Can Apollo import Basecamp data?

Yes it can! We worked really hard and released a great Basecamp importer. This means that you will be able to take all of your data from Basecamp, and use it in Apollo.

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Is the Basecamp importer reliable?

We did our very best to make the Basecamp importer as reliable as possible. We tested many “unusual” use cases, and did our best to get everything perfect. If problems do arise, get in touch with us and we will be happy to help you!

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Will Apollo send emails out automatically when I import data from Basecamp?

No. Unlike others, we will never send an email automatically when you import from Basecamp. To allow people to login, you will need to click on the Resend Invitation button in Settings > Interal users or Settings > External users for each user.

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Can I import a single project?

Yes, it is indeed possible to import a single Basecamp project. However, in this case there are limitation: users are not imported; so, all tasks will be owned by the Apollo account owner. So, full Basecamp imports are recommended. However, importing single projects is sometimes useful when you need to have specific information from a client who is not able/willing to export their full Basecamp environment.

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Will the importer import users as well? Will people be able to login using their existing Basecamp passwords?

First of all, there is no such a thing as a Basecamp password. There are 37signals accounts that you can use to login into Basecamp (or Highrise, or any one of their services). At the same time, there are Applicom accounts which can be used to login into one or several Apollo workspaces.

Basecamp and Apollo work in very much the same way: when you want to add a user to a workspace, you have to invite them first, creating the slot for that person. Once they accept the invite, they will link their Applicom username with that slot, and will be able to login.

If you start with an empty Apollo workspace, and import your Basecamp data, your Apollo workspace will end up with the same users as your Basecamp domain. However, you will then need to invite those users into Apollo so that they can create their Applicom account and actually access your workspace. Once they are logged in, those users will have the right permissions to your projects – that is, the same permissions they had on Basecamp.

If you already had people on your Apollo workspace, the Basecamp users will simply be added to the list of users for your workspace. If clashes arise, you will need to decide if you want to delete the original user from your workspace, or if you want to delete the newly imported user. We generally suggest to run the importer as soon as possible, with little data on your existing workspace.

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Where are my whiteboards?

Unfortunately, the Basecamp exporter doesn’t export whiteboards when exporting your projects’ data. At this stage they only allow you to export them individually. Apollo supports writeboards, but there is no way for us to actually import them (we admit that’s a shame!). So, at least for now your whiteboards will be left behind.

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What about my Markdown and rich-HTML comments in Basecamp? How will they be imported?

Markdown comments will be imported as is: Apollo won’t render them as Markdown text. The bright side is that Markdown still looks OK, even if not rendered.
For rich-HTML notes, they are imported as is and will render the same as they did in Basecamp once imported.

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Some comments/messages/tasks etc. are owned by me, the account owner, but they weren't mine!

This happens when the user who originally created those elements has been deleted from your workspace. Technically speaking, those elements will have an invalid user ID (that is, the ID of a user who is not linked to your workspace).
In this situation, the importer will still move across those elements, but will set the account owner (you) as the element’s author.

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