Import a CSV into a Holigram collection

Any spreadsheet saved as CSV can fill a collection, as long as its header row uses the collection's field names. Here's how Holigram reads the file, and how to shape one that imports cleanly the first time.

How do I import a spreadsheet into Holigram?

Save the sheet as a CSV file, open the collection it belongs in, choose Add, then Manually and Import a CSV, and pick the file. Holigram reads the header row, matches each column to the field with the same name, and adds one entry per row. When it finishes, it tells you how many rows were imported, merged and skipped.

How should my column headers be named?

Name each column after a field exactly as the collection shows it, such as Title, Date Read or Purchase Price. Capitals, extra spaces and punctuation don't matter, so DATE READ and date-read both match Date Read. A column that matches no field is ignored, and a field with no column stays blank.

The field names are the column headings you see when you open the collection. Rename any header in your spreadsheet that doesn't match before you save it, including in a file another app gave you.

How should I write dates, numbers and yes-or-no values?

Write dates as year, month, day with dashes: 2024-02-10. Numbers are plain digits with no currency sign or thousands separator, so 1200.50, not 1,200.50. Yes-or-no fields take yes, no, true, false, y, n, 1 or 0. A field that holds several tags takes them in one cell, separated by commas.

Leave out columns for reminders and photos. Those fields can't be filled from a file, and a row that fills one is skipped. A log or a list, such as a wine's tastings or a recipe's ingredients, can't be filled from a file either, but its column is just set aside: the rest of each row imports, and the import says so once. Add any of these to your entries after the import instead.

What happens to rows that don't fit?

A row that breaks a rule is skipped, and the rest of the file still imports. That happens when a required field is empty, or when a cell can't be read as its field's type, like "twelve" in a number field. Why were rows skipped? lists every skipped row by its row number in the file, with the reason.

The header is row 1, so the first entry is row 2. Fix those rows in the spreadsheet and import the same file again; the rows that already made it in are matched rather than doubled (next section).

How does Holigram match rows it has seen before?

A row matches an entry only when every column in the file holds the same value, ignoring capitals and extra spaces, so importing the same file again doubles nothing. Rows that share only some values stay apart: Paint Colors requires only Room, and a kitchen's wall and trim colors are still two entries.

Change any cell, including filling in one that was empty, and the row arrives as a new entry beside the old one, so delete the old one in Holigram. If you've edited an imported entry in Holigram, importing its row again puts the file's values back, and empty cells change nothing. And matching looks only at entries that arrived by import, so an entry you added by hand isn't matched and can end up twice.

Which files work?

A .csv file saved as UTF-8, or as Excel's plain CSV on Windows, with the header in the first row and one entry on each row after it, up to 20 MB. Most spreadsheet apps save this from their Save As, Export or Download menu. Import into one collection at a time: a file that mixes films and wine belongs in two files, one per collection.

An export from another app imports the same way once its headers match your fields and its dates read like 2024-02-10; rename and reformat in your spreadsheet first.

Is importing free?

Yes. Importing a file costs nothing on any plan and uses no AI: Holigram reads the file directly. The free plan limits how many collections you have, not how many entries go in them. If you'd rather not shape a spreadsheet at all, describe what you own in a sentence and let the AI draft the entries.