Import a BOM

Retyping a 400-row BOM into any system is an afternoon gone and a typo waiting for a reviewer to find. Import the spreadsheet instead: the register reads it, shows you exactly what will change, and touches nothing until you say so.

Drop the file

On the Equipment page, open Add and choose Import BOM. Drop a CSV or Excel file and pick where it lands: the project root or any group. Importing runs in the background; a banner keeps your place, and you can Continue, Stop, or Discard at any time. Stopping imports nothing and leaves your register unchanged.

The importer reads your workbook

Most files skip straight to review. The importer looks at every sheet and reads the rows underneath each heading before deciding, so a leftovers tab loses to the live parts table, and a column that simply counts 1, 2, 3 is never taken for a part number. Headings are matched by whole words: "Manufacture", "Part #", and "PartNumber" are all understood, and a column like "Finished Water QMS" is never mistaken for a quantity.

When the file is ambiguous, a short mapping screen asks in order: which sheet your equipment is on (the best guess is marked "looks right"), which row has your column names, and what each column holds. Rows a part is already filed under in your Parts Library match the part you have, and a manufacturer spelling the library already knows links on its own.

Review, then import

Nothing has changed yet at this screen. Choose how the file applies:

1. Replace, start fresh. The target location becomes exactly this list. The screen states how many existing entries would be deleted, and calls out any that carry uploaded files or configuration strings.
2. Sync, add and update only. Adds what is new, updates what changed, never deletes. You see the counts up front: added, updated, untouched, and removed (rows with quantity 0 remove the matching entry).

Expand the row list if you want the full receipt, use Change columns to fix a mapping, Discard to throw it away, or commit with the import button. A pending import expires on its own if you walk away.

Rows without a part number

A row whose catalog cell says -, TBD, By others or "See valve schedule" has no part to add. The review counts these rows and names why, then adds them as items waiting for a part, so the 12 control valves on the valve schedule are still on the register with their names and quantities. Clear Add them as items waiting for a part to leave them out. When a later version of the sheet fills in the catalog number, Sync or Replace gives the waiting item its part instead of adding another. A sheet that repeats its header row for every panel is read once, and the review counts the header rows it skipped.

Manufacturers the file spells differently

Each manufacturer name in the file is checked against your manufacturer profiles and the other names they have learned. Names that match link on their own; the rest are listed on the review screen. For each one, choose Add as a new manufacturer or Use one I already have and pick the profile. A name that looks like one you have arrives pre-filled, with "(suggested)" on the choice, so you can tell a pre-filled answer from one you picked. Leaving Remember as another name for it checked stores the spelling as a company-wide alias, so the next import links it without a review. Aliases live under Settings, Library, Manufacturers; see Library vocabulary.

Round trips and exports

Export BOM at the bottom of the register downloads the whole tree as XLSX; every group's page has the same export for just that group, titled with its name and with its own items under its own heading. A submittal's equipment list has an Export BOM too, for exactly the equipment that submittal includes. Your own export imports cleanly into another project, so a proven register can seed the next job.

Re-import the vendor's updated BOM with Sync to fold in revisions without disturbing entries the file doesn't mention.

Next: attach equipment documents to the imported entries, then create a submittal that covers them.