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Exporting and importing (bulk updating) line items, descriptions and codes

Do you need to update more than "a few" line items? To save time, you can do it in bulk. For businesses with a long list of line items for invoice purposes, updating price lists can be a chore if done one by one.

How to edit existing line items in bulk

Step 1: Export line items as a CSV file

Here's how:

1. Go to Settings > Payments & Invoicing

2. Navigate to the 'Line items' tab

3. Click on the 'Export' button

4. In the pop-up window, click 'Yes' when asked if you want to export all line items to a CSV file

5. A CSV file will download to your computer. Go to your Downloads folder to locate it. The next step is to convert your CSV file into a spreadsheet to allow you to edit the contents.

Step 2: Bulk edit your line items

Here's how:

1. Open a blank spreadsheet (eg. in Excel)

2. In the top bar, click on ' Data', then 'From text/CSV'

3. Select the CSV file you'd like to import to covert. Load the data into the spreadsheet.

4. Once the CSV has been imported you will be able to view it as an XLSX spreadsheet. For more info, click here to learn how to Convert a CSV file into an Excel spreadsheet

Here's an example of what your spreadsheet may look like:

5. Now, you can edit your file as required. Eg. codes, descriptions, unit prices, etc.

6. Once you have finished editing the CSV file columns and/or cells, save the updated CSV and get ready to import it back into Bookem.

Step 3: Import the edited CSV back into Bookem

Here's how:

1. Go to Settings > Payments & Invoicing > Line items again

2. Click on the three-dotted kebab and select 'Import'

3. Upload your CSV file and click 'Import'

4. Upload the new updated CSV file and select 'Overwrite existing line items'. An option will be available to choose which columns will match the existing list, and to know which data will be updated

5. Labels will change to 'Update' or 'New' on the left; 'New' will indicate a new entry to the line items, whereas 'Update' will change existing data in the CSV file

6. Now, verify all the data to see if it is in the correct columns and if the information has been updated/ added correctly.

7. Proceed to 'import line items'.

That's it - you are all done. And you saved a lot of time by updating in bulk instead of one-by-one!

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