New in Sloose ·
Import quotes, sales orders and invoices with line items into Zoho CRM
A quote is a header and a table of lines, and a spreadsheet keeps them on two tabs: one row for each quote, one row for each line. Sloose now imports Quotes, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and Invoices with their line items, from those two files in one import.
How to import quotes with their line items into Zoho CRM
Add the quotes file and the lines file to one import. The quotes file has a row for each quote, such as a Subject and the company it is for. The lines file has a row for each line, and each row names its quote:
| Quote | Product | Quantity | Unit price | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour Lights fit-out | LED panel 600 | 40 | 85 | |
| Harbour Lights fit-out | Driver 40W | 40 | 22 | 10% |
| Westgate refurbishment | LED panel 600 | 12 | 25 |
Sloose sees that the second file's rows name the same quotes again and again, and offers to make it the quote's line items. Then you map the columns as you map any others. Each quote is made with its lines in the same write, because Zoho will not make a quote without at least one.
Products are found in your CRM, never made
The Product column is a lookup into your Products: you say which field of the product it holds, such as its name or its code, and Sloose finds the product. It does not make products. A line whose product is not in the CRM, is in it more than once, or is switched off (inactive) cannot be written, and Zoho's own refusal for each of those reads the same. So Sloose does not send the quote: the quote is not made, nothing of it is half-written, and the results name the line that stopped it. Validate flags a product that is missing from the CRM or inactive before anything is written: it is an error that names the line, says its quote would not be written, and holds Run until you fix it. It checks the products the lines look up by a column, up to 500 different values; for more than that, or a product fixed by its id, Validate does not check them all, so run a dry run, which shows the rest before you write anything.
Prices and totals stay Zoho's
You map the quantity, the price, the discount and a description. The totals are Zoho's: a line's total, its total after the discount and the quote's sub total and grand total are worked out by the CRM, so Map fields does not offer them. A blank quantity is one and a blank price is the product's own price, as Zoho reads them.
A discount written as a percentage, such as 10%, is sent as written, and Zoho works it out as an amount on the line's total: 10% of a line of 200 is 20. Validate says so when a discount column holds a percentage. It also warns about a quantity of nought, below nought or part of a whole, and a discount that is more than its line comes to. Zoho takes all of those, so Sloose says them and you decide.
Invoices and purchase orders move your stock
Zoho follows a record's lines into the products' stock. An invoice takes the quantity in stock down, a purchase order raises the quantity ordered, a sales order raises the quantity in demand, and a quote changes nothing. Before a run that writes these, the Run step says which quantity it moves and for how many products. Sloose cannot give stock back. Running the same lines over the same record again moves nothing more, but making another record does.
Running it again
With the quotes matched on their Subject, running the import again replaces each quote's lines with the file's instead of adding to them, and Zoho works the totals out again. Each line is counted as a row of the run, like any other row Sloose writes, so a quote of two hundred lines is two hundred and one rows.
What it does not do yet
- Tax is not imported in this version.
- Your CRM needs these modules, which are in Zoho's paid editions.
Compared with Zoho CRM's own import
Zoho's import carries a second file's rows for every module that supports a subform, except the inventory modules: Quotes, Invoices, Purchase Orders and Sales Orders. The full comparison is on its own page.
Questions people ask
How do I import quotes with line items into Zoho CRM from a spreadsheet?
Put the quotes in one file, one row for each, and the line items in another, one row for each line with the quote it belongs to. Add both to one Sloose import, take the offer to make the second file the quote's line items, and map the columns.
Can I import sales orders, purchase orders and invoices the same way?
Yes. Quotes, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and Invoices work the same way, each with its own line items.
What happens to a line whose product is not in my CRM?
Validate flags it before anything is written for the products it checks (up to 500 different values looked up by a column): an error that names the line and holds Run. A dry run checks the rest. If it reaches a run, the quote it belongs to is not made and the results name the line. The same goes for a product that is in the CRM more than once or is inactive. Add or switch on the product, and import the quote again.
Will an import change my stock?
It can: Zoho follows invoices into the quantity in stock, purchase orders into the quantity ordered and sales orders into the quantity in demand. The Run step says which before you start, and a quote moves nothing.
Where can I try it?
Start a free trial, add a quotes file and a lines file of made-up companies, and run Validate and a dry run: nothing is written until you press Import.