Overview

Setting up import on every synchronization

You can set up the system to import the data every time you synchronize (click Sync button). This is particularly useful to import new orders coming from different sources for which the direct integration is not always possible (for example your website which is hosted on third party cart provider). Below we describe how to set up automatic import of order from the web, the Order Book import process imports orders only once, therefore the same file can be brought in as many times as you like and only new order will appear on the system.

In Linnworks, go to Settings > Import / Export Automation > Data Import.

• Click Add New
• Define new unique name for the step
• Define which type of file you want to import
• Specify the location of the file

Note: You can set the system to import multiple files from a specified location using a wildcard. This works for FTP as well. For example to import all files begining with Stock from c:\dataimport folder, set the File location path to C:\dataimport\Stock*.csv

• Similar principle applies to FTP import, ftp://ftp.mywebsite.com/dataimport/Stock*.csv
• Specify column mapping, the same as for one-off import. You can load prepared template.
• Make sure the step is enabled
• Save the configuration
• Sync

Expressions

Sometimes it is necessary to provide data into the system which is not obviously available in the source data file. Expressions are any functional or mathematical equation which takes its variables from the data already available and evaluates it. Let’s look at three examples of expressions when importing orders into the system

1. The import requires column Full Name, however you may have it Title, Surname, Firstname in the data feed as 3 separate columns. We can create an expression

Where join is a function that takes some parameters. This expression will create a text value that combines all three fields with spaces separating the imported title, surname and first name.

If your import file header fields contain spaces (not recommended) then please use the following expression as an example where first name and last name would appear with a space between them in the imported field.

2. You want to record Tax column, but it is not available in your data source file. You have OrderTotal column and ShippingCosts, and you want to exclude shipping costs from OrderTotal and calculate 15% inclusive tax. Mathematical expression can solve this problem

Where N2 is a function which converts the result into two decimal point value

3. Order import procedure requires Status field to be set as PAID, otherwise the order will not be imported. However the status identifiers in your data source file are different, lets say you have 1 for paid, 0 for unpaid (refunded). The logical expression can evaluate the status and output the desired value, for example

Where iif is a function that takes first parameter as evaluation, second as an output if true, third as an output if false

For more information on expressions see  the Expressions documentation.

4. Importing Stock Value - N2[Cost * Quantity]

You will need to change the cost to the same name as the column header in your import file, this is the same for Quantity.

Errors

An item with the same key has already been added

This error points towards the CSV file containing multiple columns with the same column header

To resolve this edit the CSV file so that every column has a unique header in first row 

Example Invalid Format

Example Valid Format