How to Upload Lineups to DraftKings

DraftKings lets you fill many contest entries at once with a file, instead of building each lineup on the site by hand. The file is a spreadsheet, usually a CSV, with one row per entry. The flow is three steps, and it starts and ends on DraftKings.

Step 1: reserve and download the entries file

First, enter the contests you want on DraftKings the normal way. Entering reserves your spots and is what puts them into the file. Then pick the sport and the style, Classic or Showdown, and use DraftKings' download option to get your entries file. That file has a row for every entry you reserved, each one waiting to be filled.

Step 2: fill every entry

Each row in the file needs a full lineup: a player for every roster slot, under the salary cap, valid for that contest. You can type names in by hand, but the point of the file is to fill a lot of rows quickly. A lineup tool reads the file, builds a lineup for each row, and writes the players back into it, so the file comes out filled rather than empty.

Whatever fills the file, two things have to be true of every row: the lineup fits under the cap, and it uses only players eligible for that contest. Get either wrong and DraftKings will reject the row on upload.

Step 3: upload it back

Go to the same DraftKings page you downloaded from and use its upload option. Drop the filled file in, and DraftKings reads every row and fills every reserved entry at once. One upload replaces an evening of building lineups one at a time. Check that the entry count on the site matches what you expected, and you are done.

A few things to watch

• Do not change the file's column headers or layout. DraftKings reads the file by its shape, so keep it as it came.
• Upload before lock. Once the games start, entries close and the file will not take.
• FanDuel works the same way, with its own download and upload and its own file shape.

If the terms here are new, the salary cap and exposure are both worth a read before you build a large batch.

Common errors, and what they mean

If an upload is rejected, the message usually points at one of a few things. A lineup over the salary cap will not take, so a row that busts the budget has to come down. A player who is no longer eligible, because he was scratched or the slate changed, will fail, and that row needs a replacement. A file whose columns were edited can confuse the reader, which is why it is safest to leave the layout exactly as it came. And a late upload, after the games have started, is refused outright, because entries are closed.

Editing before you upload

You do not have to accept a filled file as is. You can open it and change a player in any row before you upload, as long as the new lineup still fits under the cap and uses eligible players. A good lineup tool lets you swap a player on a built lineup first, so the edit happens before the file is written rather than after.