Import Data TemplatesImports
Import items into Business Central from Excel or CSV
Supplier catalogs and PIM exports, turned into items with their barcodes, units and attributes.
Items arrive in files: the catalog a supplier sends, the export of a PIM or a webshop, the list prepared for a new product range. Creating them by hand means the item card plus the related records, references, units of measure, attributes, one page at a time.
With Import Data Templates, one row of the file creates or updates the item together with what belongs to it: a barcode as an item reference, units of measure, attribute values, default dimensions. Matched by the item number, the same file can be imported again to update what changed.
What the file can look like
One row per item, with the columns the source provides: number, description, prices and costs, and the related data next to them, the barcode in the shipped example. Values the file does not carry are asked when the import starts, the base unit of measure in the example, or set as default values. With write mode Insert or Update, rows for existing items update them instead of failing.
Sample file: EX-ITEMS.csv
- Sample file: EX-ITEMS.csv
How the import works
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Load the template
Create
EX-ITEMSfrom the Template Examples page, or describe your catalog in a template of your own: fill it in from the structure of the file, use Read Structure from File, or let Copilot propose it from a sample and review it before keeping it. Related records, the barcode reference in the example, are added to the template with Add Related Record.
The EX-ITEMS template: the item fields and, below them, the barcode as a related item reference. -
Start the import from the Items list
Choose Import Template on the Items list, pick the template and the file, and answer the import parameters, the base unit of measure in the example. The check step validates every value and the write mode rules, and reports each problem with the line of the file.
The flow on the Items list: Import Template, the parameters, the file, the created items. -
The items are ready
The items exist with their references, units, attributes and dimensions, ready to be sold and purchased; a barcode scanned on a document line resolves to the item through the imported reference. The import history records the file and the result.
The Items list with the imported items.
Beyond the basic file
- More related records on the same row: ship-to addresses and bank accounts for customers and vendors, several references or units for items, attribute values created as they appear.
- Write mode Insert refuses rows for existing items, Update refuses new ones, Insert or Update takes the file as it comes; rows without a number are created and numbered by the number series.
- Customers and vendors import the same way from their lists, as in the
EX-CUSTOMERSandEX-VENDORSexamples. - A catalog that arrives on a schedule: the automatic imports watch the folder it lands in.
Questions
Can the same file both create and update items?
Yes, with write mode Insert or Update: rows are matched by the item number, existing items are updated, new ones created.
How do barcodes end up on the item?
As item references, imported from the same row as a related record. Documents and journals then resolve the barcode to the item.
What if the file has no item numbers?
The items are created and the number series assigns the numbers. Updating later then needs a file that carries the assigned numbers.
Import Data Templates is available on Microsoft AppSource with a one-month free trial. Licenses are assigned per user in the Microsoft 365 admin center.