This article resolves three failure modes that occur when importing users through the 15Five API: invite emails not sent, new user accounts not created, and CSV updates not appearing in 15Five.
Diagnose
Work through each check in order based on your symptom.
Symptom 1: Invite emails not sent after API upload
Check 1: sendwelcomefrom field → Open your CSV and locate the sendwelcomefrom column. → If the column is missing or empty → invite emails are intentionally suppressed. Populate the column to enable invites. → If the column is present but contains an unrecognized email → the value must be either 15fivebot@15five.com or an email address associated with an active 15Five account for your company.
Check 2: Company invite settings → In 15Five, navigate to Settings → Integrations → your import configuration. → If the setting reads "Don't send invites immediately after import" → emails are blocked at the account level regardless of CSV content. → If the setting allows immediate invites → proceed to Fix 1.
Symptom 2: New users in CSV not created in 15Five
Check 1: sendwelcomefrom email validity → Confirm the value in sendwelcomefrom is either 15fivebot@15five.com or an email tied to an active 15Five account for your company. → If neither → users will not be created. Correct the value and re-upload.
Check 2: Email address included for new users → Confirm each new user row contains a value in the email column. → If email is missing → 15Five cannot create the account, even when employee ID is set as the unique identifier. An error message appears on upload. → If email is present → proceed to Fix 2.
Symptom 3: CSV updates not reflected in 15Five
Check 1: Elapsed time since upload → Note the time the upload completed. → If fewer than 20 minutes have passed → wait. The sync process takes 10–20 minutes. → If reviewers or smart groups are still missing after 20 minutes → proceed to Fix 3.
Fix
Fix 1 — Invite emails not sent
- Open your CSV file.
- Add a
sendwelcomefromcolumn if it does not exist. - Enter
15fivebot@15five.comor an active 15Five admin email in that column for each row. - In 15Five, go to Settings → Integrations.
- Confirm invite settings are not set to "Don't send invites immediately after import".
- Re-upload the corrected CSV.
Fix 2 — New users not created
- Open your CSV file.
- Confirm each new user row includes a value in the email column.
- Confirm the
sendwelcomefromvalue is15fivebot@15five.comor an active 15Five account email. - Correct any missing or invalid values.
- Re-upload the corrected CSV.
Fix 3 — Updates not reflected after sync
- Wait at least 20 minutes after the upload completes before checking for changes.
- Check user records first, then verify reviewer and smart group assignments.
- If reviewers appear unassigned immediately after import, wait an additional few minutes — reviewer assignment runs as a separate step after user creation.
What Resolution Looks Like
-
Invite emails: Invited users receive a welcome email from the address specified in
sendwelcomefrom. - New users created: User accounts appear in Settings → People with the correct profile data.
- Updates reflected: Modified fields, reviewer assignments, and smart group memberships match the uploaded CSV values.
If It Still Fails
Contact 15Five Support. Include the following when you reach out:
- A copy of the CSV file used for the upload (remove sensitive data if needed)
- The timestamp of the upload
- The specific symptom observed (emails not sent, users not created, or updates missing)
- Any error messages displayed during or after the upload
If your file is stuck in "Scheduled" status, share the CSV with Support — this status indicates an error in the file.
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover generating or managing API access tokens, SCIM configuration, or SFTP setup.