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Items: Import from Excel or CSV

Add or update many items at once from an Excel or CSV file. Download the sample or your own items, check the file row by row before anything is saved, download the problems, and import.

Who uses it:OwnerManagerWhere:Back office
On this page

Import reads an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file, one item per row, and adds or updates your items from it. Use it to load a whole menu on the first day, or to change many items at once: download your own items, change them in Excel, and import the file back.

Nothing is saved until you press Import. First the cloud checks the file and tells you, row by row, what each one would do.

Before you start

  • You need Items, Edit in your back office access group. To have missing categories made for you, you need the right to add categories too.
  • Units, taxes and kitchen stations named in the file must exist already. Categories can be made by the import.
  • One file holds up to 5,000 items and 5 MB.

Open Import

  1. In the menu, under MASTERS, click Menu, then Items.
  2. Click Import, beside + New item. The window Import items opens.

Step 1: get the format

Import items, step 1: start from the sample, or from your own items.
  1. Download the sample file: item-import-sample.xlsx or .csv: the header, a few example rows (codes starting EXAMPLE-), and in the Excel file an Instructions sheet with every column and your own categories, units, taxes and kitchen stations to copy from.
  2. Download my items in this format: my-items.xlsx or .csv: every item you have, in the import's columns. Change it in Excel and import it back.
  3. Show the columns and the rules: shows, in the window, the same rules and columns the Instructions sheet has, and your own categories, units, taxes, kitchen stations and item types.

The rules

  • The first row is the header. Columns are found by their header, so you may delete the columns you do not need and put the rest in any order. Capitals and spaces in a header do not matter.
  • The Item Code decides what a row does. A code you already have updates that item. A new code adds an item. A row with no code is a problem.
  • An update changes only the columns in the file, and a blank cell means "leave it as it is": it never clears a value. To clear something, open the item.
  • A new item takes, for every column missing or blank, the starting value the item window gives.
  • Every value is checked by the same rules as the item window's Save.
  • A category, unit, tax or kitchen station is written by its name or its code. A missing category is made when Create categories that are missing is ticked (Parent > Child makes each level needed). A missing unit, tax or kitchen station is always a problem: set it up first.
  • The same code twice in one file is a problem on the later row.
  • Importing the same file again changes nothing.
  • Delete the example rows (EXAMPLE- codes) before you import.

The columns

ColumnNeededWhat it takesBlank on a new item
Item CodeAlwaysUp to 30 charactersA problem
NameFor a new itemUp to 150 characters—
Second NameNoThe name in your second language, up to 150Blank
Short NameNoUp to 50, for narrow kitchen paper and small buttonsBlank
CategoryNoA category's name or code; Parent > Child for one inside anotherNo category
PriceNo12, 12.5, 12.50, RM 12.50 or 1,250.00; two decimals at most0.00
CostNoAs the price, four decimals at most0.00
Minimum PriceNoAs the priceNone
Item TypeNoNormal, Combo, Open price or Raw material (or N, C, O, R)Normal
Combo PricingNoFor a Combo: Fixed or SumFixed
UnitNoA unit's code or name; it must existNo unit
TaxNoFollow outlet, No tax, or the code or name of a set of taxes; it must existNo tax
Price Includes TaxNoyes or no, for an item with its own taxesAs its taxes are set
Track StockNoyes or no; never yes on a Combono
BarcodeNoUp to 50 charactersBlank
Kitchen StationNoA kitchen station's code or name; it must existFollows its category
No Kitchen PrintNoyes or nono
Open PriceNoyes or no; not for a Raw materialno
Sold By WeightNoyes or nono
Sell On POSNoyes or noyes
Show On QR MenuNoyes or noyes
Required StaffNoyes or nono
Earns CommissionNoyes or no; the rates are set in the itemno
ColourNo#RRGGBB, for example #FFCC00None
Display OrderNoA whole number, 0 or more0
DescriptionNoShown on the QR menu, up to 1,000 charactersBlank
ActiveNoyes or no; no is switched off, kept for past billsyes

Yes or no takes yes / no, y / n, true / false, 1 / 0 or 是 / 否.

Not in the file (set them in the item; an import leaves them as they are): pictures, modifier groups, set contents, recipes, stock on hand, prices per outlet and price levels, commission rates, extra kitchen stations, and the service charge.

Step 2: choose a file and check it

  1. Under 2. Choose a file and check it, choose your file. The check starts by itself: Checking the file…
  2. Leave Create categories that are missing ticked to have new categories made, or untick it to treat a missing category as a problem. Changing the tick checks the file again.
  3. Read the four counts, and the rows.
  4. Changed the file in Excel? Save it, choose it again, or press Check again.
Step 2: the check says what each row would do. Nothing is saved yet.
  1. The file: an Excel workbook (.xlsx) or a CSV. The button's words are your browser's own, such as Choose File or Browse…. Nothing is saved by the check.
  2. Create categories that are missing: ticked, a category the file names and you do not have is made at the import. Unticked, it is a problem on that row.
  3. Check again: checks the same file again, for example after a unit was added in another tab.
  4. The counts: to add, to update, unchanged and with problems. Click one to show only those rows.
  5. with problems: rows that will be skipped. The rest can still be imported.
  6. The lines above the rows: Categories that will be created:, and, in amber, columns that are Not read, because these columns are not part of an item:.
  7. Problems only: shows only the rows with a problem. Show all … rows goes back.
  8. Download the problems: the problem rows only, in your file's kind, named after your file with -problems, to fix and import again.
  9. What happens: Will be added, Will be updated, Unchanged or Problem.
  10. Details: for an update, each change, old → new; for a problem, what is wrong, naming the row.
  11. 3. Import: what pressing Import will do.
  12. Import 42 items: imports the good rows. Grey when there is nothing to save.

The window shows the first 300 rows; the counts and Download the problems cover the whole file.

Step 3: import

  1. Press Import 42 items. The button says Importing….
  2. The big green SAVED says 12 added, 30 updated, and a green line says what was done: Imported: 12 items added, 30 items updated, 255 already as the file says. Categories created: Desserts.
  3. Rows that were skipped stay listed as problems. Press Download the problems, fix them in Excel, and import that file.
  4. Press Close.

The POS apps take the items at their next contact with the cloud. Pressing Import twice, or a retry, never imports the file twice.

Change many items through Excel

  1. Press Download my items in this format, Excel (.xlsx).
  2. Open my-items.xlsx. Change what you need: prices, names, categories. Delete the columns you do not change, if you like; never the Item Code column.
  3. Save it, then choose it under step 2.
  4. Check the rows to update: their Details show each change.
  5. Press Import.

What if…