Yes. Simply including blank columns in your file does not, by itself, clear or overwrite subscriber preferences or newsletter subscriptions.
What matters is:
Which upload action you choose, and
Which columns you actually map during the upload.
How preferences/newsletter settings are treated
When you upload a subscriber list, here are the various scenarios that can occur:
If you’re using “Add users” or “Update users”, you may see an option to:
Maintain any subscriber’s preferences that they have customized themselves, or
Replace their preferences with those in your file.
If you choose to maintain subscriber-customized preferences, then:
Blank or un-mapped columns in your file will not remove or reset a subscriber’s existing preferences or newsletter subscription status.
If you choose to replace preferences with those in your file, then:
Only the fields you’ve actually mapped will be updated.
Fields that are not mapped to any column are left as-is.
A mapped column that is truly blank for a given subscriber may update that specific field, depending on your configuration, but simply having an extra blank column in the file (that you don’t map) does nothing.
So in normal use:
Blank, un-mapped columns are ignored.
Existing preferences and newsletter subscriptions are preserved unless you explicitly:
Map a column to that field and
Choose an update option that replaces subscriber preferences.
Check out our article below on how to format a subscriber list too! Still have questions? Reach out to our support team.