Importing and exporting Excel sheets

Several project screens let you work in Excel: export what is already there, or fill in a template and bring it back to add and update many rows at once. The app checks every row before it writes anything, so a sheet with a mistake never half-imports.

Where to find it

The Export and Import buttons sit above the list on these project tabs:

Tab	What the sheet holds	Permissions it needs
Structure	units (a row names its tower and floor)	Towers, Floors & Units
Parking	parking slots (a row names its area)	Parking
Construction Stages	stages: names, order, share and expected dates	Construction Stages
Unit Pricing	one row per charge line of a pricing plan	Pricing Plans

• Export (hover: "Download this list as an Excel sheet") needs the View permission on the tab's module and on Projects.
• Import needs both the Create and the Edit permission on the tab's module. Without them the button isn't shown.

Society members ("Import members") and a project's landowners and PAP tenants ("Import landowners & PAP tenants") have their own sheet dialog with the same check-then-import flow: see Society, Society & Tenants and Import society members from Excel.

Before you start

Some things must exist before a sheet can refer to them. For example, charge components must already be set up before a pricing sheet uses them. A sheet creates towers, floors, parking areas and pricing plans it names that don't exist yet, and the preview tells you when it will.

What you see

Import opens a dialog titled for the sheet: "Import units", "Import parking slots", "Import construction stages" or "Import unit pricing". It has:

• The explanation "The workbook has a fixed set of columns, and the closed ones are dropdowns fed by its Lists sheet. Export or download the template, fill it in, and bring it back.", a line on what this sheet does (for units: "A row names its tower and floor; a tower or floor that is not there yet is created. Status is not in the sheet — it follows estimates, offers and bookings."), and Download template. The template is an Excel workbook whose closed columns are dropdowns, filled from this project and your organization's lookups.
• Choose Excel file (later Choose another file). The app accepts .xlsx files, and .csv files saved from an older template.
• A preview, once a file is chosen: how many rows are "to add", "to update", "skipped" and "with errors", and a list of the rows that have errors or notes, as "Row N" with the problem underneath.
• "What each column takes": a guide to every column.

What you can do

Export

Click Export to download the current list as an Excel file named after the project. It imports straight back, so you can export, change values in Excel and import the same file.

Import a sheet

1. Click Import, then Download template (or start from an export).
2. Fill it in. Leave the example row as it is; it is skipped.
3. Click Choose Excel file and pick your file. The app checks it straight away ("Checking…") and writes nothing yet.
4. Read the preview:
   • "Nothing has been written. Fix the rows below in your sheet and choose the file again." means some rows have errors. Fix them in Excel and choose the file again.
   • "Checked, nothing written yet. Use Import to apply it." means every row is good.
5. Click Import N rows. The rows are written together; you see "N added, N updated." and "Imported into …".
6. Click Done (before the import runs, the same button reads Cancel).

The Import N rows button stays greyed out until the check passes. Hover it to see why:

• "Choose a filled-in sheet first"
• "Fix the N rows listed below, then choose the file again"
• "This sheet has no rows to add or update"

Things to know

• All or nothing. If any row fails, nothing is imported. When the import runs, it runs in one go.
• Existing rows are updated, not duplicated. A row that matches an existing record (by its id column, or by its natural key such as the unit number on its floor) updates that record.
• Some things never come from a sheet. Unit status follows estimates, offers and bookings; parking slot allocation and achieving a construction stage are done on their screens.
• Dropdowns are checked twice. Excel refuses a value outside a closed dropdown ("Pick one of the values listed on the Lists sheet."), and the app checks every cell again when you import.
• Row errors name the column first, then the problem: "…: required", "… is not a number", "… is not a whole number", "… is out of range", "… is not a date (use YYYY-MM-DD)", "… is not Yes or No", "… is not one of …", or "…: no … called "…"" (followed by the known names) when a name doesn't match anything set up.
• Common file errors: "The sheet is missing the column(s): …. Download the template and fill that in.", "That file could not be read as an Excel workbook (…)", "The file is not readable: save it as .xlsx from Excel", "The workbook has no rows", "The file has no header row", "The sheet has a header but no rows" and "The file is empty".
• Downloads are recorded. Every export and template download is noted in the audit log.
• While the file is still being checked, or when the whole file was refused, the greyed button says "This sheet has no rows to add or update". Read the message in the dialog for the real reason.

Related

• Structure
• Parking
• Construction Stages
• Unit Pricing
• Society
• Greyed-out buttons
• Society & Tenants
• Import society members from Excel
• Excel sheets: check first, then apply