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Guide · Catalog operations

Preparing a Product Import Spreadsheet

How to shape a supplier list or inventory export so that matching resolves cleanly and the exception queue stays small.

Updated · 2 min read

Written For

Anyone assembling the spreadsheet that will be imported, usually catalog, operations, or sales support staff.

You Will Finish With

An import file whose rows resolve to real products, with the ambiguous ones grouped into a small, workable queue.

The quality of an import is decided before the file is uploaded. A well-shaped spreadsheet produces a short exception queue; a poorly shaped one produces hundreds of ambiguous rows that all trace back to two or three fixable habits.

What the File Needs

There is no single mandatory schema, because supplier exports never share one. What matters is that the file contains enough to identify each product, and that the identifying columns are distinguishable from the descriptive ones.

Columns by usefulness
ColumnNeeded?Notes
ManufacturerStrongly recommendedNarrows candidates more than any other single field.
Model or part numberStrongly recommendedThe primary matching signal. Clean this column first.
Product typeHelpfulDisambiguates similar model strings across categories.
PriceOptionalCarried through; never used for matching.
ConditionOptionalKept as unit-level commercial data, separate from device facts.
Internal SKUOptionalKeep it in its own column. Never merge it into the model column.
A workable header row
manufacturer,model,product_type,condition,price,internal_sku
Acme Medical,AM-4200,Infusion pump,Refurbished,4250.00,SKU-11842
Acme Medical,AM-4200XL,Infusion pump,Demo,5100.00,SKU-11843

Clean the Identifier Column

  1. Trim leading and trailing spaces. They are invisible in a spreadsheet and they defeat exact matching.
  2. Remove internal prefixes and suffixes that your business added, such as a branch code appended to the model.
  3. Normalize separators. Decide whether the model is 'AM-4200' or 'AM 4200' and apply it consistently.
  4. Split combined cells. A cell containing 'AM-4200 (refurb, 2019)' is three facts in one field.
  5. Check for auto-formatting damage, such as model numbers that look like dates or that lost a leading zero.

The Leading-Zero Problem

Spreadsheet applications routinely strip leading zeros from anything that looks numeric. If your model numbers can begin with a zero, format that column as text before entering or pasting data, and verify a sample after export.

Import, Then Read the Failures First

  1. Upload the File

    GearDock reads the sheet and shows the detected columns before anything is committed.

  2. Map the Columns

    Confirm which column is the manufacturer, which is the identifier, and which are descriptive. Mapping is per import, so a differently shaped supplier file does not require changing anything permanent.

  3. Review Validation Results

    Look at the rejected and flagged rows before the accepted ones. Failures almost always cluster around a single upstream cause worth fixing at the source.

  4. Resolve Ambiguous Matches in Groups

    Sort the ambiguous rows by the pattern causing the ambiguity. One decision usually clears dozens of rows.

  5. Re-Import the Corrected Rows

    Fixing the source file and re-importing is normally faster than correcting rows individually, and it improves the file you will use again next quarter.

Do Not Include Patient Information

GearDock is a product catalog system and is not intended for protected health information. Import files must not contain patient records, clinical notes, or service reports carrying patient data.

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