want to modify, clear it so that those rows are ignored.

Participant import panel with Modify mode chosen and the add new participants checkbox selected

Do you want to modify existing data?

As in the previous case, use the Modify option, with the unique identifier or the event and bib number, and add the columns with the values you want to change, for example, Name, Club, Date of birth, Team Name, Team Type and City.

Name the identifier column “id”: Copernico maps it automatically. If it has a different name, select Unique participant id in Field to assign when mapping the columns. The same applies to columns that are not standard fields, such as City.

The file that will be used to modify data will have this format:

Example spreadsheet for modifying participants, with the identifier column (Unique Id) and columns for event, name, date of birth, city, team, team type and club

In this example the identifier column is called “Unique Id”, so it must be mapped manually to Unique participant id.

3. Check the result

When the import finishes, the Last summary tab shows how many records were modified, how many are new and how many were not affected, together with the affected columns. Check it to make sure no duplicate participants were created. More information in Pre-race check.