Import and export

Move your records into Gizzago from another system or a spreadsheet, see exactly what will happen before anything changes, and take any of it out again in a file you can edit and import back.

Who can do this: admins import and export people, memberships, children and loans. Coordinators can import toys and places. Catalogue volunteers can import toys.

Find it in Settings > Data, privacy and billing > Import, in the Import or export menu at the top of People, Toys and Loans, or under Toys > Add toys.

What you can import

Import in this order when you move everything, because each step finds what the earlier ones made:

1. Places: your sites, and the shelves and stores inside them.
2. People and households: members, contacts and donors.
3. Toys: products and the labelled items on your shelves.
4. Memberships: who is a member, on which plan, from when to when.
5. Children: birth month and year only. The day is never kept.
6. Current loans: what is out with members now, so the desk can check it in.

Steps

1. Choose what you are importing, then choose the file: a CSV or an Excel (.xlsx) file with column names in the first row, up to 5,000 rows. Or paste a Google Sheets link: in the sheet, choose File > Share > Publish to web, pick Comma-separated values, and copy the link.
2. Say where it is from: Lend Engine, myTurn or your own spreadsheet. Ids from that system are kept, so importing a newer copy later updates the same records instead of adding them twice.
3. Match the columns. Each column of your file is shown with three examples and where it goes. Gizzago fills in its best guess and says how sure it is: Remembered (you matched it like this last time), Exact, Likely or Guess. If a guess is wrong, choose the right field from the dropdown. For example, if a column called "Name" holds surnames, choose Last name. Choose Don't import to leave a column out, or Custom field… to keep it in a new custom field.
4. Optionally press Suggest with AI. Only the column names and three example rows are sent. Accept the suggestions you agree with.
5. Choose how rows find records that are already here (the keys, below), and what happens when a row matches: fill in blanks only, overwrite, or leave it alone. Blank cells never erase anything.
6. Check the file. Nothing has changed yet. You see how many rows will be created, updated, skipped, have errors or have warnings, and every row says why in plain words. Click a count to see just those rows.
7. Answer any questions about values that are not in your lists.
   • Categories, age bands and tags are created for you. The check says so, for example "These 4 categories don't exist yet and will be created: Sensory, …". If one means a category you already have, choose it under Use an existing category instead.
   • Sites, storage places and membership plans must be sorted out before you can import, because a typo would otherwise make a new site or plan. Each is listed with how many rows use it, for example "“Monthly” (12 rows): no plan called this." Either choose one you have under Use an existing plan…, or press Create a plan…. A side panel opens with the name filled in, asking only for what a plan needs (its price and how long it lasts). Save it and you are back on the check, with that value sorted and the rows checked again. Your file and column choices are kept. Sites and storage places work the same way.
   • Only coordinators and admins can add plans, and only admins can add sites and storage places. If you can't, the check says who to ask, or you can use one you have.
8. If some rows have no key, a warning says so: they will be added as new records, not matched to existing ones. Tick Create them as new to go ahead.
9. Import. It runs in the background, so you can close the page. The report shows what happened to each row.
10. Toys come in as drafts unless your file has a Status column saying Live. The report offers Make these N toys live; or check them first in the catalogue's Drafts view and make them live together.

The keys: how rows find existing records

What	Keys
People	Email, member number (with the person's name), the id from the old system, or the Gizzago ID from an export. Phone and name only when nothing else matches, and every such match is flagged for you to check.
Households	People with the same member number or household ID join one household. You can also group people with the same surname at the same address (each one flagged).
Toys	Item code (the label), the id from the old system, or the Gizzago ID. A barcode finds the product, so the row becomes another copy of it (flagged). Rows with the same name and brand become copies of one product.
Places	Site name or short name; a location by its code or its name within the site.
Memberships	The member, the plan and the start date.
Current loans	The item and the member. Both must already be in Gizzago: a row whose toy or member is not found is an error, never a new record.
Children	The parent and the birth month and year. A full date of birth is cut down to month and year.

Undo an import

For 7 days after an import, open it from Import and export > Earlier imports and press Undo this import. Everything it added is taken out and everything it changed is put back. If something has happened since, for example a toy has been lent or a person's details edited, Gizzago tells you what is in the way instead.

Photos for toys you already have

Go to Toys > Add toys > Photos.

• Files or a zip: name each photo after the toy's code (10182.jpg), its old system's id, its barcode or its name (Balance Board.jpg). 10182_2.jpg or 10182-2.jpg is the second photo. Photos are made smaller on your device first, and location and camera details are removed. If a name fits more than one toy, you choose.
• Web addresses: upload a spreadsheet with a column naming the toy and a column with the photo's web address. Gizzago fetches each one (up to 5 MB).

The first photo of a toy without photos becomes its main one. Photos stay private until you publish them.

Export

Every kind of record exports to a spreadsheet with the same column names the importer reads, so you can edit it and import it back. Use the buttons under Import and export > Export, or Import or export > Export what is shown on a list to export just what the list is showing. Exporting people's details asks you to confirm it is you first, and every export is recorded in the audit log.

Good to know

• New toys start as drafts unless your file has a Status column saying Live. To change many toys after an import (status, categories, price), use Edit many toys at once.
• Dates like 03/04/2025 are read as 3 April. Change it on the matching step if your file is from the US.
• An import never sends emails or takes payments. Memberships come in as they were, without charges.
• The file's contents are kept for the report and the undo, then removed after about a week.