Importing Data Into an Existing Sheet in Smartsheet

SSFeatures makes it easy to import data directly into your existing sheet. It supports files like Excel, OpenDocument, CSV, and TXT.

The Problem with Importing in Smartsheet

Without any Smartsheet addons, Smartsheet doesn't let you import data into an existing sheet. If you click File --> Import, Smartsheet provides options to import data, but they create new sheets instead. Then, you have to copy and paste everything into your original sheet by hand.

This is frustrating because:

• The new sheet doesn't match your original sheet's column types.
• You waste time moving the data over manually.

Smartsheet does offer an advanced addon called Data Shuttle, but it's expensive and has limitations. It only works if your data is stored in the cloud (like Google Drive) or as a file attached to your sheet. It does not let you import a file straight from your computer.

This missing feature has caused headaches for many users over the years:

• Feedback: I am looking to import data from an Excel file to my existing Smartsheet that already has data in it by I'm not finding a way to do this.
• Feedback: Is there a way to update an existing Smartsheet with a newly updated excel import?
• Feedback: I have tried importing CSV / xlsx files from within an existing sheet, where I have the Column Properties set. When I do it, Smartsheets creates a new sheet in the default workspace (ignoring the fact that I imported it from within an existing sheet), and names the new sheet the name of the CSV.
• Feedback: This might be a very basic and potentially dumb question, but I am trying to figure out how to import an excel spreadsheet into an existing sheet without overlaying the existing sheet data.
• Feedback: I want to import data to an existing data sheet whereby it will upload the data from my source sheet excel to my existing data set and match by the unique identifier
• Feedback: How can I import the data into an existing sheet

The Solution with SSFeatures

SSFeatures provides a popup that lets you import data into your existing sheet, with support for Excel, OpenDocument, CSV, and TXT files from your computer.

You can choose how your data is imported:

• Append new rows to the bottom of the sheet
• Replace all existing data in the sheet
• Merge new data with existing rows based on a unique primary key column

How to import data:

1. Click File --> Import --> Import into this Sheet, which opens a popup.

2. Select the file you want to import.

3. Choose how you want to import the data into your sheet. You can append rows to the bottom, replace all existing data, or merge the new data with existing rows based on a primary key column.

4. (Optional) Apply filters to control which rows from your file are imported. This allows you to import only specific data that matches your criteria.

5. Map the columns from your source file to the columns in your sheet. This ensures the data is imported into the correct columns, even if the names don’t exactly match.

Contact Columns

This feature supports Contact columns. When importing data into a contact column, SSFeatures checks whether the value is an email address:

• If it is, SSFeatures will attempt to match it to an existing contact using that email address and insert the contact into the cell.

• If no match is found, SSFeatures will create a new contact using the email address. However, no name will be set for the contact—only the email.

TIP: For best results, use Smartsheet's Contact Importer beforehand to upload your full contact list with names and emails. This allows SSFeatures to match the imported data to named contacts, rather than creating unnamed ones on the fly.

Date Columns

When importing data into a Date column, SSFeatures passes the values directly to Smartsheet as-is.

However, if you're using filters based on date values, SSFeatures needs to parse the date to apply the filter correctly. It uses JavaScript's built-in Date.parse() method.

This parser tries to interpret many date formats, but may fail if the format is ambiguous.

For best results, use the standardized ISO 8601 format

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ

Demo Video

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you tell me more about the security and privacy of this feature?

  • Absolutely. SSFeatures operates entirely within your browser and directly interacts with Smartsheet's application code. None of your row, column, or cell data is ever sent to our servers, ensuring complete privacy and security.