Importing products and suppliers from Excel
How to bring your whole product list, with prices, opening stock, reorder levels, brands, categories and suppliers, into StyleDesk from one Excel file.
Typing in a few hundred products one at a time takes an afternoon. With the Excel import it takes a few minutes: download the template, fill it in, check it and import. You see every row before anything is saved, and uploading the same file twice does not create duplicates.
1. Get the template
- Open Inventory → Products and press Import from Excel.
- Before you start, choose the branch at the top of the page that the opening stock and reorder levels belong to (see switching branch). With All Branches selected, those columns are ignored.
- Under 1. Get the template, press Download template (.xlsx).
The workbook has four sheets, Products, Brands, Categories and Suppliers, plus a How to use sheet. Usually you only need the Products sheet: a brand, category or supplier typed on a product row is created for you if it is new. The grey example rows under the headers are skipped on upload; replace them or delete them.
The Products columns
| Column | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Product Name * | Required. The name as it should appear on bills. |
| SKU | Your own code. Leave blank and one is assigned (PRD-00001 and so on). |
| Barcode | Digits only. Leave blank and one is generated. |
| Category, Brand | Created automatically if new. |
| Cost Price, Retail Price | Numbers only, no Rs: 1500 or 1500.50. |
| Opening Stock | Units on the shelf today, for new products only. |
| Reorder Level | The low-stock point for the selected branch. |
| Preferred Supplier | Who you usually buy it from at this branch. Created if new. |
| Supplier SKU | The supplier's own code for the product. |
| Description | Optional notes. |
Format the Barcode column as Text in Excel so long numbers are not shortened. Keep the sheet and column names as they are.
2. Upload and check
- Under 2. Upload your file, choose your .xlsx file and press Check file. Nothing is saved yet.
- The Preview shows a summary per sheet (New, Updated, No change, Needs fixing) and then every row with its result and notes, such as the SKU assigned or the opening stock going to your branch.
- If any row needs fixing, the problems are listed at the top with the sheet and row number. Correct them in your file and press Upload a corrected file. Nothing is imported until every row is valid.
- When the preview is clean, press Import now. You are taken back to the list with a message saying how many products were added and updated.
How existing products are matched
- A row whose SKU, barcode or exact name matches an existing product updates that product instead of adding a new one.
- Blank cells keep the current value, so you can upload just a name and a new retail price to change prices.
- Opening Stock is used only when a product is created. To change the stock of an existing product, use a stock adjustment or a purchase order.
- Up to 1,000 rows per sheet, and files up to 2 MB.
Suppliers, brands and categories on their own
The Suppliers, Brands and Categories pages each have their own Import from Excel button with a single-sheet template. A name that already exists is not added twice; for suppliers, the phone, email and address are updated from the sheet.
Owners and managers can import. For importing customers, services and staff, see Excel imports.