Moving your item list into BooksPOS from Excel

Most shops come to BooksPOS with years of records in Excel, another program or a register. Typing thousands of items in again is not an option, and neither is guessing whether the old list came in correctly. BooksPOS imports your items, customers and suppliers from an Excel workbook (from BooksPOS 1.1.0) or a CSV file and checks every row before it saves anything. This guide is the import itself; the whole move, from choosing the week to the first week of billing, is in switching a book depot from a register or Excel to a POS.

Before you start

1. Pick one closing date. Take the stock count and the khata balances as of the same day, for example the night before you start with BooksPOS. Opening figures are dated with it.
2. Import in this order: items first, then customers, then suppliers. It is not required, but it is the easiest to check.
3. Keep a copy of every file you import. BooksPOS keeps one too, but yours is the one you will correct.
4. Sign in as the owner or a manager. Importing items with opening stock needs both catalogue editing and stock adjustment permission; customers or suppliers with balances need the opening balance permission.

The file: your Excel workbook, or CSV UTF-8

From BooksPOS 1.1.0 you choose the Excel workbook (.xlsx) itself, with no saving as anything else. BooksPOS takes its first sheet, keeps ISBNs, phone numbers and Urdu as you typed them, and takes a date cell as its date. When the workbook has several sheets, it says which one it used, so put the list on its own sheet or move that sheet first. The older .xls format and a workbook protected with a password are refused with a message: save it as an Excel Workbook without a password, or as CSV.

On an earlier version, or from another program, use a CSV file. In Excel choose File › Save As and pick CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). The plain "CSV" type cannot hold Urdu; BooksPOS will still read it for English text, but warns you. A CSV file holds one sheet, so a workbook with several lists is saved one sheet per file.

For both kinds of file:

• Keep the heading row. Columns can be in any order and have any names.
• Amounts may include "Rs", "PKR" and thousands commas ("Rs 1,250.50"), with at most two decimals.
• Write dates day-month-year: 30-06-2026, 30/06/2026 or 2026-06-30.
• One row per edition. The 2025 and 2026 editions of a reader are two rows and become two items with separate stock. See keeping book editions apart.
• Opening stock is in pieces or copies, not boxes, and needs a unit cost so stock and profit are valued correctly.

The three steps on screen

On the store PC, open Import data and choose Import products (or customers, or suppliers).

1. Choose the file. BooksPOS shows how many rows and columns it found, and for a workbook which sheet it used.
2. Match the columns. Each BooksPOS field shows which of your columns fills it, with an example value, so a wrong match is easy to spot. Common names such as "Book Name", "Price", "Qty", "Class" or "Balance" are matched for you.
3. Check all rows. Nothing is saved yet. Every row is marked as ready, already there (skipped), an error, or a warning that does not block the import.

Errors and warnings with their row numbers. Screenshot of the current build (28 Sep 2026), synthetic demo data.

Errors are listed with the row number as Excel shows it (the heading is row 1). Typical ones: an ISBN whose check digit is wrong (BooksPOS never guesses a corrected ISBN; how check digits work), opening stock without a unit cost, text in a price column, or the same item twice in the file. A typical warning: another edition of this title is already in BooksPOS, so this row becomes a separate item.

Either correct the file and choose it again, or tick Import the other rows and leave out the ones with errors. Then press Import.

While it runs

• The import runs on the store server in the background. Tills keep selling meanwhile. You can close the window.
• Rows are saved in small batches, each complete or absent. If the PC switches off mid-import, it carries on from where it stopped when the store server starts again, and nothing is imported twice.
• Import data lists every import: file name, who imported it, when, and what became of each row. We tested this with a 50,000-row CSV file.

Correcting mistakes afterwards

Imported records are ordinary records, and nothing is overwritten silently. Fix item details or prices in Catalog (price history is kept). Correct opening stock with a stock adjustment, and an opening balance with a correction entry, each with a reason.

What is entered another way

• Prices of items already in BooksPOS: an import skips items that are already there, so change their prices in Catalog.
• Advances held for customers or paid to suppliers: take them as new advances on the first day. An opening balance is money owed.
• Past sales stay in your old records: BooksPOS starts from the opening stock and balances of your closing date.
• A whole file imported by mistake: check the totals on the last step before you press Import; if a wrong file went in, contact the BooksPOS team before correcting it.

Common questions

How do I bring in a list I keep in Excel?

From BooksPOS 1.1.0, choose the workbook itself: its first sheet is taken as it is, and Urdu text and ISBNs stay intact. On an earlier version, save it from Excel as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) and import that file; that keeps Urdu text intact too.

What happens to rows with errors?

Nothing is saved until you decide. You can correct the file and choose it again, or import the other rows and leave out the ones with errors. Each error is listed with its row number as Excel shows it.

Will importing stop the tills?

No. The import runs on the store server in the background, in small batches, and the tills keep selling while it runs.

What if the power goes in the middle of an import?

Each batch is saved completely or not at all. When the store server starts again, the import carries on from where it stopped, and no row is imported twice.

Can I bring in customers' khata balances?

Yes. Customers and suppliers can be imported with their opening balances, dated with your closing date. Advances held for customers are taken as new advances on the first day.

Every column and message is in the help centre: Importing items, customers and suppliers from Excel or CSV. We can set BooksPOS up on your shop PC with you: talk to us.