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A CSV import creates and updates Items in one Collection in bulk. Open the Collection, use the Download / Upload List menu above the items table, and choose Upload CSV. This is the Item list — the same data the items table shows. It is a different feature from the print list a print batch produces: that CSV describes Links and codes to send to a printer and is never uploaded back here.

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File requirements

Exceed a limit and the whole upload is refused with a message saying which one — nothing is partially imported. Column headers are matched to the Collection’s fields case-insensitively, by either the field’s key (serial_number) or its label (“Serial Number”). A column that matches nothing is an error, and the rows carrying it are rejected, so the easiest way to build a valid file is to export the Collection first and edit what comes back.

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Each row creates or updates — nothing is deleted

The id column decides which. A row whose id matches an existing Item in this Collection updates that Item; a row with a blank or unrecognized id creates a new one. An import never deletes an Item, and there is no replace mode here — the destructive Collection backup import is a separate feature. If the same id appears twice in one file, the first occurrence is used and the later ones are rejected as duplicates.

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Partial updates are safe

On an update row, columns you left out of the file are preserved rather than blanked. A column that is present but empty is treated as a deliberate “clear this value”. Two related behaviors follow from that:
  • Required fields are only enforced on an update row for columns actually present in that row, so a partial update cannot be rejected over an unrelated required field it never touched.
  • Collection-level field defaults apply to new Items only. An update never has a default written over a column it omitted.

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The preview step

Uploading runs a dry run first. Nothing is written. You get three counts — to create, to update, rejected — and a list of every rejected row with the reason and the column at fault. Download errors gives you a CSV containing just the rejected rows, with your original columns plus an extra Errors column. Fix those rows, upload that file, and you are done — no need to re-upload the whole set. Confirming commits the import. The server re-validates everything and writes only the valid rows, then shows what actually happened.

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What every row is checked against

  • Unknown columns — every column must map to a field on this Collection.
  • Required fields — a blank required value rejects that row.
  • Allowed values — a value outside a field’s Allowed Values list is rejected, unless that field has Allow new values switched on, in which case anything is accepted.
  • Item ID — must be unique in the Collection, and must match the Collection’s Item ID mask if it generates Links from Item IDs.
  • Cell format — numbers as 123 or 123.45; yes/no as true, false, 1 or 0; dates as ISO YYYY-MM-DD only, so 31/12/2026 is rejected; list values separated by semicolons; and every row must have the same number of columns as the header.
Bad rows are rejected one by one. The good rows in the same file still import, and a row with several problems reports all of them at once so you can fix it in a single pass.

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Columns that are ignored

image, created_at, updated_at and internal columns are skipped on import. In particular, a CSV cannot set, change, or clear an Item’s photo. One gotcha when you re-import a file QRtub exported: values beginning with =, +, -, @ or a tab are exported with a leading apostrophe so spreadsheets do not read them as formulas, and the apostrophe is not stripped on the way back in. A negative number such as -40 comes back as '-40 and is rejected as an invalid number for that column. Delete the apostrophe before importing. A row that creates an Item also mints a Link for it, following the Collection’s rule for new Items — exactly as if you had added the Item by hand. If a Link cannot be minted, the Item is still created and the row gets a warning telling you why, such as an Item ID that does not match the Collection’s mask.