# Stop Creating Option Sets One by One | DHIS2 Metadata Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Resources - Ressources\ **Tags:** beginners-guide, metadata, metadata-series, capacity-building, video-tutorial\ **Created:** [16 March 2026 11:01 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072 "2026-03-16T11:01:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mayamiko](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/mayamiko/32/45166_2.png) [@Mayamiko](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Mayamiko)\ **Post date:** [16 March 2026 11:01 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/1 "2026-03-16T11:01:35Z")
Did you know you can **add multiple options to an option set** in DHIS2 at once using a CSV file? 🫢 This can be helpful when you need to add many options that exceed 50 or more. In this short video, I show how you can do it step by step: [![](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/c/8/c8468218e7ccd73c6acdd099e971a47bc5d4f814.jpeg "Stop Creating Option Sets One by One #dhis2 #optionset") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvihb2XBrmA) If you would like to use a template or how I created the CSV file, you can access the :github: GitHub Repository below 👇 > **[GitHub - Zoonadi/dhis2-metadata-series: This repository contains the CSV files...](https://github.com/Zoonadi/dhis2-metadata-series/tree/main)** > > main For those interested in following the series, you can find the next post here below: 👇 > [@The Smart Way to Set Up DHIS2 Categories | DHIS2 Metadata Series](https://community.dhis2.org/t/the-smart-way-to-set-up-dhis2-categories-dhis2-metadata-series/71427): > > Following the pervious series on [Stop Creating Option Sets One by One | DHIS2 Metadata Series](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072), when working with categories in DHIS2, we often need to break data down into groups like age or sex. For example, you might define: Sex: Male male, Female femaleAge groups man_curly_hair woman_curly_hair man_beard person old_man old_woman: 17–20, 21–24, 25–28 … all the way up to 80+ While this structure is useful for analysis, creating all these category options manually can quickl… ---
**Author:** ![ellen](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/ellen/32/48478_2.png) [@ellen](https://community.dhis2.org/u/ellen)\ **Post date:** [16 March 2026 11:23 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/2 "2026-03-16T11:23:30Z")
Nice work, @Mayamiko ! ---
**Author:** ![Mayamiko](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/mayamiko/32/45166_2.png) [@Mayamiko](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Mayamiko)\ **Post date:** [16 March 2026 11:27 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/3 "2026-03-16T11:27:41Z")
Thank you @ellen 🙏 ---
**Author:** ![Gassim](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/gassim/32/35347_2.png) [@Gassim](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Gassim)\ **Post date:** [25 March 2026 12:57 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/4 "2026-03-25T12:57:35Z")
Really helpful to see this contribution to the community @Mayamiko ! Thank you! đź‘Ź ---
**Author:** ![Mayamiko](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/mayamiko/32/45166_2.png) [@Mayamiko](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Mayamiko)\ **Post date:** [25 March 2026 13:36 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/5 "2026-03-25T13:36:41Z")
It is always a pleasure to do what has been done for me for others @Gassim. Thank you for being instrumental in this process ---
**Author:** ![Matthew\_Boddie](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/matthew_boddie/32/34043_2.png) [@Matthew\_Boddie](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Matthew_Boddie)\ **Post date:** [25 March 2026 15:21 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/6 "2026-03-25T15:21:10Z")
Good reminder! I also think that (as in things like the User Extended App from @eyeseetea and BIF from @BAO_Systems) if there was an easy csv download as a blank format in the metadata import/export, this is something that would be done a lot more. I can speak for myself at least that the (perhaps silly) point of having to find the exact name (perhaps also order? I know CSV import has been very specific in the past) has led me to doing this either more manually through the interface or by building out a json package. ---
**Author:** ![Mayamiko](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/mayamiko/32/45166_2.png) [@Mayamiko](https://community.dhis2.org/u/Mayamiko)\ **Post date:** [25 March 2026 16:59 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/stop-creating-option-sets-one-by-one-dhis2-metadata-series/71072/7 "2026-03-25T16:59:27Z")
That’s a really good point, and honestly, I can relate to your experience and I have run into this a couple of times. The need to remember the exact column names (and sometimes the order) can make CSV imports feel harder than they should be, especially for someone who isn’t working with metadata every day. I think that’s why many people fall back to the UI or go the JSON route instead. One of the reasons I leaned into the CSV approach is exactly what you mentioned, the learning curve. For many users, especially those without a programming background, working in Excel feels much more natural than editing JSON files. To help with that, I’ve created a small repo with ready-to-use blank templates that already have the correct structure and naming. The idea is to remove that “guesswork” barrier so people can focus on just filling in their data rather than figuring out the format. > **[GitHub - Zoonadi/dhis2-metadata-series: This repository contains the CSV files...](https://github.com/Zoonadi/dhis2-metadata-series/tree/main#)** > > main It would be great to hear your thoughts on whether something like this could help bridge that gap a bit!