17.13. Importing stores
We strongly recommend:
* You take a backup of your datafile before attempting any imports.
* You test any import on a copy of your data before you do it on the real data.
Don't say you haven't been warned 
The Import stores function allows you to import stores into your datafile.
This function is currently not available to general users and is not available from the standard user interface. You can create the import spreadsheet of course, but the actual import will need to be done by The mSupply Foundation staff.
Import file format
- The import file must be an “.xlsx” (Excel) type file.
- The first row must contain the column headers shown in the Column heading column in the table below.
- The table below details the fields you should have in each row of the file.
| Column | Column heading | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (A) | store_name | Mandatory, Text. The name of the store . |
| 2 (B) | code | Mandatory, Text. The code of the store. |
| 3 (C) | store_mode | Optional, Text, one of “store” or “dispensary”. The mode of the store. |
| 4 (D) | site_code | Optional, Integer. The synchronisation site the store belongs to. Leave empty if this is not part of a synchronisation setup. Will be set to 1 by default if not provided. |
| 5 (E) | organisation_name | Mandatory, Integer. The number of units in a single pack for this stock line. |
| 6 (F) | Address 1 | Mandatory, Integer. The number of packs (containing the number of units in column 4) in this stock line. Equal to the total quantity if the Pack size is 1. |
| 7 (G) | Address 2 | Optional, Real number. The price you pay for one pack. |
| 8 (H) | Address 3 | Optional, Real number. The price the customers of this store pay for one pack. Set this to the same as the cost price or leave it empty if you do not actually sell the stock that you issue. |
| 9 (I) | Address 4 | Optional, Text, Up to 20 characters. The batch of this stock line. |
| 10 (J) | Address 5 | Optional, Text, in short format (dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy, depending on the format set in your computer's operating system). The date this stock line will expire. |
| 11 (K) | Post/Zip code | Optional. Text, Up to 32,000 characters. The full description of the item. Be careful not to have any carriage return characters in the text though, or the import file will not be valid! |
| 12 (L) | Phone number | Optional, Text, up to 30 characters. If you import a department name that doesn't exist, the department will be created. |
| 13 (M) | Tags | Optional, Text, Up to 60 characters. The code for the shelf location of this stock line. If the location does not exist, the location will be created as the stock is loaded. You can then edit the location details after the import. |
| 14 (N) | Store to copy preferences from | Optional, Text, Up to 60 characters. The name of the donor of this stock line. If the donor doesn't exist, it will be created. |
| 15 (O) | Type | Optional, Text. The value to be entered in custom stock field 5 for this batch. If the value doesn't already exist as an option for custom stock field 5 then it will be added. See the 7.05. Custom stock fields page for details of custom stock fields. |
| 16 (P) | Created date | Optional, Integer. The number of packs that fit in a carton (NOT the number of units in a carton!). |
| 17 (Q) | Is a server | Optional, Decimal number. The volume that a single pack of this batch occupies on the shelf in m3. |
| 18 (R) | Version | Optional, Decimal number. The weight of a single pack of this batch in kg. |
| 19 (S) | Created by | Optional, Text. The name of the user whi created this store. |
Here is a blank spreadsheet you can use with the right columns: importstores.xlsx