One of the great features of Evolution X is import routines to introduce your own content to your website. You can import accounts, users into existing accounts, addresses, cost centres, cost centre budgets, departments, department budgets, quick list, quick list items / users. This article will go through tips and tricks to achieve an error free import.
Evolution X features detailed reports on your imports to let you know where things went wrong. You also have a pre-import view of your content to see if anything needs to be immediately corrected. Reports can then be viewed to correct any further, in depth issues with your import routine.
You can access the import menu within various modules in Evolution X. Below is an example of Accounts import.
The first step of the import process is to download your template. Templates can usually be downloaded from the corresponding module screen. This file is in .csv format, which is supported by Microsoft Excel.
On a typical import screen, you will see three tabs as following :
File Upload is where you upload your import file. Please ensure that you are downloading the Evolution X import template file and completing it (instead of using your own file!)
Next, you will notice a selection of Import Rules. These rules describe what is compulsory in your import and what is optional. Please ensure that you have thoroughly read and followed these rules. Though column data may not be required, all imports require all headers to remain on the import.
Finally, you have access to your Import History. Here, you can view the history of all the imports done for the particular section.
If you get failures you will know by either the entire report failing and will be highlighted in pink, or if you have some failures they'll be noted by the pink number. Green number signifies the number of successful records and yellow for duplicates.
You can request a report from this screen on your import by pressing "Request Report". Once ready, your report will be shown as a HTML or PDF file. You will notice that a successful report shows in green and a failed one shows in pink.
To demonstrate, I am using the Import Accounts option. Click on the "Download Template" button from the section where we wish to import.
💡Pro Tip : Sometimes you will find the Download Template button on the actual import screen, depending on which admin screen module you are in. So don't panic if you don't see this option immediately 😀.
Once downloaded and opened, we will then be presented with this spreadsheet.
We should then take a look at the import rules and determine how our spreadsheet information should be completed.
💡 Here are some handy tips to ensure your import goes in smoothly.
(UK only) A typical error is forgetting to format your date(s) section in your import file according to import rules. Date format requires to be in Y-m-d. Date formatting resets once you close your import file and reopen it again (to match your region). Please read this handy article for more explanation.
Please use a .csv format for import files. Please remember this when saving the modified template excel file before you do your import.
Please ensure that your file is free of any formatting as this can also cause issues sometimes.
You may not need to enter the unique ID while creating a New Record. For example in our account import, EVO Customer ID will not be required if you are creating the account for the first time.
Please use a capital Y or N, instead of y or n.
Depending on how much data there is in your spreadsheet, it can take anything from 30 seconds to 5 minutes to import. You can check the progress of your import in the Imports section.
Once successful, your import status will be verified with a green tick. You can click on the blue colored text (categories in this instance) to get a report on your import.
When clicked, you will be taken to a screen where you can request a report, to gain insight on why the import failed.
Keywords for this article :
Import Accounts, Users Into Existing Accounts, addresses, Cost Centres, Cost Centres Budgets, Departments, Departments Budgets, Quick Lists, Quick Lists Items/Users, Import Products, Import Product Additional Categories, Import Product Attributes, Import Product Cost, Import Product Keywords, Import Product Additional Images, Import Product Relationships, Inventory, Item Swaps, Import Categories, importing products into categories