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Fast2Task Fast2Task Support

Importing Data

The Import/Export page brings records into Fast2Task from CSV files: a product catalogue, a client list, open orders from an old system, price updates from a supplier spreadsheet. Every import is previewed first, so you can see exactly what it would create and change before anything is saved.

Open Settings in the main menu and choose Import/Export. It’s available to account owners and admins on online accounts.

The import runs as four steps, shown across the top of the page: File, Mapping, Settings and Review. You can click back to any earlier step.

1. File

Choose Add a CSV file. You can add several files at once, for example orders in one file and their lines in another. Files are staged in your browser so they can be mapped and previewed; nothing reaches your account until you run the import. Adding a file with the same name replaces the one staged before.

Staged files are listed with their row counts, and you can preview their contents or Remove a file you no longer need. Choose Continue when your files are in.

2. Mapping

The mapping says which column of the file goes into which field of Fast2Task.

  1. Pick the Destination Model: the kind of record you’re importing, such as clients, products or sales orders.
  2. Pick the Source Table: the staged file to read.
  3. Map the columns. Suggest mappings proposes a field for each column by name; exact name matches are ticked for you, and anything less certain is left for you to check.

Switch between By file column (each column of the file, and where it goes) and By destination field (each field, and which column feeds it), whichever is easier for your file. A column can feed more than one field. The values shown beside each mapping are samples from your file.

Below the main mapping:

  • Fixed values set the same value on every imported row, such as a category or a standing cost. Write it the way you would in the file (12.50 for a price). A mapped column always wins over a fixed value.
  • Available Relationships add the rows that hang off each record, such as a sales order’s lines or a product’s suppliers, each with its own mapping.
  • Advanced: transform data with JavaScript runs code against every row before it’s mapped. Most imports don’t need it.

Linking records by name or code

Records in Fast2Task link to each other by an internal ID (a uuid). A product’s supplier, an order’s client, a BOM step’s equipment: each is stored as the other record’s uuid. Your spreadsheet almost certainly holds a name or code instead.

When a mapped field links to another record, a This column holds option appears under it. Choose names or codes from the right table (for example suppliers), then pick which field to Find each one by (for example name or code). Each value in the column is looked up, and the matching record’s uuid is stored.

Fast2Task tries the first values from your file against your account straight away, so you can see each one resolve before you run anything. If none of them match, it warns you that you’ve probably picked the wrong table or field.

  • A value that matches nothing, or more than one record, is reported as an error for that row only; the rest still import.
  • Values that are already uuids are stored unchanged, so a column can mix both.
  • If a column holds names but no lookup is set, Fast2Task warns you, because the import would otherwise treat them as uuids and link to nothing.

Lookups work in relationships too, so a BOM step’s equipment or a product’s supplier can be named in the file.

Saving a mapping

Choose Save template to reuse a mapping next time, and load it again from the saved configurations. Templates are kept in this browser only, so Download a copy of any mapping that took real work to build; Load from file brings it back.

3. Settings

Choose What should this import do?

  • Add and update: create records that don’t exist, update the ones that do
  • Add new records only: leave every existing record untouched
  • Update existing only: skip rows that don’t match a record

Then choose how to match rows to existing records: by the mapped uuid column, or, for data from another system that has no uuids, by other fields such as a product code or client name. A row matches when every selected field matches; if more than one record matches, the row is reported as an error rather than guessed at.

The page also lists the fixed values that will be written, and the fields not in the mapping, which are left as they are on existing records and set to their default on new ones.

When you’re importing relationships, Delete line items that aren’t in the file removes a record’s existing lines that have no matching line in the file. It’s off by default; turn it on only when the file holds the complete set of lines, or the rest will be removed.

Under Range you can import only some rows, skip rows at the start of the file, and set how many rows the preview checks.

4. Review

From Settings, choose Preview to check the first rows. Nothing is saved. The preview shows how many rows would be created, updated, skipped or are errors; click a count to filter the list to those rows.

Each row shows what it would do, with values that replace a stored value highlighted and the old value shown beneath. A checkbox above the list hides the columns that don’t change anything. Errors and warnings are listed against the row that caused them. Download full report saves the result as a file.

When the preview looks right, choose Import to run it for real. Progress shows rows created, updated, skipped and errored as it goes, with an estimate of the time remaining. Stop halts the run; rows already processed have been saved.