# Switching to Percy

> Bring your list from beehiiv, Mailchimp, Kit or Substack in an afternoon.

Moving to Percy takes an afternoon, and your subscribers don't have to do anything. You bring your list as a CSV file, set up your sending domain, and send the next issue from Percy.

## 1. Export your subscribers

Every newsletter tool can export your list as a CSV file. Export **everyone**, including people who unsubscribed or bounced: Percy uses that to make sure they never get an email from you again.

- **beehiiv, Kit, Substack and most others** give you one file of subscribers. If the tool lets you include unsubscribed or inactive people, include them.
- **Mailchimp** gives you a zip with separate files for subscribed, unsubscribed and cleaned (bounced) contacts. Import each one (see below).

Look for *Export* on the tool's subscribers or audience page; its help pages have the current steps.

## 2. Import the file

In **Subscribers**, choose **Import CSV** and pick the file. Percy reads the common column names from these tools (`Email Address`, `email_address`, `First Name`, and so on), so you don't need to rename anything.

- If the file has a **status** column, Percy reads it: people marked unsubscribed, inactive, cleaned or bounced come in as **unsubscribed** or **suppressed**, never as active.
- If the whole file is people who left (like Mailchimp's *unsubscribed* or *cleaned* files), set **Who's in this file** to **People who unsubscribed** or **Bounced or cleaned addresses** before importing.

The preview shows what each row will become before anything changes. Imports never start a sequence and never resubscribe anyone. Each file can have up to 20,000 rows; split bigger lists. See [Subscribers](https://percymail.com/docs/subscribers#import-a-list).

> **Percy:** Import the unsubscribed and bounced files too, even though you'll never write to them. It's how I know to leave those people alone.

## 3. Send from your domain

Set up your [sending domain](https://percymail.com/docs/sending-domain) so your issues keep coming from your own address. If your old tool already used your domain, the new records sit next to the old ones; you can remove the old tool's records once you've stopped sending from it.

## 4. Send the next issue

Write your next issue in **Emails** and send it as usual. Your first big send goes out in two steps (the first 1,000 people, then everyone else about 20 minutes later), so any problem with the list shows up early. See [Deliverability](https://percymail.com/docs/deliverability).

## What doesn't move (yet)

- **Past issues.** They stay where they are. Everything you send from Percy gets a page on your [website](https://percymail.com/docs/website).
- **Paid subscriptions.** Percy doesn't sell paid subscriptions, so keep those where they are or move them to a tool made for it.
- **Open and click history.** Reports start fresh with your first Percy send.