Import your collection from an Excel or CSV spreadsheet

The import does not read your file the way you do. It reads a grid: a first row of headers, then one row per item. Anything that strays from that shape gets interpreted its own way, and the quickest place to fix it is before the import.

The import is available from the free account, and you launch it from the collection's Excel icon , Import tab. It accepts .xlsx, .xls and .csv files, up to 1000 rows per import. Beyond that, the whole file is refused, not just the extra rows: split it and import the pieces one after another. Only the first sheet of a workbook is read. If your collection is spread across several tabs, each one needs to become its own file.

The first row must hold your column names, and nothing else. A table title or an empty row above the headers shifts everything: your title would be taken for a column name. For the same reason, delete total rows at the bottom of the table, which would become items. Merged cells only keep their content in the first cell: unmerge them and copy the value onto every row.

Prefer .xlsx over .csv when you have the choice. A CSV is read as UTF-8, but Excel often saves its CSV files in another encoding, and accented characters then arrive garbled. If you must use a CSV, pick "CSV UTF-8" when saving it.

Only one field is required: the name. A row without a name is set aside, and everything else is optional. Your spreadsheet does not need to be complete to be imported.

The safest starting point is the MyCataLog template, downloadable from the import tab. It contains exactly the columns of your collection's category, with names recognised out of the box, and a few example rows showing the expected values. You can paste your data into it column by column.

If you are coming from another app, export your collection from it to Excel or CSV, then import that file. The Discogs export, common among record collectors, is recognised out of the box: title, artist, label, format, rating, release year, date added, record condition and notes each find their field. And a file exported from MyCataLog can be imported straight back, since its headers are the ones the import recognises. Export has its own guide: Export your collection to Excel.

Once the file is loaded, MyCataLog reads your headers and suggests the matching field for each one. Detection understands English, French and Spanish, and spots common variants: "Title", "Name" or "Nombre" go to the name, "Price", "Prix" or "Cost" to the purchase price, "Condition", "État" or "Estado" to the condition. There is no need to rename your columns before importing.

That suggestion is only a suggestion. Review it column by column, because detection works on words, not on meaning. A "Value" column will be matched to the Value field, designed for the face value of a banknote or a stamp, even if yours holds a resale estimate. A "Year" column will go to the Year field if your category has one, when you may have meant it for the origin date. Every match can be changed from its dropdown, and "- Ignore -" leaves a column out.

Here is what detection suggests for a banknote collection whose headers mix French, English and Spanish. "Valeur" (value) and "Année" (year) fall into exactly the traps described above, and "Emplacement" (location), which nothing recognises, is ignored.

Two rules frame the exercise. Only the fields of the collection's category are offered: an Artist column has nowhere to go in a book collection. And a field takes a single column: if two columns target the same field, the second one is set aside rather than overwriting the first. If you want to keep information that has no field, merge it into the Description column before importing.

The name is the only field this step requires. Until a column is assigned to it, you cannot move on.

The serial number deserves special attention. If your file contains them, they are kept as they are. If it does not, or if some rows lack one, MyCataLog assigns them following the highest number already in the collection.

The order of your file is preserved. With the default sort, the first row of the spreadsheet appears at the top of the collection, and the last one at the bottom. If you keep your spreadsheet in the order of your shelves, the collection will follow it too, which will help when it comes to photos.

Before creating anything, MyCataLog shows you a preview of the first items as they will be saved, then a summary. This is the moment to understand what the import does with your values, because it does not just copy them.

For choice fields, it translates. Ownership, condition and rarity accept the app's labels in English, French and Spanish, and many variants: "yes", "wishlist" or "coming soon" for ownership, "mint", "good", "used" or the steps of the record grading scale, from M to P, for condition, "uncommon" or "secret rare" for rarity. When a value is not recognised, it depends on the field. An unknown ownership becomes Owned, an unknown rarity becomes Common, an unknown currency becomes the euro: these fields always have a value in MyCataLog, so the import sets a default one. An unrecognised condition or date is simply left empty.

Dates are read as day/month/year, like 15/01/2024, or year-month-day, like 2024-01-15. A time following the date is ignored, and a year on its own, like 1959, is saved as 1 January. The American month/day/year format is not supported, and the mistake is not always visible: 12/25/2024 is ignored, but 01/02/2024 becomes 1 February instead of 2 January. If your file comes from American software, convert the column before importing.

The rating is read on 5 stars. A 0 or an empty cell leaves the item unrated, decimals are rounded, and any higher value is brought down to the maximum. This is the most common trap: many services rate out of 10, and a file imported as is would give the top rating to everything you like. Divide the column by 2 in your spreadsheet before importing.

The price accepts both a comma and a dot, and recognises a currency written in the same cell, among the euro, the dollar, the pound and the yen: "12.50 €", "30 USD" and "£8" are all understood. Without a currency, the price is saved in euros.

Here is what the preview shows for a row that combines the difficulties: "wishlist" for ownership, an unknown rarity, a rating out of 10, an American-format date and a price in dollars.

One thing to know: the preview flags every value that was replaced or ignored, but it only shows the first items of the file. The following rows get exactly the same treatment, with nothing displayed. An unusual value on row 400 will not be flagged to you. So put a few rows representing your tricky cases at the top of the file, or run a first test with an extract in a test collection.

The summary, on the other hand, covers the whole file. It tells you how many items will be created and lists the rows set aside, with their reason: an empty name, a name that is too long, or a name rejected by moderation. Watch the numbering: "Row 1" means your first item, that is the second row of your spreadsheet, just below the headers.

Finally, if the import takes you over the number of items your subscription allows, the summary warns you. The import still goes ahead, but the extra items remain viewable without being editable, until you delete some or change your subscription.

Images are not imported. A spreadsheet only holds text, and that is the consequence to plan for before launching an import of several hundred rows.

It also explains a rule that surprises people: importing is only possible into a private collection. A public collection, or one visible to your friends, must have an image for each of its items, and an import would bring in dozens without any. If your collection is already shared, switch it back to private for the time of the import and the photos, or import into a new collection.

Imported items carry the label "Imported item" Imported item in their edit form, next to the image field. Unlike an item created by hand, they can be edited and saved without a photo: you can fix a date or a price without first having to photograph the item. The label disappears as soon as you add an image.

As long as a single item in the collection has no image, the visibility setting stays locked, and a counter shows how many items are concerned.

The method that works best is the shelf method. Photograph in batches, in the order your items are stored at home, and follow the same order in the collection. Since the import preserved the order of your file, a spreadsheet kept in shelf order gives you a collection in the same order, and the counter goes down with each session without you having to hunt for what is left.

If you never plan to make the collection public, nothing forces you to photograph everything. A private collection without images remains fully usable: search, filters, sorting and bulk editing all work on imported data. Photos only become essential the day you want to show the collection, and the visibility rules are detailed in the guide Starting your first collection.