The Data Import module is used to import data from a spreadsheet/CSV file to your Megaventory account. The data import procedure is a two step process. The user should:
1) download the excel template and fill the data according to the template specifications and
2) save the file as CSV (or Unicode CSV/TXT) and upload it to Megaventory.
Choosing Data Type to Import
For the sake of this exercise, let's assume we are importing Products and Services:
To start, one should click on the download link (Excel icon). The spreadsheet includes only one row (the header).
The mechanism of filling in the rows of the excel template and uploading the file to the account is explained by using the example of the Products and Services template (the procedure to import other types of data is fairly similar).
Step 1 - Filling the Rows of the Excel/Spreadsheet Template
The header of the downloaded file includes a few columns, including the SKU (a mandatory field is denoted by the red border in its header) and the Product Description.
One should add as many rows as the products/services that they intend to import in the account.
Step 2 - Saving the file as 'CSV' or 'Unicode CSV/TXT' and importing to Megaventory
After finishing with adding rows, the user should save the file as ‘CSV (Comma delimited)’ -or- 'Unicode TXT' or 'Unicode CSV' (in case the file contains Unicode characters, for example Chinese, Greek, Arabic etc. characters) locally in the computer. The file may be selected by clicking the Click here to select a .txt or .csv file to upload option.
In case the import is successful, a success message is displayed. In case the import finishes with errors, a warning message is displayed for those problematic rows that need correction.
If an error is raised, all correct rows are inserted and only the problematic ones are not inserted. This is true in the import of all entities (for example Products, Product Categories etc.) except in the case of the import of documents (because this is a sensitive operation that affects stock and product costs). In the latter case, if an error is raised, zero documents are inserted in the Megaventory account.
In case the user chooses to import suppliers or clients, the user access permissions for those newly added suppliers/clients will be set to Read and Write for the user that initiated the data import. Access permissions for those suppliers/clients for the rest of the users (including the administrator) will be set according to the Grant permissions to all users option in the excel template.
In case the user chooses to import inventory locations, the user access permissions for those newly added inventory locations will be set to Read and Write only for the user that initiated the data import. User access permissions will be set to None for the rest of the users of the account (including the administrator).
Finally, the import tool can also be used for updating your data. For example if you want to update one or more attributes of some of your existing products you can use the same existing product codes (SKUs) in the import file template but modify the rest of the data (the product attributes you want to update) in the spreadsheet. If you are having problems importing files containing non-latin characters, you should save your file as 'Unicode TXT' (instead of .CSV) and try importing again.