Import, export and data · How-to
Import clients, services or other records from a file
Bring your list over from Altegio, YCLIENTS, EasyWeek, Appointer, Fresha or a spreadsheet. You see what the file would do before anything is saved.
Get the file
Export the list from your old system as it comes — a CSV file or an Excel workbook (.xlsx) — or save your spreadsheet as either. A CSV with semicolons, or in a Cyrillic encoding from Excel, is read as it is; from a workbook, the first sheet is read. An old .xls file is not: save it as .xlsx or CSV. Keep the old system’s own column names: Setvos knows the usual ones. A long history can go in as several files, one per period.
Start the import
Open Settings › Data, find the kind of record the file holds and press “Import”, then choose the file. A preview opens below the list; nothing is saved yet. Not sure of the format? “Download a template” gives you a file with the right columns and an example row.
Say where the file came from
In the preview, under “Coming from”, choose Altegio / YCLIENTS, EasyWeek, Appointer, Fresha or Excel / Google Sheets. This teaches Setvos that system’s column names; “Any system” works for a file that uses ours.
Match the columns
The preview says which columns were matched and which will be ignored. For a column Setvos did not recognise, pick the field it belongs to, or “Don't import”. When AI is switched on, “Suggest with AI” proposes a match for the columns left over.
Say who owns the contacts and deals
Imported contacts and deals belong to you, unless the file has an owner column holding a team member’s email address; then each row goes to that person. An email that belongs to nobody in your team, or to someone your role does not let you give records to, is listed as a problem on its line.
Choose what happens to duplicates
For contacts, companies and products, choose under “Rows that already exist” between “Leave them alone” and “Update them from the file”. An update writes only the cells the file fills in — a blank cell never wipes a value you already have. Only contacts your role lets you see are updated; a row matching a colleague’s contact is skipped as a duplicate.
Past visits: masters, statuses and new clients
Import clients first, then services and prices, then past visits, so each visit finds its client and its services. A visits file names its masters: in the preview, match each name to a person in your team, or keep it as a former master — those visits sit under the owner with the name beside them, and you hand them over later on Settings › Data. Each visit keeps its status (came, did not come, cancelled), its services and its total. A client not on your list yet is added from the visit, and a visit the old system left waiting or confirmed counts as attended — the preview says how many. A service with no price in its file is created but kept off your booking page until you add one.
Check and import
Read the counts — new, updated, skipped and with problems — and the problems listed by line. Then press “Import these rows”. A large file is imported in the background, and you get a notice when it is finished.
Deal with the rows that failed
“Download the rejected rows” gives you the rows that could not be saved, to fix and import again. If a file will not go in at all, “Send this file to us” opens a case with our support team.
Common questions
- Will importing the same file twice create duplicates?
Not for contacts, companies and services, nor for products that have an article (SKU): rows that already exist are skipped, or updated if you chose that. Deals and past visits have nothing to match on, so a second import adds them again. An import of clients, services or past visits can be undone until you use what it brought; other imports cannot. Check the counts in the preview before you press “Import these rows”.
- Why are future appointments not imported?
The appointments import is for past visits only. Book upcoming ones in Bookings, where the rota and the diary check each one so nothing is booked twice.
- What happens to stock when I import products?
A quantity column marks each product as one whose stock you count. With Inventory switched on, the quantity goes into your first warehouse as opening stock, but only for a product that is not in any warehouse yet; for one that is, the file does not change its stock, so correct the count in Inventory › Stock.
- My file is an Excel file. What do I do?
Upload it as it is: an .xlsx workbook is read directly, first sheet only. Only an old .xls file needs saving again, as .xlsx or CSV.
- How does an import go on the phone?
Pick a CSV, .xlsx or .txt file of up to 10 MB, choose “Coming from” — Altegio first — and read the preview: the counts, the columns matched and, by line, the rows that will not be imported. Correct a column under “Which column is which” (a table on an iPad), or press “Suggest a mapping” when AI is on. Where rows can already exist, choose to leave them alone or update them from the file. “Import these rows” shows the counts, or says the import started and a notice will come when it finishes. “Download the rejected rows”, “Download a template” and “Send this file to us” are there too.
- Where is Your data on the phone?
In the workspace settings: Import, Move from Altegio — with former masters to hand over — Import history, Export and, for the owner, Erase the workspace. An import takes the same steps as on the web.
Read next
Undo an import
Take back the clients, services or past visits an import created, if the result is not what you expected.
Merge duplicate clients
Find clients who were entered more than once, choose the card to keep, and fold the others into it with their bookings, invoices, points, files and history.
Import or export your client list
Bring a CSV file of clients in from the client list, see exactly what will happen before anything is saved, and download your list as a spreadsheet.
Switch AI features on or off
AI features stay off until an owner or admin turns them on. Here is what they do, what leaves your workspace, and how credits work.
Add your own fields to contacts, companies and deals
Add the details Setvos does not ask for by default — a car registration, an allergy, a contract number — fill them in on contacts, companies and deals, and filter lists by them.
Check for duplicate clients after an import
A client your old system held twice, or who later signs in to book with an email your file did not have, can end up with two cards. Merging keeps one with everything attached.
More in Import, export and data
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