Importing Data
It is possible to upload lists of customers, products and suppliers to BestInvoicing. Uploading data can be done using a csv-file.
What Is a CSV File?
A CSV (Comma Separated Values) file is a special file type that you can create or edit in a spreadsheet program like Excel. You can simply 'Save as ... .csv' to turn it into a csv file. The values in a csv file can be separated by comma (,) or semicolon (;).
Customers and Suppliers
The process for customers and suppliers is similar. In this section, we will only talk about 'customers', but the steps apply to 'suppliers' as well.
Example of a basic customer list in Excel:
If your customer list contains a 'Last Name' and 'First Name' column, you need to merge them in your .csv file before importing them info BestInvoicing.
Importing Data
To upload your csv file into BestInvoicing, go to your email address at the top right and click it to open the menu.
Select 'Company Settings'.
Navigate to the 'Import Data' tab.
Click the green button 'Import Data'.
You are now taken to the first import step.
Upload your csv file via 'Choose File'.
Indicate the type of data: Customers or Suppliers.
Indicate the separator used in your csv file. By default the semicolon is used. However, you may also have used a comma, in which case you must enter the comma character here.
Indicate whether the first row of the file contains titles or not.
Click 'Next'.
Matching Your Data to the Available Bestinvoicing Fields
Once your file is uploaded, you need to match the columns from your file, to the available data fields in BestInvoicing. Matching a field is easy.
If you click the line next to the 'Name' field in BestInvoicing, all column names from your import file will appear. Example: select 'Column 0: Name' as a match for the BestInvoicing field 'Name'. For the field 'Postal Code', select 'Column 3: Postal Code', etc. until all your fields are matched.
The matched result may look like this:
Click 'Next' to start the import. This process may take a few minutes. After import you will see how many customers have been created or updated.
Products
The procedure for importing products is similar to that of customers.
Example of a basic product list in Excel:
Importing Data
To upload your csv file into BestInvoicing, go to your email address at the top right and click it to open the menu.
Select 'Company Settings'.
Navigate to the 'Import Data' tab.
Click the green button 'Import Data'.
You are now taken to the first import step.
Upload your csv file via 'Choose File'.
Indicate the type of data: Products.
Indicate what separator is used in your csv file. By default, the semicolon is used. However, you may also have used a comma, in which case you must enter the comma character here.
Give your import a name; by default the date of the current day is used. You can also enter the name of a new or existing product group (see below).
Indicate which separator is used for decimals (e.g. purchase price = 74.50 USD).
Indicate whether the first row of the file contains titles or not.
Click 'Next'.
Matching Your Data to the Available Bestinvoicing Fields
Once your file is uploaded, you need to match the columns from your file, to the available data fields in BestInvoicing. Matching a field is easy.
If you click on the line next to the field 'Basic Name' in BestInvoicing, for example, all column names from your import file will appear. In this example it is up to you to select 'Column 1: Name' as a match for the BestInvoicing field 'Basic Name'. For the field 'Purchase Price' you select 'Column 3: Purchase price', etc. until all your fields are matched.
The matched result may look like this:
Click 'Next' to start the import. This process may take a few minutes. After import you will see how many products have been created or updated.
Advanced Features
Updating an Existing Customer or Product
BestInvoicing allows to update existing customers or existing products via the import functionality. To select your appropriate update method, you need to know if you imported a 'Unique external ID' in your initial import, or not.
Case A: You Imported Your Own ‘Unique External ID'
This is the case in the example below. The customer assigned his own product number ('SC00..') - not an automatically assigned product number suggested by BestInvoicing.
When importing this file, the column 'Product Number' was linked to the BestInvoicing field 'Sequence Number' but also to the BestInvoicing field 'Unique External ID'. As a result, these products will not receive a default BestInvoicing numbering, but will follow the format 'SC00 ...' as supplied by the import.
If this csv file is now updated and thus re-imported in BestInvoicing, the 'Unique External ID' will be recognized by the software. Information that has been changed/updated will be overwritten for the product linked to this ID. The software understands that an existing item needs to be updated, and no new item needs to be created.
Case B: You Did Not Import Any ‘Unique External ID’ Yourself
This is for example the case in the customer list example. In the list below, the BestInvoicing user has not assigned a customer number.
When importing this file, BestInvoicing will automatically assign a customer number. If the user would update this csv file, BestInvoicing would not know to which customer which updated information snippet is linked. So before you can upload a new csv file, you must first export your (customer/product) data from BestInvoicing, including the field 'Unique external ID'. How to export your data can be read here.
You can edit/update this exported csv file, in order to re-import it into BestInvoicing afterwards. If this csv file is now updated and re-imported into BestInvoicing, the 'Unique External ID' will be recognized. Information that has been changed or updated will be overwritten for the customer or product linked to this ID and no new product or customer entry will be created.
Language
If you use the extension 'Foreign-Language Customers' BestInvoicing allows you to include translations of fields during import. Examples: a product description in NL, FR and EN, an additional description in FR and IT, ... A multilingual one-time import avoids a lot of manual translation work.
You then provide the csv file with e.g. extra columns containing the relevant translation:
Product Group
An import of products will automatically create a new product group, containing the products you have imported. It may look like this:
You can change the name of this product group:
during the import process: when asked for a name for the import during the first step of the import, by default the import date is mentioned. However, you can also change this to the name of your product group, e.g. 'Parts'.
by changing the name of the product group in the overview window of your product group via 'Edit'.
If you want to import products that belong to new or existing product groups, you should provide a column in your csv file containing the relevant product group names. As values you can:
use the name of an already existing product group, e.g. 'Devices'. BestInvoicing will then add those particular products to the existing 'Devices' product group during import.
enter a new name for a product group, e.g. 'Parts'. BestInvoicing will then create the products belonging to that product group in your csv file during import, and assign them to the newly created product group 'Parts'.
Empty Goods
If you have activated the 'Empty Goods' module, you can also include a column with the empty goods prices per product in your csv file to be imported. Read more about empty goods in BestInvoicing.
Stock Management
If you have activated the 'Stock Management' module, you can include a column with the stock numbers per product in your csv file to be imported. Read more about stock management in BestInvoicing.
Price Segmentation
If you have activated the module 'Price Segmentation' and created the necessary price segments, you can add a column with the different segments to your import file. Read more about price segmentation in BestInvoicing.
Last updated
