Import items from Excel
If you have many items or services, import them from an Excel file instead of typing each one. The import can also bring in each item's opening stock.
Turn on Show Import Products in Preferences, then go to Products / Services › Import Products. You need permission to add items.
Steps
- Click Download Template. The file has four sheets:
- Items: empty, with the column names in the first row. Fill this one.
- Example: one goods row and one service row to copy from.
- Sample Items: a pharmacy with 250 items, to see how the rows are filled and to copy from. It is never imported by itself.
- Lists: your company's units, categories, brands, warehouses, taxes and service types. The Items sheet offers them in drop-downs.
- Fill one row per item on the Items sheet. Don't rename the column names in the first row.
- Choose the Opening Stock Project (the project the opening stock is posted to; needed only when a row has opening stock) and upload the file (
.xlsx, up to 5 MB and 5000 rows). - Every row is checked straight away. Each row shows Ready or the problems found, for example
Unit: Unit name not found. (Box). Nothing is saved yet. - When every row is ready, click Import. All items and their opening stock are saved together. If anything fails, nothing is saved.
If a row needs a unit, category, brand, warehouse, tax or service type that doesn't exist yet, add it in the app, then click Check again. You don't need to upload the file again. To fix anything else, correct the file and upload it again.
Columns
| Column | For | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ItemType | All | No | Goods or Service; empty = Goods |
| ProductName | All | Yes | Must not exist yet and must not repeat in the file |
| ProductCode | All | No | Must not be used yet; empty = numbered automatically |
| Barcode | All | No | English letters, digits and symbols, up to 100 characters; must not be used by any item, variant or unit; empty = generated automatically |
| Unit | All | Yes | Name of an existing unit |
| Category | All | Yes | Name of an existing category |
| Tax | All | No | Name of an active tax; empty = the company's default tax |
| SalesRate, PurchaseRate | All | No | Prices, 0 or more; empty = 0 |
| Description | All | Services | A service's description (required). For goods it is saved as the item's note |
| Brand | Goods | Yes | Name of an existing brand |
| Warehouse | Goods | Yes | Name of an existing warehouse; becomes the item's default warehouse and receives its opening stock |
| TrackInventory | Goods | No | Yes or No; empty = Yes. No = non-stock goods (no stock count) |
| ReorderLevel | Goods | No | Low-stock level in the base unit |
| OpeningStock | Goods | No | Quantity on hand, in the base unit |
| ServiceType | Services | No | Name of an existing service type |
Names are matched without regard to capital letters or extra spaces. Type numbers with a dot for decimals (12.5). Services don't use Brand, Warehouse, TrackInventory, ReorderLevel or OpeningStock.
Variants, batches, expiry tracking, extra units and pictures can't be imported. Add them on the item page after the import. See Items and services.
Opening stock
Rows with an OpeningStock quantity get opening stock dated today, saved as one Opening stock adjustment per warehouse. Each row is valued at its PurchaseRate, so a row with opening stock needs a PurchaseRate above 0. See Opening stock and stock adjustments.
Opening stock also needs the Stock Adjustment create permission. Without it, leave OpeningStock empty and enter the stock later.
Sample data
Load sample data shows the sample items in the preview: a pharmacy with 250 items, the same rows as the Sample Items sheet. About 185 are medicines by generic name, form and strength (for example Paracetamol 500 mg Tablets or Ceftriaxone 1 g Powder for Injection), with the pack size, prescription or over-the-counter and storage in the description. About 50 are supplies, devices, baby and personal care items (one item per size, volume or flavor), and 15 are pharmacy services such as a blood glucose test or home delivery. Prices are in Iraqi dinars, and most goods come with opening stock. Nothing is saved until you click Import.
Load sample data is on free plans (Demo and Training) only. On a paid plan the button is hidden; the template's Sample Items sheet is still there to copy rows from.
The import never adds units, categories, brands or service types. So the sample uses the names you have: your first warehouse, your default tax, the sample's unit, category and brand when you have one with that name, otherwise your first unit, category and brand. A sample service type you don't have is left empty. If you have no unit, category, brand or warehouse at all, add one first.
Limits
The import is blocked when your items plus the rows in the file would be more than your plan allows. To export your existing items to Excel, use the export on the item list.