Excel Import App
User Guide

Excel Import App User Guide

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Excel Import App User Guide

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Content1.

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3

2.

How to Use Excel Import App ............................................................................................................................................. 4
2.1

Import a Spreadsheet .................................................................................................................................................. 4

2.2

Supported SharePoint Column Types ................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix 1: Subscription Management ................................................................................................................................. 13

Excel Import App User Guide

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Page 3Introduction

SharePoint Excel Import App allows business users to import any Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx, .xls, or .csv file)
into a SharePoint Online list and map data fields manually or automatically.
Using Excel Import App, users can import data to most built-in types of SharePoint columns, includingSingle Line of Text, Multiple Lines of Text, Choice, Number, Date and Time, Currency, People or Group,Lookup, Yes/No and Hyperlink or Pictures.
This user guide is used to instruct user on how to use this app.

For the latest copy of this and other guides, please visit:
http://www.boostsolutions.com/download-documentation.html

Excel Import App User Guide2.

How to Use Excel Import App

2.1

Import a Spreadsheet

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To import a Spreadsheet, you must have at least Add Items and Edit Items permissions in the list or be amember of the SharePoint Online group who has Add Items and Edit Items permissions in the list.
a.

Enter the list that you want to import a spreadsheet into. (Enter the specific folder, you can import aspreadsheet to the folder.)b.

Click Import Excel in the top action bar. (Import Excel is unavailable in classic SharePoint experience.)c.

In the Excel Import dialog box, in Import from Spreadsheet section, drag the Excel file you intend
to import to the dotted box area (or click Drag and drop or click here to select an Excel file tochoose an Excel or CSV file).

d.

Once the Excel file is uploaded, the sheets included will be loaded and available for import. In theSheet section, select a sheet which you want to import.
Use the Option Skip header row in Excel to decide whether or not to import the first row. This
option is enabled by default and can be manually disabled if you don’t have field titles in the first row
or if you do not want to use the first row as field titles.

Excel Import App User Guidee.

Page 5In the Column Mapping section, select the columns in Excel and map them to list columns.
By default, the columns with the same name will be automatically mapped whenever a sheet isloaded. Additionally, required columns will be marked with a red asterisk and selected automatically.

f.

In the Filter section, select the data range and import the data you need. If you deselect this option,
all rows in the Excel sheet will be imported.

If you select the checkbox next to Import from [] to [] option, and specify the data range such as
from row 2 to 8, then only the specified rows will be imported to the list.

Excel Import App User Guideg.

Page 6In the Import Options section, specify if you want to update SharePoint list using an Excel file.
For first-time import, it is unnecessary to select this option.

But if you have already imported data before, you may need to decide what action should be taken if
duplicates are found when importing Excel to SharePoint.
Before doing this, you need to enable the Check duplicate records when importing option.
Duplicate records can exist in both SharePoint list and Excel Sheet. In order to check duplicate
records, a Key has to be specified to identify duplicate records.
A key column is one that uniquely identifies records between Excel and SharePoint list (like an IDcolumn). You can specify more than one key columns.
NoteOnly columns which have been selected in the Column Mapping section can be utilized as a keycolumn.
These columns can be set as Key columns: Single line of text, Choice, Number, Date and Time,
Currency and Yes/No.

Excel Import App User Guide

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Once the Check duplicate records when importing option is enabled, there are two actions that canbe taken if any duplicates are found when importing Excel to list.
•Skip duplicate records

Excel Import App compares values of key column in Excel and SharePoint Online list, if the values aresame on both sides, the records will be identified as duplicate.
Data which has been identified as duplicate records in an Excel spreadsheet will be skipped whenimporting and only the unique records remaining will be imported.
•Update duplicate records

Excel Import App compares values of Key column in Excel and SharePoint Online list, if the values aresame on both sides, the records will be identified as duplicate.
For the duplicate records, Excel Import App will update information in the duplicate records in theSharePoint Online list with the corresponding information in the Excel spreadsheet. Then, theremaining data of spreadsheet will be regarded as new records and imported accordingly.
Note
If the key column is not unique in Excel or list, the duplicate records will be skipped.
For example, supposed you have set the Order ID column as key:
If there are multiple records in Excel with the same value of Order ID column, these records will beidentified as duplicate and skipped.
If there are multiple records with the same value of Order ID column in list, the records in the list
will be identified as duplicate and skipped.
h.

And then click the Import button.

i.

After the importing process finished, you can see the import results as following. Click the Close
button to exit.

Excel Import App User Guidej.

Page 8The in the list, you will find that all the records of Excel file have been imported into the list asfollowing.

Excel Import App User Guide

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Page 9Supported SharePoint Column Types

Most popular SharePoint columns are supported by Excel Import App, including Single Line of Text,Multiple Lines of Text, Choice, Number, Date and Time, Currency, People or Group, Lookup, Yes/No andHyperlink or Pictures. You can map Excel columns to these SharePoint columns when importing an Excel
file.
However, for some column types, there are some tips you need to take care of:Choice
Choice column is a built-in SharePoint Online column with predefined values, to import values into thiscolumn type, you need to check and make sure the value and case are same in Excel and list.
To import multiple values into a Choice column, the values should be separated by comma “,”.
For example, the values of Category column must be separated by “,” as following, then they can beimported successfully.

Excel Import App User Guide

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Lookup Column
To import value to a SharePoint Lookup column, it requires the value be a text or a number. It means
selected column of In this column should be a Single line of text or Number column.

If you plan to import multiple values into a Choice column, the values should be separated by “;”.
For example, the values of Related Cases column must be separated by “;” as following, then they can beimported to a Lookup column successfully.

Excel Import App User Guide

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Excel Import App User Guide

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Person or Group Column
To import names to a SharePoint Person or Group column, the user’s name in Excel should be a login
name, display name or email address; if you need to import multiple values to this column, the values
should be separated by “;”.
For example, the display name or email address as shown in the figure below can be successfully
imported into the Person or Group Column.

Excel Import App User GuidePage 13Appendix 1: Subscription Management
You can use Excel Import App trial subscription for a period of 30 days since the day you first use it.
If the trial subscription period ends, you will need to buy a subscription. The subscription of Excel Import
App is per site (previously called “site collection”) annually.

Checking Subscription Statusa.

When you open Excel Import dialog, the subscription status will be shown on the top of the dialog.
When the subscription is about to expire within 30 days, the notification message will always show thedays left.

b.

To update the subscription status, please put the mouse on the notification message and click it, thenthe new status will be loaded.
If the subscription status does not change, please clear the cache of browser and click again.

c.

Once the subscription status turns to Your subscription is invalid as following, it means that yoursubcription has expired.

Excel Import App User Guided.

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Please send us (sales@boostsolutions.com) the site URL to proceed a subscription or renewal.

Finding Site Collection URLa.

To get site (previously called site collection) URL, please go to the Active sites page of the new
SharePoint admin center.

b.

Click the site to open a window with site settings. In General tab, click Edit link and then you can get
the site URL.

If your site URL changes, please send us the new URL to update the subscription.