When you sell tickets across multiple ticketing platforms, importing tickets into Shotgun allows you to centralize all ticket information in one place and scan every ticket using the Shotgun Scan app, even if the original sale happened elsewhere.
This article explains how to prepare your import file, add tickets to your event, and understand what happens at scan time.
In this article
Prepare your tickets file
Before starting the import, you’ll need to export your spreadsheet from the other ticketing platform.
Shotgun accepts CSV or XLS files. Each row represents one ticket, and each column contains information used to identify the attendee and their ticket.
⚠️ For most ticketing platforms, it is not necessary (or even recommended) to edit the order export file.
💡 For a smooth import, we recommend including the following columns:
- Ticket name
- Scan code
- Net earnings
- Status
- Email address
- First name
- Last name
You can leave additional columns. Shotgun will automatically ignore any columns it does not recognize, so your file does not need to be perfectly minimal.
Before continuing, take a moment to double-check that:
- Each ticket has a unique scan code
- The header row (Scan code/Price/etc) is in the first row
- The file contains no empty header rows
- The format matches the data you want to see in Shotgun
This preparation step helps avoid errors and ensures tickets are ready to scan once imported.
Import your tickets file
The fastest way to bring external tickets into Shotgun is to use the import tool directly inside your event. To launch an import:
- Select your Event
- Go to the Ticket Listing tab > Ticket
- Click Actions > Import tickets
- Upload your spreadsheet
- Confirm the fields and validate
Once the import is complete, the tickets appear right away in your Smartboard.
What happens during the scan?
Importing tickets does not affect the original ticket issued by the other provider.
- No new ticket needs to be sent to the ticketholder
- The original QR code remains valid
Thanks to the imported Scan code, the ticket becomes fully scannable using the Shotgun Scan app. This ensures a seamless check-in process on event day, even when tickets were originally sold outside of Shotgun.
