Turning a spreadsheet guest list into a seating chart
Updated
Nearly every guest list starts life in a spreadsheet. Retyping it into a seating tool is where names get misspelled and plus-ones disappear, so don't. Import the file you have, keep the columns you have already filled in, and spend your time on the seating instead.
What the file needs
One row per guest and a column with their name are all that is required. A full name in one column works, and so do separate first and last name columns. Everything else is optional, but each extra column saves you work later: a group or side such as Bride's family or Marketing, an RSVP status, a plus-ones count, and notes for dietary needs or access. If you already know some tables, a table column brings those assignments across too.
Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers
The planner reads Excel files directly, both .xlsx and .xlsm, as well as CSV and tab-separated text. From Google Sheets, use File, then Download, then either Microsoft Excel or comma-separated values. From Numbers, use File, then Export To, then Excel or CSV. If your list is just names in an email or a document, you can paste them straight in instead.
Matching the columns
Your columns do not have to be named any particular way. After you pick the file, the planner shows each column with a few of its values and suggests what it is: guest name, first name, last name, plus-ones, groups, RSVP, notes, table and so on. Change any it got wrong, leave out any you do not need, and check the preview before you import. Nothing is changed until you confirm.
Plus-ones and households
A number in a plus-ones column adds that many extra guests under the host's name and in the same groups, so a row reading Sam Patel, 1 becomes two people to seat. Mark the pair as must sit together and automatic seating will keep them at one table. Guests who decline stay on the list but come off the printed entrance list, so you keep the record without anyone looking for a name that is not there. Tidy up duplicates before you import if you can. The guided setup points out any name that appears twice.
And back out again
When the chart is done, export it to Excel or CSV with every guest's table and seat. That is the file your caterer, your stationer or the venue's banqueting team will ask for, and it stays in step with the chart because it was made from it rather than typed up separately.