Import orders

Import Orders creates orders in bulk for one customer from a CSV file, and lists every import you have run with how many orders it created, skipped or could not create. Admins and customer service staff use it when a customer sends a spreadsheet instead of entering orders one at a time.

Where to find it: Import Orders in the main menu Who can use it: anyone with permission to import orders.

When you use this

• A customer sends a spreadsheet of deliveries for the week.
• You are moving a customer’s open orders into Tracovy.
• You uploaded a file, fixed some rows, and want to load it again without creating duplicates.

Starting an import

Field	What it means	Required	Why it matters
Customer	The customer every order in the file belongs to.	Yes	SKUs in the file are looked up in this customer’s catalogue only. One file is one customer.
CSV file	The file to load.	Yes, a .csv file of at most 5 MB	Save from your spreadsheet as CSV (comma separated).

Start import uploads the file. It shows “Starting…” while uploading and then “Import started.”. The file is processed in the background; the import appears in the list below and its status updates when it is done.

File layout

The first row must be a header row. Column names are matched without case or spaces, and the columns can be in any order. A column Tracovy does not know is reported as a warning and otherwise ignored. These are the Standard columns that matter most; the template has the full list.

Column	What it means	Required
Order Number	The customer’s order number. Rows with the same Order Number are one order.	Yes
Recipient Name	The recipient’s name.	Yes
Address 1	The first line of the address.	Yes
Postcode	Postcode.	Yes
Town/City	Town or city.	No
Mobile Number	The recipient’s mobile number.	No
Action	Blank or DELIVER to deliver the line, COLLECT to collect it.	No
QTY	How many of this line. A blank QTY counts as 1, with a warning.	No
Code	The product code from the customer’s catalogue. A code not in the catalogue is only a warning.	A line needs a Code or a Title/Description
Title/Description	What the line is, for a line with no Code.	A line needs a Code or a Title/Description

The order details (recipient, address, instructions) are taken from the first row of each Order Number. Later rows with the same Order Number only add lines; if their order details differ, that is a warning.

The template

Click Template above the upload form to download order-import.csv. It has the Standard column headers and a sample row for each case, and its codes all start with EXAMPLE-:

Trading Name,Order Number,Recipient Reference,Recipient Name,Address 1,Address 2,Town/City,Postcode,Country,Home Number,Work Number,Mobile Number,Email Address,Action,QTY,Code,Title/Description,Parts,Cube,Weight (KG),Delivery Charge,Delivery Instructions,Other Instructions,Timed Service,Service Type,Service Level,Delivery Point,Unpack Items,Packaging Disposal,Assemble,Dis-Assemble,Collect Disposal,Confirmed Delivery Date,Priority
,EXAMPLE-1001,,Jane Example,1 Example Street,,Testford,ZZ1 1AA,,,,07700900001,,,1,EXAMPLE-SKU-1,Example sofa,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,EXAMPLE-1001,,,,,,,,,,,,,2,EXAMPLE-SKU-2,Example cushion,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,EXAMPLE-1002,,Sam Sample,2 Sample Road,,Testford,ZZ1 2BB,,,,07700900002,,COLLECT,1,EXAMPLE-SKU-3,Example table,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is two orders: EXAMPLE-1001 with two lines (the recipient is on the first row only) and EXAMPLE-1002, a collection with one line.

Caution

A row whose Code starts with EXAMPLE- is refused with “This is a sample row from the template. Delete the EXAMPLE- rows before you import.” Delete the sample rows, or replace them with real orders, before you upload the file.

What every imported order gets

• Order type is always Warehouse (pick stock).
• Stock is reserved for each line from the customer’s stock, as for an order placed by hand.
• The order is released straight away, and the address is looked up on the map.
• Service options, drop time and other settings come from the customer’s defaults.
• No email address is imported, so the recipient only receives text messages (if they have a phone number). The Order / Created message is off by default; see Notifications.

Note

Re-uploading the same file is safe: orders whose reference already exists for that customer are counted as Skipped, not created again.

The import list

Column	What it means
(arrow)	Shown when the import has errors. Click the row to open the error report.
File	The name of the file you uploaded.
Customer	The customer the orders were created for.
Status	pending (waiting to start), processing, completed, completed_with_errors (some orders could not be created) or error (the file could not be processed at all).
Imported / rows	Orders created, against the number of data rows in the file. Rows are counted one per line, so a file of 10 rows that makes 4 orders shows 4 / 10.
Skipped	Orders not created because their reference already exists for the customer.
Errors	Orders that could not be created.
Started	When the import was started.

Errors

Click a row with errors to see them. Each error shows the row number in the file (the header is row 1) and a message. The row number is the first row of the order that failed; one bad line fails the whole order, and the other orders in the file still go in.

Message	What went wrong	How to fix it
Missing required “reference”.	The reference cell is blank.	Fill in a reference.
Missing required recipient name or address.	recipient_name or address_line1 is blank on the order’s first row.	Fill both in on the first row of that reference.
Unknown SKU “…”	The product code is not in this customer’s catalogue (or is blank).	Check the code against the customer’s products, or add the product first.
Invalid quantity for SKU “…”	qty is blank, not a number, or less than 1.	Use a whole number of 1 or more.
Quantity for SKU “…” exceeds the maximum of 100.	One row asks for more than 100 units.	Split it across rows or orders.
This is a sample row from the template. Delete the EXAMPLE- rows before you import.	The Code starts with EXAMPLE-.	Delete the sample rows from the file.

Fix the rows and upload the file again. Orders already created are skipped, so only the fixed ones are added.

Buttons and actions

Action	What it does
Start import	Uploads the file and starts processing it. Enabled once a customer and a file are chosen.
Click a row with errors	Shows or hides its error report.

Tips and common mistakes

• Save the spreadsheet as CSV, not as an Excel workbook.
• Keep the recipient details identical on every row of one reference - only the first row is read, so a correction on a later row is ignored.
• Use product codes exactly as they are in the customer’s catalogue.
• Live (cross-dock) orders, collections, delivery dates and email addresses cannot be imported. Add them on the order screen afterwards.

Related

• Create an order
• Open Orders
• Notifications