Import

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8. Import & Export

X-Sheets supports importing data from CSV files to quickly populate new sheets, and exchanging a single sheet’s rows and media as a ZIP archive.

8.1 CSV Import

The CSV import wizard creates a new sheet from a CSV file. Access it from the Data Editor by tapping the + button on the sheet tab bar and choosing Create Sheet from CSV.

The wizard walks you through five steps:

Step 1: Sheet Name & File

  • Enter a sheet name (required). Must be unique — cannot match an existing sheet name.
  • Upload a CSV file using the file picker.

Step 2: CSV Structure

  • Preview the first row of your data in a table.
  • Check “First row contains column headers” if your CSV has a header row. If checked, the first row becomes column labels instead of data.

Step 3: Column Names

  • Column names are auto-generated (col_0, col_1, etc.) but fully editable.
  • If you enabled headers in Step 2, the first row values are used as names.
  • Use the + button to add extra columns or to remove.
  • At least one column must have a label.

Step 4: Normalization (Identifier)

  • Select which column serves as the identifier from a dropdown.
  • Check “This sheet doesn’t contain an identifier” to auto-generate an ID column.
  • Duplicate or empty identifiers are skipped during import.

Step 5: Confirmation

  • Review your settings and tap Import to finalize.
  • All imported columns default to Text (String) type. You can change column types after import via column settings.

Tip: After importing, open the column settings for each column to set the correct type (Number, Date, etc.) and formatting.

8.2 Sheet Data Export (ZIP)

You can export the rows and media of an existing sheet as a ZIP archive. Open the Data Editor, right-click the sheet tab, and choose Export data.

The archive contains:

  • data.csv — the sheet’s rows.
  • a files/ folder — the media (pictures and documents) referenced by those rows.

Where the archive goes depends on your platform:

  • Desktop — a save dialog lets you choose the location.
  • Mobile — the system share sheet opens so you can send or save it.
  • Web — the browser downloads (or shares) the file.

The export is named <sheet>-data.zip.

8.3 Sheet Data Import (ZIP)

You can load a ZIP archive — the same data.csv + files/ format produced by Export — back into an existing sheet. Right-click the sheet tab in the Data Editor and choose Import data.

  1. Tap Choose ZIP file and pick the archive.
  2. Select an Import mode:
    • Add (append rows) — adds the imported rows to the existing data.
    • Replace (overwrite all data) — clears the sheet first, then loads the imported rows. A warning is shown before you confirm.
  3. Tap Import data.

The data.csv is positional and headerless: each row must have exactly one value per column of the target sheet, in column order. Each row keeps its own identifier — an empty identifier is assigned a new one, while a duplicate identifier stops the import with an error. Media referenced under files/ is uploaded and re-linked automatically.

Note: Both import modes are transactional and can be undone afterwards. If anything fails — an invalid ZIP, a missing data.csv, missing media files, a duplicate identifier, or a wrong column count — the import is aborted and the sheet is left unchanged.


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