The User Loader is a tool that I wrote a while back to handle bulk user importing. Its a simple tool that basically has a text area that you can copy CSV style strings (note its not exactly CSV style).

The tool is available for Joomla! 1.0 and Joomla! 1.5 native, though the 1.0 version of the tool hasn't been updated for usage since 1.0.8 and isn't guaranteed to work properly. Additionally the 1.0 version is not as functionally complete. Both version are available for download from JoomlaCode.

The format isn't quite CSV, but uses commas for field boundaries. Since this isn't full CSV, quoting your strings won't work properly and it isn't possible to escape the commas. Fortunately most users don't have commas in their name, username, email address, group name or password so this isn't too much of a problem but it is something to keep in mind.

Each entry is on its own line and consists of the following fields:

• Full Name
• Username
• Email Address
• Group Name (will work out the group ID for you automatically)
• Password (1.5 version only)

So a simple sample could look like the following:

Joe Blogs,blogsj,blogsj@example.com,Editor,password

The 1.5 version of the tool supports the ability to email the user using the same template that is used when a user is created normally (e.g. with their username and password). This is available via a tick box below the entry text area.

For the time being, the password here is in plain text. In future versions it may be configurable that encrypted passwords can be passed through (in either MD5 format or Joomla!'s salted form). It may also be possible to use uploaded files instead in later releases. This will be potentially for 1.5 or maybe even work on 1.6 versions, however 1.0 is not going to be updated.