Requirements
To use this feature, your organization’s Planning Center connection must include the appropriate scopes (permissions). Depending on what you want to import, you may need:- Groups scope — to import groups
- Registrations scope — to import registrations
- Calendar scope — to import events
- Publishing scope — to import announcements and episodes (requires a Publishing Administrator in Planning Center)
If your organization hasn’t enabled the required scope, you’ll see a message
explaining how to expand your connection.
How to Import Content
In the email editor sidebar, you’ll see an Import Content from Planning Center button. You can use it in two ways:Click to Add
Click the button to open the import dialog. Any content you import will be added to the end of your email.Drag to Insert
Drag the button onto your email canvas and drop it where you want the content to appear. The import dialog will open, and your imported content will be inserted at that exact position.The first time you finish an import that you started by clicking the button, a tip appears on it pointing out that it can be dragged. It shows once — dismiss it with Got it, by pressing Escape, or by clicking anywhere else. Dragging the button dismisses it too.
From a Cards Block
A cards block has its own Import from Planning Center button under Add Card, in both the sidebar and the expanded editing modal. It opens the same dialog, and the items you select are appended as new cards on that block.When importing into a cards block, the items always become cards on the block you’re editing, so the Customize step has no Layout choice and its button reads Add cards (for example, Add 3 cards).
Step 1: Select Content
The import dialog has up to four tabs depending on your connected scopes:Groups
Browse and search your Planning Center Groups. You can filter by group type using the dropdown. Each group shows its name, description, member count, and enrollment status.Registrations
Browse and search your Registrations. You can filter by category. Each registration shows its name, description, date range, and whether it’s public or archived.Calendar Events
Browse and search your upcoming events. Each event shows its name, description, date, and time.Publishing
The Publishing tab holds both your Announcements and your sermon Episodes. Use the first dropdown under the search box to switch between them. The dialog remembers which one you used last.Announcements
Browse your Planning Center Publishing announcements and search them by title. Use the filter dropdown to show Active & scheduled (the default), Active, Inactive, or Archived announcements. Each announcement shows its title, summary, image, and status.Episodes
Browse your sermon episodes, newest first, and search them by title. Each episode shows its thumbnail with a play button, its series, its title, and its description. Use the second dropdown to narrow the list:- All episodes (the default)
- A series, to show only that series’ episodes
- If your church has more than one channel, an All option for each channel (for example, All Sunday Morning), with that channel’s series listed underneath it
Only episodes that are already published to the library on a public
Church Center channel appear. Drafts, episodes scheduled for later, and
episodes on private channels are hidden.
Timezones
Imported event and registration dates and times use your church’s Planning Center timezone, not the timezone of the computer doing the importing. If your device is in a different timezone than your organization, a Times in selector appears on the Calendar and Registrations tabs. Use it to choose which timezone imported times use — Planning Center’s is selected by default. Your choice is remembered on the device you’re using. To clear it, open Editor settings from the editor’s three-dot menu and reset Planning Center import timezone.All-day events always keep the church’s calendar date, regardless of which
timezone you pick.
Step 2: Customize
After selecting content, pick a Layout at the top, then choose which details to include, with a live preview beside them. Layouts are described below. Each field has a switch. Options for a field, like its button text or date style, appear under it while it’s switched on. The available fields depend on the content type:Groups
- Image — the group’s header image
- Title — the group name
- Description — the group’s description
- Group Type — a label showing the group type
- Link / Button — a button linking to the group on Church Center
Registrations
- Image — the registration’s logo
- Title — the registration name
- Description — the registration’s description
- Date & Time — signup times pulled from Planning Center. You can choose between Date range (showing the full span) or First date only. Click Date style under the field to choose a short or long month (Aug or August), the separator between the date and the time, and whether to show the day of the week. The row shows how your first item’s date will read.
- Link / Button — a button linking to Church Center. You can choose between Signup link (goes directly to the registration form in Church Center) or Details page (goes to the event details page in Church Center)
Calendar Events
- Image — the event’s image
- Title — the event name
- Description — the event’s description
- Date & Time — the event date and time. Click Date style under the field to choose a short or long month (Aug or August), the separator between the date and the time, and whether to show the day of the week. The row shows how your first item’s date will read.
- Link / Button — a button linking to the event on Church Center
Announcements
- Image — the announcement’s image
- Title — the announcement title
- Summary — the announcement’s summary
- Link / Button — a button linking to the announcement. Uses the announcement’s Church Center link when available, otherwise its custom link
Episodes
- Thumbnail: the episode’s artwork, with a play button added so it reads as a video. If the episode has no artwork of its own, the thumbnail from its library video (for example, YouTube) is used instead
- Series: a label showing the episode’s series
- Title: the episode title
- Description: the episode’s description
- Link / Button: a Watch Now button linking to the episode on Church Center
Custom Button Text
When the Link / Button field is enabled, a text input appears where you can set custom button text (e.g., “Sign Up Now” instead of the default “Register”).Layout
Pick how your content will appear in the email:- Blocks creates individual blocks for each selected item: an image block (if the item has an image and the field is on), a text block with the item’s title, date, and description, and a button block linking to Church Center (if the link field is on). This gives you full control to rearrange, edit, or delete each block independently.
- Cards creates a single cards block containing all selected items in a two-column grid. Each card includes the item’s image, a label (group type, date, series, etc.), title, description, and a button, based on the fields you switched on. This is a cleaner option when you want a compact, uniform layout.
Preview
The preview shows every item you selected, in the layout you picked and in your email’s own styles: its background, fonts, text and label colors, corner radius, and button style. Use Desktop and Mobile above the preview to see how it looks on a phone. On a phone, the preview appears below the fields. When it looks right, click Import (for example, Import 3 episodes) to add the content to your email.Your field selections, custom button text, and layout preference are saved per
content type. The next time you import the same type, your preferences will be
restored automatically.
Editing After Import
Imported content is just like any other block in your email. You can:- Edit text, images, and button labels
- Rearrange or delete individual blocks
- Change styling to match your email’s design
Changes made after importing content will not be reflected in Planning Center, nor will updates in Planning Center be reflected in your email.
Tips
- Use search to quickly find specific groups, registrations, events, announcements, or episodes
- Use the filter dropdown to narrow results by group type, registration category, announcement status, or episode series and channel
- Events are automatically sorted by date when imported
- Your import preferences are saved per content type — you won’t need to re-configure fields each time
- Emails have a maximum of 100 blocks — if your import would exceed this, you’ll see an error message
Need help importing Planning Center content into your emails? Contact support@flowforth.co.