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Importing items | column titles

You can import items into Robaws from an item list, and update existing items in bulk, for example to adjust prices.
You do this with the Robaws import Excel, and you fill in the 'article' tabs you need.
Below you find an overview of the column titles for the more complex tabs, with the field they match in Robaws next to them, so you can complete the import Excel correctly.

Navigate quickly to:

tab 'articles'
tab 'articlesuppliers'
tab 'articlecomposites'
tab 'articlestierprices'

Tab 'articles'

Information about importing and updating

Column title	Field in Robaws
UPDATE_BY	reference to an item column for an update (see explanation)
NAME	Item name
NR	Item number
UNITTYPE	Unit (see explanation)
SALEPRICE	Selling price (see explanation)
BARCODE	Barcode
MARGIN	Margin for the selling price (see explanation)
ARTICLETYPE	Type (not to be confused with the 'Item type' field): must be an existing type from the item settings.
MINIMUMSALEAMOUNT	Minimum amount (= minimum sales quantity)
COSTPRICE	Cost price (see explanation)
STOCK	Stock (is adjusted on the default stock location)
DESCRIPTION	Extra description
BRAND	Brand
CALCULATIONTYPE	Cost type (see overview)
ARTICLEID	Id from the database, is used for the update. You can find it in the Excel export
AGREEMENTTYPE	Type (SOG, FH, ... ): must be an existing type from the general settings. This is only useful for the 'type' field when importing posts.
DEVIANTSALESNAME	Salesname
BTWTYPE	VAT tariff: must be an existing VAT tariff from the general settings
ACCOUNTANCYCODE	Gl-account sales (see explanation)
ACTIVITY	Activity (see explanation)
ARTICLEGROUP	Item group (see explanation)
NAMEENG	English sales name
NAMEFR	French sales name
DESCRIPTIONENG	English extra description
DESCRIPTIONFR	French extra description
COSTPRICESTRATEGY	Cost price strategy (see overview)
SALEPRICESTRATEGY	Sell price strategy (see overview)
ACCOUNTANCYCODE_PURCHASE	Accountancycode purchase (see explanation)
TIME_OPERATION	Hour code
WAPPY	Wappy: options
STOCK_PLACE	Stockplace
INSTALLATION	Installations
STOCK_PLACE	Stockplace
PROJECT_SUPPLY_ROUTE	Project supply route: must be an existing one from the project settings
LIBRARY_TYPE	Item type (not to be confused with the 'Type' field) (see overview)
LINE_TYPE	Line type (see options)
HEADER_LEVEL	The lay-out level you want to add to this line. Here you use the codes 'H1' up to 'H8'.
INTERNAL_PHOTO	Internal photo (see options)

Update (UPDATE_BY)

If you want to update an item, you must fill in the UPDATE_BY column, so that Robaws knows which item to update. If you do not fill in this column, a new item is created in Robaws every time. Be sure to also read this information about updates!!

The update of the 'article' tab can be carried out on the basis of 3 references:

ARTICLEID : the item is looked up on the basis of its (technical) id. This is the most accurate way to update an existing item, because the id is always unique and is generated automatically by Robaws. You find the id in the export of the items.
NAME: the item is looked up on the basis of the item name (note that it has to be unique in that case!)
NR: the item is looked up on the basis of the item number, which is only possible if you work with item numbers and if they are unique

Choose one of the 3 references, and make sure that it is also filled in as a column!

Cost price, selling price, margin

You can only update the cost price and the selling price if they are set to the 'fixed price' strategy. You can only update the margin if you have chosen the 'margin on...' strategy.
If you have chosen the 'lowest purchase price' cost price strategy, for example, it is filled in automatically on the basis of the prices of your suppliers. You can then NOT adjust it manually (or through an import).

You enter prices as a number: you enter 100€ as 100.
You enter the margin as a number: you enter a 20% margin as 20.

Item group (ARTICLEGROUP)

If the item groups already exist in Robaws, you can reference them by entering the name exactly. The item group has to be the lowest level.
If the item group does not exist yet (or is not spelt in exactly the same way, or is not the lowest level), that item group is created automatically.

Checkboxes

For a checkbox (tick) you use either of these:

Either: Yes No
Or: TRUE FALSE

These values are not case-sensitive ('Yes' as well as 'YES' or 'yes' work).

GL accounts, activities, item groups, units

For GL accounts, activities, item groups and units, Robaws looks for a match. If an exact match is found, it is linked to the item. If not, a new item is created that is linked to the item straight away. Please note, the search is case-sensitive!

Cost type (CALCULATIONTYPE)

Possible values for the cost type:

Value	Cost type
Material	material
Arbeid	labor
OA	subcontractor
Materieel	equipment
Kost	indirect cost

If we do not find a valid value in this column, 'Material' is used by default.

Item type (LIBRARY_TYPE)

Possible values for the item type:

Value	Item type
FIXED	Item
MATERIAL	Equipment
MATERIALINSTALLATION	Installation
MATERIALREGISTRATIONOPERATION	Hour code - material
EMPLOYEETIMEOPERATION	Hour code - employee
RENTAL	Rental

Cost and selling price strategy

In the import you can specify straight away how the price of the item is determined. If you leave this value empty, the default pricing strategy from the settings is followed.
If you use margins for the selling price strategy, do not forget to fill in the 'MARGIN' column as well.

Value	Cost price strategy
PURCHASEPRICE	Purchase price preferred supplier
COMPOSITE	Cost price determined from the composite items
FIXED	Fixed price
LOWEST	Lowest purchase price
HIGHEST	Highest purchase price

Value	Sell price strategy
MARGINPURCHASEPRICE	Margin on gross price preferred supplier
MARGINCOSTPRICE	Margin on cost price
FIXED	Fixed price

Line type (LINE_TYPE)

Value	Line type
P	Line
H	Title
T	Total
A	Quantity
C	Check
V	Variant
Tx	Text
H1 to H8	Chapter 1 to 8
O	Option (unit price)
OT	Option (total)

If we do not find a valid value in this column, 'Line' is used by default.

Tab 'articlesuppliers'

More information about importing item suppliers
Read also: how do you add or update item suppliers?

Column title	Field in Robaws
UPDATE_BY	Column that is used for the update (see explanation)
ARTICLENR	Item number, has to be the same as the 'NR' column on the articles tab
SUPPLIERNR	Supplier number, has to be the same as the 'NR' column on the suppliers tab
SUPPLIERNAME	Supplier name, has to be the same as the 'NAME' column on the suppliers tab
DATE	Date of the price change (if left empty, the date of the import is filled in)
PRICE	Net purchase price (both are mandatory!)
GROSSPRICE	Gross purchase price (both are mandatory!)
REFERENCE	Specific reference of the supplier
UNITTYPE	Unit
WEBSHOP	Name of the supplier with an active webshop integration. Please note: the name has to be entered in capitals!
WEBSHOPREF	Reference of this item in the webshop
MINIMUMAMOUNT	Minimum purchase quantity
EXTRA_FIELD_1	Extra field 1 created in the item settings
EXTRA_FIELD_2	Extra field 2 created in the item settings
EXTRA_FIELD_3	Extra field 3 created in the item settings
AMOUNT_PER_UNIT	Quantity in package

If you use the SUPPLIERNR column, it is best to delete the SUPPLIERNAME column so that the supplier is not overwritten. The same applies the other way round, of course.

Tab 'articlestierprices'

More information about importing price groups/tier prices
Read also: how do you add or update price groups/tier prices?

Column titles

Column title	Field in Robaws
UPDATE_BY	Column that is used for the update (more explanation)
ARTICLENR	Item number, has to be the same as the 'NR' column on the articles tab
AMOUNT	Quantity for this tier price
PRICE	Tier price
PRICEGROUP	Price group
PERCENTAGE	Margin (enter the number without - or %)
DISCOUNT	Discount (enter the number without - or %)
For the price groups, Robaws looks for a match in the database. If an exact match is found, it is linked to the tier price. If not, a new item is created that is linked to the tier price straight away. Please note, the search is case-sensitive!

Example: I want to import items with different prices for 3 price groups.

Example of an item import with price groups

Tab 'articlecomposites'

More information about importing composite items
Please note, not to be confused with posts! Composite items have a very limited way of working.

Column title	Field in Robaws
NR	Item number of the item the underlying lines belong to
AMOUNT	Quantity
UNITTYPE	Unit
COSTPRICE	Cost price
DESCRIPTION	Description
ARTICLENR	Item number of the underlying item (must already exist in Robaws)

Updated on: 09/09/2026

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