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Importing and Exporting Entities

Many entities in GS can be created or updated by importing a CSV file. This is often much faster and more efficient than editing each entity individually through the user interface. Uploaded files will be processed in the background, allowing multiple imports to run at a time.

Once the Status of an import has transitioned to Not Started, it is safe to close leave the page or close the Import overlay.

Exporting Entities

On the entity's list page, click the table's Export button to download the list of entities to a CSV. This export includes entities from all pages in the table.

Information

If the Export button does not appear, that entity cannot be exported.

Export Button

The resulting CSV contains all information about the entities, including their Internal IDs. These IDs are required when updating existing entities.

Importing Entities

To create or update entities, navigate to the entity's list page and click Import. This opens an overlay to download CSV templates and perform the import.

Information

If the Import button does not appear on an entity's list page, that entity cannot be imported.

Import Button

Import Overlay

CSV Structure

When creating or updating entities and data via CSV, keep these guidelines in mind:

  • Each record is represented by a single row in the CSV.
  • Column order does not matter.
  • A single CSV import can only be used for create or update, but not both. Use separate files for create and update.
  • Refer to each entity's Reference page for a complete list of valid columns, required fields, and acceptable values.
  • The same rules apply to CSV imports as when using the user interface.
    • For example, the Role column is required when creating Users.
  • To handle fields with multiple values, use repeated columns prefixed with Add or Remove.
    • For example, multiple Groups can be selected on a single User. In CSV imports, the Add Group column can be repeated multiple times to add multiple Groups to a User.
    • Only repeat the column up to the number needed for the row with the most values. For example, the following table would add the Groups Admins and Plant Managers to User 1, Plant Managers to User 2, and would not modify User 3.
ID Add Group Add Group
1 Admins Plant Managers
2 Plant Managers
3

Creating New Entities

To import new entities:

  1. Click the Create Template button to download a blank template. Create Template Button
  2. Open the CSV file in an editor, such as Excel.
  3. Fill out a new row for each entity.
  4. Delete any empty columns.
  5. Save and upload the file using the overlay. GS will check the file errors and report any problems. If there are problems, fix them and repeat this step. File Uploaded with Errors
  6. If all rows imported successfully, the Status section will display Complete with the number of rows processed. If so, click Close to return to the list of entities. Import Completed with No Errors
  7. If any rows failed to import, the Status of the import will be set to Error. Follow these instructions for fixing rows with failures.

Updating Existing Entities

To update existing entites:

  1. First, export the list of entities to a CSV. This provides a reliable starting point. Alternatively, click Update Template to download a blank template. Update Template Button
  2. Open the CSV file in an editor, such as Excel.
  3. Edit the file and:
    1. Ensure each row includes the entity's ID. This can be found on the entity's page or in the ID column of the entity list.
    2. Delete any columns that should not be modified by the import. Any remaining columns will be updated in GS!
    3. Modify the remaining cells.
  4. Save and upload the file using the overlay. GS will check the file for errors and report any problems. If there are problems, fix them and repeat this step. File Uploaded with Errors
  5. If all rows imported successfully, the Status section will display Complete with the number of rows processed. If so, click Close to return to the list of entities. Import Completed with No Errors
  6. If any rows failed to import, the Status of the import will be set to Error. Follow these instructions for fixing rows with failures.

Fixing Rows with Failures

If some rows fail during an import, the status of the Import will be set to Error. If the uploaded CSV was in an invalid format, a View button will appear:

Import Completed with Errors

If specific rows failed, a Download button will appear. Clicking this button will download a CSV containing any rows which failed.

To fix the rows with errors:

  1. Click Download to download a CSV containing only the failed rows and an additional Error column with the error message for that row. Download Rows with Failures Button
  2. Open the CSV file in an editor, such as Excel.
  3. Correct the issue in each row.
  4. Delete the Error column.
  5. Save and re-upload the file, following the steps outlined above.

See Also