How import undo works
An import can be undone within 48 hours of finishing. This page explains what an undo reverses, what it keeps, and why it’s time-limited.
The 48-hour window
Section titled “The 48-hour window”The window starts when your import finishes with status Completed. While it’s open, Undo is available from the ⋮ menu on the import’s row in the import history; once it closes, Undo is no longer offered.
After 48 hours the data has been in your system long enough that members may have logged in, renewed their membership, or otherwise interacted with your organization.
How it works: what an undo reverses and what it keeps
Section titled “How it works: what an undo reverses and what it keeps”MapleGather records what each import did to each member, and an undo works from that record:
- Memberships the import created are removed — except one that something now refers to (a subscription, a membership application, an invoice, a payment, a wallet pass or a household) or that has been renewed, cancelled or moved to another level since the import. Those are kept.
- Members the import created are archived — unless they still hold a membership afterwards (one the undo kept, or one given to them since by another import or an administrator). Archived members are hidden from the member list unless you turn on Include archived.
- Existing members whose status the import changed go back to their earlier status — unless their status has changed again since, or another membership now supports it. The undo doesn’t change any other details of existing members.
- Membership levels, custom fields and tags created during the import are not removed.
An undo keeps anything that has been used or changed since the import rather than silently reverting it. The undo dialog states these rules before you confirm, and ends: “You can undo an import for 48 hours after it finishes, and an undo can’t itself be undone.” There is no option to change the rules, and an undo is final.
If an undo stops before it finishes
Section titled “If an undo stops before it finishes”An undo runs as one all-or-nothing step: either everything above is applied, or none of it is. An attempt that fails saves none of its changes, so nothing has been partly undone. The import history shows which of three situations you’re in:
- Undoing · over 15 minutes — The undo has run for more than 15 minutes without failing. It may still be running, and if so it finishes on its own; the import history keeps checking every 15 seconds. Retry undo is offered, but a retry only restarts the undo if it has stopped. If it’s still running, the dialog says “This undo is still running. Wait for it to finish, then refresh the page.”
- Undo stalled — The last attempt failed. The progress screen and the retry dialog say why: “Other changes to the same members were being saved at the same time.”, “Some of this import’s records changed in a way the undo can’t reverse.” or “The undo hit an unexpected error.” Select Retry undo from the ⋮ menu on the import’s row to run the whole undo again, with the same rules.
- Undo failed — The undo failed 3 times, and MapleGather won’t retry it again. Retry undo is no longer offered. None of the attempts changed anything, so to reverse what the import added, select View imported members (on the progress screen or in the row’s ⋮ menu, if your role can view members): Members opens showing only the members the import created, and you archive or edit them there.
The 48-hour window doesn’t apply to a retry: a stalled undo can be retried even after the window has closed. See Your import undo failed or only partially reversed.
Why undo is time-limited
Section titled “Why undo is time-limited”The 48-hour window gives you a clear safety margin after committing while ensuring that data doesn’t stay in a “reversible” state indefinitely. After 48 hours, your imported members are full members of your organization.
If you discover a problem after the 48-hour window closes, the import can’t be reversed in MapleGather, and no manual reversal is offered. Edit a member to correct wrong values, or archive members who shouldn’t be there — one at a time, or by selecting several in the member list and choosing Archive (see Edit a member record and Archive and restore a member).