Mapping your columns
How DataSheets Pro matches each spreadsheet column to a product field or a block, and how to change where a column goes.
Before it creates anything, DataSheets Pro decides where each of your spreadsheet columns goes. It gets you most of the way automatically; you fine-tune the rest on the Match columns step.
The Match your columns card
Your file runs down the left, one row per column, each with its heading and its first few values. On the right, a dropdown says where that column goes. The choices are:
- Don't import: the column is left out.
- Product details, one of the twelve product fields: Product name, Subtitle, Model, Part numbers, Key / ID, Category, Image URL, Logo URL, Description, Specifications, Key features, Status.
- In your layout: a block that the standard document layout already contains, such as Specifications or a feature list. Columns you send there are built into that block.
- Add: ‹group› is any other block from the block library, grouped the way the editor groups them. The block is added to the product's content.
Point several columns at the same block and it is built from all of them: send five spec columns to Specifications and each heading becomes a row label with the cell as its value. The same works for a feature list, a table and the other blocks that take label/value pairs; a Territory map takes two columns of state codes (stocking territory and select lines), and Contact details takes Company, Website, Email, Phone and Address columns.
Automatic matching
Columns are matched by their header names, and common variations are recognized: "SKU", "Order codes" or "Part no." become Part numbers; "Title" or "Product" becomes Product name; "Specs" becomes Specifications; "Photo" becomes Image URL; "Item number" or "Ref" becomes Key / ID. An exact match wins; failing that, a heading that contains a recognized name is used.
A column that matches nothing isn't dropped: it is sent to Specifications, because on most spec sheets that's what the extra columns are. A banner at the top of the card counts them (N columns aren't mapped) with an Add all N to Specifications button if you've set some to Don't import and want them back.
Adjusting the mapping
- Check that one column points at Product name. The Continue button stays disabled until one does.
- Change any dropdown that picked the wrong place. Your choice always wins over the automatic match.
- Set columns you don't want to Don't import.
- Drag the grip on a row (or use the ↑ ↓ buttons) to reorder columns. The order here is the order rows appear inside the block they're sent to.
Preview: row 1
The second card draws your first row exactly as it will be stored: the product details at the top, then one block per destination, each drawn with the columns you sent it. Change a destination and it redraws. Every block in the preview has a Shown as dropdown, so a set of columns that came in as a plain table can be switched to a comparison, a grouped table or any other block that reads the same columns.
How cell values are interpreted
| Field | How the cell is read |
|---|---|
| Part numbers | Split on commas, semicolons or new lines into separate values. |
| Specifications | One per line, as "Label: Value", or point several columns at Specifications and each heading becomes a row label. |
| Key features | One per line, as "Title: Detail", or just a title per line. |
| Image / Logo URL | Normalized to a full https:// URL; unreadable values are ignored (no image). |
| Status | "draft" or "final"; anything else is flagged for you to fix. Sets the default status of documents made from the product. |
| Key / ID | Stored as the product's internal reference and used to match rows on a re-import. |
If a column landed somewhere you didn't expect, see A column wasn't detected.