SharePoint Online: Import CSV File into SharePoint List using PowerShell

Scenario: My requirement is to import data from CSV file to SharePoint online list from a local drive, every day!

Create a List in SharePoint Online, matching columns from the CSV file, before running the script!

PowerShell Script to import SharePoint List Items from CSV File:
Here is the SharePoint Online PowerShell to import CSV to list.

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
 
##Variables for Processing
$SiteUrl = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/POC/"
$ListName="Contacts"
$ImportFile ="c:\Scripts\EmpData.csv"
$UserName="[email protected]"
$Password ="Password goes here"

#Setup Credentials to connect
$Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName,(ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force))

#Set up the context
$Context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteUrl) 
$Context.Credentials = $credentials
 
#Get the List
$List = $Context.web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)

#Get the Data from CSV and Add to SharePoint List
$data = Import-Csv $ImportFile
Foreach ($row in $data) {
    #add item to List
    $ListItemInfo = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListItemCreationInformation
    $Item = $List.AddItem($ListItemInfo)
    $Item["FirstName"] = $row.FirstName
    $Item["LastName"] = $row.LastName
    $Item["Department"] = $row.Department
    $Item["Mobile"] = $row.Mobile
    $Item.Update()
    $Context.ExecuteQuery() 
   
}
Write-host "CSV data Imported to SharePoint List Successfully!"

This imports CSV to the SharePoint Online list using PowerShell.

PnP PowerShell to Import CSV file data into SharePoint Online List
Let's import CSV to SharePoint Online list with PnP PowerShell:

#Parameters
$SiteUrl = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$ListName = "Contacts"
$CSVPath = "C:\temp\Contacts.csv"

#Get he CSV file contents
$CSVData = Import-CsV -Path $CSVPath

#Connect to site
Connect-PnPOnline $SiteUrl -UseWebLogin

#Iterate through each Row in the CSV and import data to SharePoint Online List
ForEach ($Row in $CSVData)
{
    Write-Host "Adding Contact $($Row.FirstName)"
    
    #Add List Items - Map with Internal Names of the Fields!
    Add-PnPListItem -List $ListName -Values @{"FirstName" = $($Row.FirstName); 
                            "LastName" = $($Row.LastName);
                            "Department"=$($Row.Department);
                            "Mobile" = $($Row.Mobile);
    };
}

Here is my CSV file: CSV Template to Import to SharePoint Online List, and the imported data in list:

This PowerShell adds new items from the given CSV file to the SharePoint Online list. If you want to update the SharePoint Online list from CSV file, use: PowerShell to Update SharePoint Online List from CSV

Bulk Add List Items to SharePoint Online from a CSV file using PnP PowerShell
The above scripts work fine for simple field types such as single lines of text, choice, etc., What if you have complex field types such as Lookup, People Picker, etc? Here is my "Projects" list with almost all available field types in SharePoint Online:

List structure:

Here is the updated PowerShell script to bulk import list items from a CSV.

#Config Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/projects"
$ListName = "Projects"
$CSVFilePath = "C:\Temp\ProjectData.csv"

#Function to get Lookup ID from Lookup Value
Function Get-LookupID($ListName, $LookupFieldName, $LookupValue)
{
    #Get Parent Lookup List and Field from Child Lookup Field's Schema XML
    $LookupField =  Get-PnPField -List $ListName -Identity $LookupFieldName
    [Xml]$Schema = $LookupField.SchemaXml
    $ParentListID = $Schema.Field.Attributes["List"].'#text'
    $ParentField  = $Schema.field.Attributes["ShowField"].'#text'
    $ParentLookupItem  = Get-PnPListItem -List $ParentListID -Fields $ParentField | Where {$_[$ParentField] -eq $LookupValue} | Select -First 1 
    If($ParentLookupItem -ne $Null)  { Return $ParentLookupItem["ID"] }  Else  { Return $Null }
}

Try {
    #Connect to the Site
    Connect-PnPOnline -URL $SiteURL -UseWebLogin

    #Get the data from CSV file
    $CSVData = Import-CSV $CSVFilePath

    #Get the List to Add Items
    $List = Get-PnPList -Identity $ListName
    
    #Get fields to Update from the List - Skip Read only, hidden fields, content type and attachments
    $ListFields = Get-PnPField -List $ListName | Where { (-Not ($_.ReadOnlyField)) -and (-Not ($_.Hidden)) -and ($_.InternalName -ne  "ContentType") -and ($_.InternalName -ne  "Attachments") }
     
    #Loop through each Row in the CSV file and update the matching list item ID
    ForEach($Row in $CSVData)
    {
        #Frame the List Item to update
        $ItemValue = @{}            
        $CSVFields = $Row | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select -ExpandProperty Name
        #Map each field from CSV to target list
        Foreach($CSVField in $CSVFields)
        {
            $MappedField = $ListFields | Where {$_.InternalName -eq $CSVField}
            If($MappedField -ne $Null)
            {
                $FieldName = $MappedField.InternalName
                #Check if the Field value is not Null
                If($Row.$CSVField -ne $Null)
                {
                    #Handle Special Fields
                    $FieldType  = $MappedField.TypeAsString 
                    If($FieldType -eq "User" -or $FieldType -eq "UserMulti") #People Picker Field
                    {
                        $PeoplePickerValues = $Row.$FieldName.Split(",")
                        $ItemValue.add($FieldName,$PeoplePickerValues)
                    }
                    ElseIf($FieldType -eq "Lookup" -or $FieldType -eq "LookupMulti") #Lookup Field
                    {
                        $LookupIDs = $Row.$FieldName.Split(",") | ForEach-Object { Get-LookupID -ListName $ListName -LookupFieldName $FieldName -LookupValue $_ }                
                        $ItemValue.Add($FieldName,$LookupIDs)
                    }
                    Else
                    {
                        #Get Source Field Value and add to Hashtable
                        $ItemValue.Add($FieldName,$Row.$FieldName)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        Write-host "Adding List item with values:"
        $ItemValue | Format-Table
        #Add New List Item
        Add-PnPListItem -List $ListName -Values $ItemValue | Out-Null
    }
}
Catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

Make sure the data in the CSV is in the right format and CSV file has list field internal names as its columns! You can download the CSV file from Bulk Import CSV to SharePoint Online List