A data importer is a tool used to mass import company data into PM Toolbelt. In this guide, you'll learn how to effectively use the data importer, as well as tips and tricks and what not to do. This guide is broken down into 2 sections, setting up the spreadsheets and importing the spreadsheets.

Who can use the data importer?

Anyone can access the importer. However, if you are integrated with Rent Manager you will only have access to the pricebook importer. That is because your data is synced from Rent Manager.

Section 1: Setup and preparing your spreadsheets

Setting up your spreadsheets is very important, incorrectly setting up the spreadsheets will cause errors when importing causing your data to not import. Some of the information within the spreadsheets has to be the same throughout each spreadsheet if not the importer will give you an error message. For example, the Property Name used in the property spreadsheet must be the exact same (including capital letters) on all other spreadsheets. If not you will get an error message.

Tip: When filling out the spreadsheets it is best to go in order using the information from the previously spreadsheet starting with properties, units, owners, tenants, vendors. For information on how to import pricebooks click here.

To get to the data importer start by clicking on the cog in the right-hand corner then click Settings. Next, you'll want to click Setup, then select Data Import from the list. Settings > Setup > Data Import

1. Begin by downloading all of the spreadsheets that you will need. Select a spreadsheet and click Download (photo below)

Property Spreadsheet

2. We'll begin with the property spreadsheet first. Enter your company data into the spreadsheet. Some users will not fill out each cell, some information is not needed. For cells that you do not fill out leave blank, do not type na, NA, n/a...etc

The photo below is an example of a correctly filled out property spreadsheet. Row 2 has more information than the others, that is because it's type Single Family. For properties that are single family enter in the rent, sqft, bedroom, and bathroom on the property spreadsheet. Our system auto creates a unit for Single Family properties. For all other property types, you will enter the market rent, sqft, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms on the unit spreadsheet.

Unit Spreadsheet

3. Enter in the unit information, make sure when adding the property that it is exactly the same as it appears on the property spreadsheet.(reference the above and below photo) If it is not the same when you go to upload the data you'll get an error message because the unit will not be able to find the corresponding property.

Owners Spreadsheet

4. Enter in the Owner information. If the owner of the property is a company, type the company name for the first name. For the column with the header clients, if you do not use clients you must type in Default.

***It is important that when you are adding the properties that the owner owns you MUST separate them by a semicolon(photo below)***

Tenant Spreadsheet

5. Enter in tenant information. Due to PM Toolbelt's fully automated communication system you can only have ONE email and ONE phone number for each tenant. If you would like to have multiple numbers and/or emails you can do this by creating a custom field and entering in the information into that custom field. For information on custom fields click here.

The status will always be Current when you are importing the tenant spreadsheet. We have other options such as Past and Future. We offer those other options due to our superior integration with Rent Manager 12, those who sync with Rent Manager 12 utilize this feature.

Vendor Spreadsheet

6. Enter in the vendor information. The vendors can be external and internal. If you have internal maintenance technicians you will need to create a vendor first. Then you add your technicians under that vendor. In most cases, the vendor name would be the company name.

Note: All vendors import as External by default, if you have internal maintenance technicians you MUST change the vendor type from External to Internal or you will not be able to add your technicians. For information on how to add an internal maintenance tech click here.

In the photo below my internal vendor is Internal Maintenance.

Section 2: Importing the spreadsheets

Importing the spreadsheets is broken up into 3 smaller sections, step 1 select data type, step 2 drag and drop the file, and step 3 selecting the headers.

When importing the spreadsheets it is important that you import the spreadsheets in the correct order.

Properties
Units
Owners
Tenants
Vendors

Begin by going to the data importer
To get to the data importer start by clicking on the cog in the right-hand corner then click settings. Next, click Setup, then select Data Import from the list.
Settings > Setup > Data Import

Properties

For each spreadsheet you will repeat steps 1 - 5.

1. Step 1: Selecting your data type Properties
2. Step 2: Drag and drop your spreadsheet

3. Step 3: match the headers by clicking on the small arrow and selecting the matching header from the drop-down list.

4. Match each header. As you match the headers you will see a preview of the data.
If the header does not apply then select N/A from the drop-down list.

If you look at the photo below you will notice House 1 has more information than the others. This is because House 1 is a single family home, properties that are type single family do not have units, that is why the headers on the property spreadsheet are on the unit spreadsheet.