Importing Items from a Spreadsheet

TL;DR

Save your item list as a CSV file. Open Item Catalog → Create New Item → CSV Import, pick the file with Find File, and type in which column holds what (column A is 1, column B is 2). Press Reparse Data to see a preview. Select the rows you want, then click Import Selected Items to Store Database. TORO matches items you already have and updates them, creates the rest, and keeps a record of every run under Import History. If an import goes wrong, an admin can undo it from there.

Got a vendor price sheet, a list from your old system, or a spreadsheet of barcodes you've been meaning to load? The item importer brings the whole thing in at once. You see exactly what will happen to every row before anything is saved, and afterwards you can look back at every import and undo one if you need to.

Before you start

Save your list as a CSV file. Every spreadsheet program can do this: File → Save As (or Export) and pick CSV.

Write down which column number holds each piece of information. Counting starts at 1, so column A is 1, column B is 2, and so on. You'll type those numbers into the importer.

If a cell holds more than one barcode, separate them with commas. TORO reads each one.

Opening the importer

Open the Dashboard, click the Items tab on the left, and click the Item Catalog card.
Click Create New Item at the top of the catalog screen. That opens the Item Creator.
Click CSV Import.

The window that opens is titled Import Items to Store Database.

Don't see a CSV Import button? It's turned on for each store separately. Message TORO support and we'll switch it on for you.

Step 1: Choose your file

Click Find File next to the CSV Data File box and pick your spreadsheet. Once a real file is in the box, an Open File button appears beside it. It opens the spreadsheet in its usual program, which is handy for checking column numbers.

TORO remembers the last file, folder, column numbers and defaults you used, so the next import from the same vendor is quicker.

Step 2: Tell TORO which column is which

The Column Identifiers box on the right is where you map your file. Type a column number into each box your file has, and leave the rest empty.

Item details:

Product Type
Brand
Item Name Part 1 and Item Name Part 2. If your file splits the name across two columns, map both and TORO joins them.
Item QOH, the quantity on hand
Search Tags. Separate several tags in one cell with commas.
TORO ID, if your file came out of TORO and still carries each item's TORO number

Master Sku (the package you buy, such as a box):

Items in Sku, how many units are in that package
Cost
Retail
Manf. Sku
Barcode
Pkg Type

Transaction Sku (the unit you sell, such as a single cigar):

Items in Sku
Retail
Manf. Sku
Barcode
Pkg Type

For cigars there are also Length and Ring Gauge. These are used when TORO creates a new item. They aren't copied onto an item you already have.

The one rule to remember

A column you don't map is never changed on an item TORO already has. If your file only has barcodes and quantities, map just those two. Every matched item keeps its current name, brand, cost and prices. Only what's in the file is touched.

A file with no QOH column doesn't touch your stock counts. If you do map QOH, a blank cell leaves that item's count alone. A filled-in cell sets the item's count to that number, so double-check the column before importing.

Step 3: Set the defaults and options

On the left side of the window:

Import First Line (Unselect if first line is header). Leave this unticked if the first row of your file holds column names like "Brand" or "Cost". Tick it only if your data starts on row 1.
Create Single Transaction Sku when Importing Items. With this ticked, a new item gets a single-unit selling SKU under the package you buy, like a box of cigars sold one at a time.
Create Product Type if it Doesn't Exist. With this ticked, a product type named in your file that TORO doesn't have yet gets created. Untick it if you'd rather keep your product type list exactly as it is (see Setting Up Product Types).
Default Items Per Sku. This is used when the Master Sku "Items in Sku" column is missing or blank.
Default Product Type if a Product Type is not found in file
Default Brand if a Brand is not found in column. This one is required, and TORO fills in your store name the first time. Change it to the real brand if your file has no brand column. Otherwise new items land under your store's name.

Step 4: Preview with Reparse Data

Choosing a file shows the preview automatically. Whenever you change a column number, a default or an option, press Reparse Data to rebuild the preview. Nothing is saved at this stage.

Each row of the preview is one line of your file. The Item Exists? If so, found by... column tells you what TORO will do with it:

ITEM NOT FOUND means this is a new item and TORO will create it.
TORO Item Id, Master Sku Barcode, Trans Sku Barcode, Master Sku Manf Sku, Trans Sku Manf Sku or Brand & Name means TORO matched an item you already carry. It shows how it found the match, and TORO will update that item.
CANNOT CREATE means the row doesn't match anything you have and your file doesn't carry enough to build a new item. It will be skipped.

On a matched row, a cell that will change shows the new value followed by [Current: …] with what the item holds today. A cell that won't change shows the item's current value on its own.

You can click any column heading to sort the preview. Money and counts sort as numbers.

When TORO can't create an item

A brand-new item needs a name and a Master Sku Cost, and there's no default for either. If your file maps neither an Item Name column nor a Master Sku Cost column, every row that doesn't match an existing item is marked CANNOT CREATE and skipped. TORO shows a warning naming what's missing. The rows it did match still update normally. That makes a barcode-and-count sheet a perfectly good file.

Brand and Master Sku Items Per Sku work differently. If your file has no column for them, new items are created using the Default Brand and Default Items Per Sku on the screen. TORO warns you and names the value it will use, such as Brand = TORO Cigar Lounge, Master Sku Items Per Sku = 1. If that isn't what you want, map those columns and press Reparse Data.

Step 5: Select the rows and import

The importer only saves the rows you select. Click a row to select it. Hold Ctrl and click to add more, or click one row and press Ctrl+A to select them all.

Then click Import Selected Items to Store Database. When it finishes, TORO shows a summary:

SELECTED: how many rows you picked
IMPORTED: how many were saved
NEW: how many items were created
UPDATED: how many existing items were changed
FAILED: how many couldn't be saved. This includes any CANNOT CREATE rows you selected.

Import History

Click Import History in the bottom-left corner of the importer. The CSV Import History window lists every import with When, Who, File, how many items it Created, Updated and Failed, and whether it has been Undone.

Click an import to see its details:

The top line reads like "Imported: 12 created, 30 updated, 2 failed, of 44 selected".
Settings Used shows the exact file, column numbers, defaults and options that run used. This is handy when you want to repeat an import months later.
Items lists every item the run created, updated or failed. If a run recorded none, you'll see "No items were recorded for this import."

History starts from the day this feature reached your store. Imports from before then aren't listed.

Undoing an import

Only an admin sees the undo button. Select the import in CSV Import History and click DELETE IMPORT - REMOVE THE ITEMS IT CREATED.

TORO first checks every item that import created, without changing anything, and then shows an Undo This Import? screen with the plan:

Items that can be deleted. These are items nobody has used since the import. Their stock count and price history go with them.
Items that cannot be deleted. These have been used since the import, for example sold, put on a purchase order, or counted. The Status column gives the reason for each one. You can deactivate these instead, which takes them off the register and sets their stock to zero. Their sales and orders stay intact.
Items the import updated are not changed back. TORO never recorded what they held before, so there is nothing to put back.

The buttons along the bottom carry the actual counts. For example, DELETE 8 ONLY deletes what it can and leaves the rest alone, DELETE 8 + DEACTIVATE 3 does both, and DEACTIVATE 3 appears when nothing can be deleted. Click CANCEL to leave everything as it is. TORO then asks you to "Confirm your identity to undo this import" before it changes anything. When it's done, you'll see how many items were deleted and deactivated, and which were left alone and why.

Brands and product types the import created are shared with your other items, so they stay.

Registers keep working while an undo runs, so do it when the store is quiet. Deleting can't be undone.