Import and re-import cargo

Import a packing list into a Project, re-import a revised one without duplicating lines, and save the column mapping for your organization.

Import from Excel on the Cargo tab turns a spreadsheet into Cargo Lines. You can upload an .xlsx or .csv file, or paste cells copied from a spreadsheet. Older .xls files are not accepted. Save them as .xlsx first. Cargo Marshal guesses the column for each field from English and German headers and reads units from them. You check the mapping and a preview of every row before anything is written.

Re-import a revised packing list

Customers send a second version of the same list. Importing it again with Add would put every line on the cargo list twice. When the Project already has Cargo Lines, the preview step offers three modes.

• Add appends every row as a new line and changes nothing else. Use it when the file holds new cargo, not a revision.
• Update by match finds the existing line for each row and writes the file’s values to it. Rows with no match are added. Lines that no file row matches stay as they are. Tick Also remove lines that are not in the file to delete them instead.
• Replace all updates matched lines the same way and removes every line that no row matches. Use it when the new file is the complete list.

Both Update by match and Replace all keep the matched lines themselves, not copies. Their ids, their place in the list, and the Load Plan placements that refer to them stay.

How rows find their line

A row matches a line by SKU first. Rows and lines with the same SKU are paired, ignoring capital letters and extra spaces. A row and a line are then paired by name, with the same comparison, when at least one of them has no SKU. Two different SKUs never match by name, even when the names are equal.

A row whose name Cargo Marshal generated, because the file has a blank name cell or no name column, has no name to compare. If it also has no SKU, it is always added as a new line.

When a SKU or name appears more than once, the rows and lines with that value are paired in order, first with first. The preview marks these pairs matched by position. Check them. Extra rows are added, and extra lines are removed or kept by the mode you chose.

What a match changes

The file wins for every column you mapped. A blank cell in a mapped optional column clears the field on the line.

For a column you did not map, the modes differ. Update by match keeps the line’s value. Replace all resets the field to the import default: rotation free, stackable, not fragile, and the other fields empty. A name or quantity that Cargo Marshal filled in because the file had none never overwrites the line’s own.

A value that is the same after unit conversion is not a change. A length of 120 cm in the file is unchanged against a stored 1,200 mm.

What the preview shows

The preview sorts rows into five groups, with a count for each.

• Added are new lines.
• Changed are matched lines. Each shows the old and the new value of every field that changes.
• Removed are existing lines that will be deleted.
• Unchanged are matched lines where nothing differs.
• Kept are existing lines that no row matched and that stay.

Nothing is written until you confirm. The confirm button names the effect, for example how many lines it adds, changes, and removes. If the file would change nothing, the button is disabled and reads Nothing to change. Importing the same file twice therefore does no harm, and it does not mark any Load Plan out of date.

After a real change, every solved Load Plan shows as out of date, as with any cargo edit. Lines you added then go through the usual rule review.

If someone else edits the cargo list meanwhile

When you confirm, Cargo Marshal compares the cargo list with the version you previewed. If a colleague, an API client, or you in another tab changed it in the meantime, nothing is written. The preview stays open, shows the refreshed cargo list, and says The cargo list changed while you were reviewing. Check the updated preview and apply again. Read the new preview, then confirm again. This applies to any edit of the cargo list, even to lines your file does not touch.

Save the column mapping

On the mapping step, Save mapping stores the columns you confirmed for your organization. The next time someone imports a file with the same headers, Cargo Marshal applies the mapping and the dialog says Saved mapping applied. You can still change any column. When a mapping already exists, the button reads Update saved mapping, and saving replaces it.

A saved mapping matches on the headers of the file, including units, in any order. “Length (cm)” and “Length (mm)” are different headers, so they do not share a mapping. Two files with the same headers in a different column order use the same mapping. Cargo Marshal stores the field and unit for each mapped column. It does not store the decimal format, and it looks for a saved mapping only when the file has a header row.

Saved mappings belong to the organization, not to a customer or a person. Everyone who can import cargo sees them. There is no way yet to delete one. To correct a mapping, save a new one for the same headers.