Housecall Pro’s newest tool, our data Import Wizard, makes it easier than ever to transfer your customer data from a different software directly into Housecall Pro. By uploading a file of historic data, our wizard will enable you to map each field to the appropriate corresponding field in Housecall Pro (see more within our Import & Export Your Data section).
However, the simpler and cleaner your data is, the easier it will be to import into Housecall Pro. With the following formatting guide, we will help you prepare your data with transformation tips and tricks, making it simpler to work with and easier to import into Housecall Pro.
To make this accessible for all users, we’ve added instructions below on how to complete reformatting tasks using Excel formulas (when the task is simple enough) and through a third-party software called Ablebits for Google Sheets (Google’s free version of Excel).
Note: Ablebits enables the user to complete tasks in Google Sheets by clicking buttons rather than writing out formulas. You can sign up for a 30 day free trial with them without having to put a card on file.
Table of Contents
Merge Columns
Scenario: You have multiple columns in your file that you want imported into the same field within Housecall Pro.
For example, you have three different columns of “Notes” in your spreadsheet and you want them all to be placed into the Customer Notes field in Housecall Pro.
If you have multiple phone numbers, email addresses, or tags, you should separate these with commas when merging into one field.
Add Text
Scenario: You have a field in your data with information you’d like to transfer into Housecall Pro, but there is no corresponding field within Housecall Pro.
This guide lists the different fields you can currently map to. Custom fields cannot be created.
In this example, let’s say you are a water treatment or pool cleaning business, and you record the pH level for each visit using a pH level field within your data.
Although you can enter information in any field using the guide above, we recommend putting information like this in the customer or job notes field. In a case like this, you can first add a label (ie pH Level: ) in front of each value within this column to avoid confusion on a job or customer profile. So for this example, “7.2” in the notes, would change to “pH Level: 7.2”.
Combine Duplicate Rows
Scenario: The exported version of your data is split into multiple rows per job/invoice.
For example, invoice #100 is spread across four different rows, with each row having a different line item.
With our Import Wizard, each row should correspond to one job or invoice. If multiple rows of data are used for the same invoice or job, it will not upload successfully. Although you can choose to just upload the first occurrence of that job, additional data existing in subsequent rows (such as the additional line items) will not import. In order to get all information to import, you will need to merge the different rows into a single row for every job or invoice.
Merge Sheets
Your exported data is on multiple sheets that need to be merged into one sheet for import
Some software exports your data into multiple reports. However, Housecall Pro will only import one sheet.
For example, an invoice report might have all the information you need except the details of the job. Your software may also provide a job detail report that provides the line items for each job. Since you aren’t able to import more than one spreadsheet for invoices/jobs into Housecall Pro, you’ll need to merge these reports together.
This is a more advanced process in both Ablebits and Excel, so chat into the blue chat bubble for additional support. In most merge cases, there needs to be linking data that is the same on both sheets for the merge sheet function to work properly. For the above example, you would need to have the invoice number on both the invoice report and the job detail report for the line items from the job detail report to merge successfully with the invoice report.
Replace Text
Scenario: You need to update the text or labels in your data to make it more useful and intuitive
Replacing text can be a useful way to change one value within a column or entire sheet with another value.
For example, if you want to put the job number in the job notes section of your invoices, but the exported value is #111 and you want it to be Job Number: 111, you can replace each “#” value with “Job Number: “ all at once.
Important: Be sure to highlight ONLY the cells that contain the data you want to change. Otherwise, you may end up changing the data elsewhere in the sheet. A warning will appear before this occurs to ensure you’re replacing the data you intend to replace.
Split Text
Scenario: You need to separate text from one column into two or more columns to import it properly.
There may be instances when your data exports in a single column, but Housecall Pro requires the data to be imported into separate columns for correct display.
There are several examples of when splitting text might be used:
The job date and time are in one column on your export, but need to be in two columns for Housecall Pro.
Your previous software combines names into one field, and you need to split into Housecall Pro’s first and last names fields.
Separating an address that is in line break format into multiple columns,
Separating a job number from a job description.
Need assistance? Feel free to click the Blue Chat Bubble. Open a chat and let us know you need assistance with the data transfer process, and our Data Import team will do our best to help get you on the right track!