Importing and exporting items

Import items to the Back Office to add several items to your inventory at once. The benefit of importing items is that it can save time and speed up your item creation process.

Import items to the Back Office to add several items to your inventory at once. The benefit of importing items is that it can save time and speed up your item creation process. If you have item info on file, you can choose between a template import or just import prices.

There are two versions of the import template. The first template allows you to quickly add items to Lightspeed Restaurant by adding basic information using a simplified spreadsheet. Use this template if you want to add items to Lightspeed Restaurant as quickly as possible. The second template can be used for detailed item creation and gives you the option to create combos, menu screens, and item groups while also creating your restaurant items. Creating items with this additional information requires more time and detailed instructions.

Use the Quick Import Template to import new items with details such as item name, SKU, default price, accounting group, and statistics group. The benefit of importing items from the template is saving time by adding all items simultaneously. 

1. Click here and select Make a copy to copy the template to your Google Account. If you do not have a Google account, download the template as an Excel (.xlsx) file here.
2. Review the Instructions tab of the template to learn how to use the file and see an example of how a filled-in import template looks.
   
3. Within the Quick Import Template, open the Import file tab and enter your item information, such as SKU, item name, default price, accounting group, statistics group, and cost price. Columns with green lettering in their headers signal that this information is required for an item to be created through an import. Other columns, such as "statistics group" and "cost price," are optional and not required to perform a successful import.
   If you use this template, item groups and combos must be built manually within the Back Office after the items have been imported.

Importing the template 

Once you’ve created your item’s import file with the template, import the data to your Back Office. To see the status of an import file, navigate to Menu management > Items > Import items only (access via the arrow next to Import) and check the Import overview section. To delete a file name from the overview, click the trash can symbol on the right.

To import the template: 

1. Log in to your Back Office with your Lightspeed Restaurant credentials.
2. Select Menu management>Items from the navigation menu.
3. Click the arrow next to Import and select Import items only.
4. Drag and drop your import file (.xlsx) in the dashed area or click browse to choose a file. The upload process might take a few minutes.

   

5. Make sure the titles of your file data are correct and click Map columns with identical names.
6. Optional: If some columns are not necessary for the import, turn them off.
7. Click Continue.
8. If you have new accounting groups in your file, toggle on the slide control in the Warning section to import items with these accounting groups.
   
   • Toggle off the slide control to ignore items in new accounting groups.
9. Click the Start import button. The upload may take some time.
   
   • Successful import: The confirmation Your file was imported successfully appears.
   • Unsuccessful import: Please upload the file again.

Importing prices

If you have a lot of price changes, the import prices function helps you update your prices quickly. 

1. Log in to your Back Office with your Lightspeed Restaurant credentials.
2. Select Menu management > Items from the navigation menu.
3. Click the arrow next toImportand click Import prices.

   

4. Create the import file. 
5. Click Browse to upload the CSV import file from your computer, then select Open.
6. Click the Upload button. The Select columns tab will appear.
7. (Optional) If some columns are not necessary for the import, turn them off or continue with the next step.
8. Select the Map columns tab.
9. Make sure the titles of your columns are correct, and click Map columns with identical names.
10. Select the Additional parameters tab. Turn the button on or off and click Continue.
    
    • Button on: The price changes won’t apply to the items. The import is only a test run.
    • Button off: The price changes will apply to the items.
11. Click Continue.
12. Click Confirm submission to finish the import.

Formatting your import prices file

You have two options for template creation:

1. Click the arrow next to Export on the Items page and select Export prices to MS Excel to create a template. From this template, delete the Name column because you can’t import item names.
2. Use the table below as a template.
   • The import file must be a CSV or XLS formatted spreadsheet.
   • The first row must contain the following headers: SKU, Account profile, and Price.
   • The import file is limited to 10,000 rows total. If you have more than 9,999 prices to import, create separate imports.

Import template

SKU	Account profile	Price
Mandatory	Mandatory  Find your account profiles in Configuration > Settings > Account profiles.	Mandatory

Exporting items

Export items into a CSV or XLS file to print and save your data beyond the Back Office. Choose between the following export formats:

• Export: Export all items, including combo information into a CSV file.
• Export MS Excel: Exports all items, including combo information.
• Export selection to MS Excel: Exports filtered items.
• Export prices to MS Excel: Only exports the item’s SKU, name, account profile, and price.

To export items: 

1. Log in to the Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
2. From the navigation menu, select Menu management > Items.
3. Click the Export button at the top of the Items page to export the items’ data into a CSV file.

   

4. Choose Mac (Apple), PC (Windows), or Manual configuration(customized export).
                 or
5. Select the arrow next to the Export button to choose a specific format for export.
6. Only for MS Excel: Select Click here to download the exported file in the Success message box.