Documentation Journey Optimizer Journey Optimizer Guide

Create test profiles create-test-profiles

Last update: September 13, 2026

Topics:
Journey management

CREATED FOR:

Intermediate
User

On this page: Learn how to create test profiles by uploading a CSV file or using API calls so you can preview content and test journeys in Adobe Journey Optimizer.

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Test profiles are required when using the test mode in a journey, and to preview and test your content.

NOTE

Journey Optimizer provides two ways to simulate content: click Simulate content to test content variations with sample input data or AI auto-generation; or click Simulate content, then select Simulate content (AEP profiles) from the dropdown to preview with test profiles. Learn how to simulate content variations

You can create test profiles by uploading a CSV file or using API calls. Adobe Journey Optimizer also provides a specific in-product use case to facilitate test profile creation.

You can upload a JSON file into an existing dataset. For more information, refer to the Data Ingestion documentation.

Creating a test profile is similar to creating regular profiles in Adobe Experience Platform. For more information, refer to the Real-time Customer Profile documentation.

➡️ Learn how to create test profiles in this video

Prerequisites test-profile-prerequisites

To create profiles, you first need to create a schema and a dataset in Adobe Journey Optimizer.

Create a schema create-schema

To create a schema, follow these steps:

In the DATA MANAGEMENT menu section, click Schemas and select the Create schema button.
Select Standard as the schema creation option.
Select a schema type, for example Individual Profile, and click Next.
Enter a name for your schema and click Finish.

In the Field groups section, on the left, click Add and select the appropriate field groups. Make sure you add the Profile test details field group.
Field groups section with Add button
Once done, click Add field groups: the list of field groups is displayed on the schema overview screen.
Schema overview with field groups list

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Click the name of the schema to update its properties.

In the list of fields, click the field that you want to define as the primary identity.
In the Field properties right pane, check the Identity and Primary Identity options and select a namespace. If you want the primary identity to be an email address, choose the Email namespace. Click Apply.
Select the schema and enable the Profile option in the Schema properties pane.
Click Save.

For more information about schema creation, refer to the XDM documentation.

IMPORTANT

When creating or replacing a dataset for test profile ingestion, ensure that the schema has the correct identity descriptor applied to the primary identity field (e.g., /personID) for the intended namespace. If the identity descriptor is missing or incorrectly configured, profiles ingested into this dataset may not be flagged as test profiles (testProfile = true), even if the ingestion process completes successfully.

If your test profiles are not flagged correctly after ingestion:

Review the schema associated with your dataset.
Confirm that the primary identity field has the correct identity descriptor for your namespace (see steps 6–7 above).
If the descriptor is missing, update the schema to add the identity descriptor and re-ingest your data.

Create a dataset create-dataset

Then you need to create the dataset in which the profiles will be imported. Follow these steps:

Browse to Datasets, then click Create dataset.
Choose Create dataset from schema.
Select the previously created schema then click Next.
Choose a name then click Finish.
Enable the Profile option.

NOTE

For more information on dataset creation, refer to the Catalog Service documentation.

In-product use case use-case-1

From Adobe Journey Optimizer home page, you can leverage the test profiles in-product use case. This use case facilitates the creation of test profiles used for testing journeys before publishing.

Test profiles use case card on home page

Click the Begin button to start the use case.

The following information is required:

Identity namespace: The identity namespace used to uniquely identify the test profiles. For example, if email is used to identify the test profiles, the identity namespace Email should be selected. If the unique identifier is the phone number, then the identity namespace Phone should be selected.
CSV file: A comma separated file containing the list of test profiles to create. The use case expects a predefined format for the CSV file that contains the list of test profiles to create. Each row in the file should include the following fields in the correct order as follows:
1. Person Id: Unique identifier of the test profile. The values of this field should reflect the identity namespace that was selected. (As an example, if Phone is selected for the identity namespace, then the values of this field should be phone numbers. Similarly if Email is selected, then the values of this field should be emails)
2. Email Address: Test profile email address. (The Person Id field and the Email Address field could potentially contain the same values if Email is selected as the identity namespace)
3. First Name: Test profile first name.
4. Last Name: Test profile last name.
5. City: Test profile city of residence
6. Country: Test profile country of residence
7. Gender: Test profile gender. Available values are male, female and non_specified

After selecting the identity namespace and providing the CSV file based on the format above, select the Run button at the top right. The use case might take a few minutes to complete. Once the use case completes processing and creating the test profiles, a notification will be sent to notify the user.

NOTE

Test profiles may override existing profiles. Before executing the use case make sure the CSV contains test profiles only and that it is executed against the correct sandbox.

Create test profiles using a CSV file create-test-profiles-csv

In Adobe Experience Platform, you can create profiles by uploading a csv file containing the different profile fields into your dataset. This is the easiest method.

Create a simple csv file using a spreadsheet software.
Add one column for each required field. Make sure you add the primary identity field (personID in our example above) and the testProfile field set to true.
Add one line per profile and fill in the values for each field.
Save the spreadsheet as a csv file. Make sure commas are used as separators.
Browse to Adobe Experience Platform Workflows.
Choose Map CSV to XDM schema, then click Launch.
Select the dataset you want to import the profiles into. Click Next.
Click Choose files and select your csv file. When the file is uploaded, click Next.
Map the source csv fields to the schema fields, then click Finish.
The data import begins. The status will move from Processing to Success. Click Preview dataset, in the top right.
Check that the test profiles have been correctly added.

Your test profiles are added and can now be used when testing a journey. Refer to this section.

NOTE

For more information on csv imports, refer to the Data Ingestion documentation.

Create test profiles using API calls create-test-profiles-api

You can also create test profiles via API calls. Learn more in Adobe Experience Platform documentation.

You must use a Profile schema that contains the Profile test details field group. The testProfile flag is part of this field group.
When creating a profile, make sure you pass the value: testProfile = true.

You can also update an existing profile to change its testProfile flag to true.

Here is an example of an API call to create a test profile:

curl -X POST \
'https://dcs.adobedc.net/collection/xxxxxxxxxxxxxx' \
-H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Postman-Token: xxxxx' \
-H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
-H 'x-api-key: xxxxx' \
-H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: xxxxx' \
-d '{
"header": {
"msgType": "xdmEntityCreate",
"msgId": "xxxxx",
"msgVersion": "xxxxx",
"xactionid":"xxxxx",
"datasetId": "xxxxx",
"imsOrgId": "xxxxx",
"source": {
"name": "Postman"
},
"schemaRef": {
"id": "https://example.adobe.com/mobile/schemas/xxxxx",
"contentType": "application/vnd.adobe.xed-full+json;version=1"
}
},
"body": {
"xdmMeta": {
"schemaRef": {
"contentType": "application/vnd.adobe.xed-full+json;version=1"
}
},
"xdmEntity": {
"_id": "xxxxx",
"_mobile":{
"ECID": "xxxxx"
},
"testProfile":true
}
}
}'

How-to video video

Learn how to create test profiles.

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/334236?quality=12&learn=on

AI Knowledge Reference

This section contains structured knowledge intended to support interpretation, retrieval, and question answering related to this topic.

For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.

TL;DR: This page explains how to create test profiles by uploading a CSV file, using API calls, or the in-product use case, including the schema and dataset prerequisites, so you can preview content and test journeys in Journey Optimizer.

Intents:

Set up the schema (with the Profile test details field group) and dataset prerequisites for test profiles
Create test profiles by uploading a CSV file using the Map CSV to XDM schema workflow
Create test profiles using API calls
Use the in-product use case to generate test profiles from a predefined CSV format
Flag profiles as test profiles by setting the testProfile field to true

Glossary:

Test profile: A profile flagged with testProfile = true, required for using test mode in a journey and for previewing and testing content (product-specific)
Profile test details: The field group that must be added to the schema; the testProfile flag is part of this field group (product-specific)
Simulate content: The action to test content variations with sample input data or AI auto-generation (product-specific)
Simulate content (AEP profiles): The option selected from the Simulate content dropdown to preview content with test profiles (product-specific)
In-product use case: A guided card on the Journey Optimizer home page that facilitates test profile creation from a predefined CSV format (product-specific)
Identity namespace: The namespace (for example Email or Phone) used to uniquely identify the test profiles (product-specific)

Guardrails:

Test profiles are required when using test mode in a journey and to preview and test content.
To create profiles you must first create a schema and a dataset; the schema must include the Profile test details field group.
The schema must have the correct identity descriptor applied to the primary identity field for the intended namespace; if it is missing or incorrectly configured, ingested profiles may not be flagged as test profiles (testProfile = true) even if ingestion completes successfully.
When creating a profile via CSV or API, the testProfile field must be set to true.
Test profiles may override existing profiles; before running the in-product use case, ensure the CSV contains test profiles only and that it is executed against the correct sandbox.
The in-product use case expects a predefined CSV format with fields in this order: Person Id, Email Address, First Name, Last Name, City, Country, Gender (available values male, female, non_specified).

Terminology:

Canonical name: Test profile — Acronym: n/a — variants: test profiles
Synonyms: “testProfile flag” = “testProfile field”
Do not confuse: “Simulate content” (sample input data or AI auto-generation) ≠ “Simulate content (AEP profiles)” (preview with test profiles)
Do not confuse: “Person Id” (unique identifier reflecting the selected identity namespace) ≠ “Email Address” (test profile email address)

FAQ:

Q: What are the ways to create test profiles? — By uploading a CSV file, using API calls, or the in-product use case.
Q: What must the schema include? — The Profile test details field group, which contains the testProfile flag.
Q: Why are my ingested profiles not flagged as test profiles? — The primary identity field may be missing the correct identity descriptor for your namespace; review the schema, confirm the descriptor, and re-ingest the data.
Q: How do I mark a profile as a test profile? — Set the testProfile field to true when creating (or updating) the profile.
Q: What should I check before running the in-product use case? — That the CSV contains test profiles only and that it runs against the correct sandbox, since test profiles may override existing profiles.

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