Choose the File type to import from the drop list provided. Currently you can import data from Comma Seperated Value (CSV), Excel/SXC, HTML and Tabular Text file formats.

Choose the Data Location from where the input data file is to be loaded. You can choose any of the following:

1. Pasted Data: Choose this option if you wish to copy and paste the data from the source file. Copy and paste the data from the necessary file into the text area given below. In the case of a HTML file format, you need to copy and paste the data along with the HTML tags in the file. Ignoring it will make the import to fail.
2. Local Drive: Choose this option if  you wish to load the data file from your local machine. On choosing this option, Browse and load the necessary file from your local machine.
3. Web URL:  Choose this option if you have the data file residing in a Web URL. On choosing this option provide the full path fo the URL in the field provided.  Ensure that the URL is publicly accessible for Zoho Reports to contact the same for data fetching.

Once you have provided the data input, click on the Next button at the bottom to proceed to the next step.

Note:

1. Zoho Reports has the following restrictions on the size of Data Import. You can upload a maximum of 100,000 rows at a time into a Table. And the file size should not exceed 3MB. Incase if the file size is greater than or equal to 3MB, then you can Zip the file and upload the same. 
2. If you wish to upload more data in a batch, you can use the Upload tool. This is a packaged downloadable tool installable in your machine. You can use this via a GUI to upload the data or from a command line mode for scheduled upload of data.
3. For further assistance, contact us at support@zohoreports.com

In case of HTML file import: Choose the HTML Table to import

In case you have chosen to import an HTML file, you will see a screen as shown below  in Step 2.

You will see the list of HTML tables that are present in the input file. You need to choose the table from which the data has to be imported. You can only import one table at a time. Once you had chosen the table, click on Next button to proceed to the next step.

If there had been no tables in the input HTML file, then you would not be able to proceed to the next step until you provide a valid input.

Step 2 (Step 3 in case of HTML Import): Specify the Import settings

In this step you would be prompted to provide the necessary settings for Zoho Reports to properly understand the data being imported.

The settings that are to be provided are described below:

1. First Row Contains Column Names : If the first row of the data being imported contains the columns names, then choose Yes, if not No. Zoho Reports will try to intelligently identify whether the first row contains column names and set the option automatically. You can verify this and override/reset it accordingly.
   
   It is recommended that the first row contains the column names. This would enable Zoho Reports to use the same column names while creating the table to store the data imported.
   
   If the imported data does not contain the column names in the first row, then Zoho Reports will generate its own column names and create the table. You can edit these column names subsequently after the table has been created.
   
   
2. Date Format of the column(s): In case the imported data contains a date column, then you need to provide the date format of the same for Zoho Reports to correctly import it. By default, Zoho Reports tries to identify the date format of the given date column from the data provided and display the same in this field. If you find that to be incorrect or if Zoho Reports had failed to recognize any date column then you can set the date format by clicking on the link Choose matching date format... just below that date field. To know more about choosing the matching date format follow this link.
   
   
3. More CSV Settings: If you are importing CSV or Excel data then you would see the More CSV Settings link. Clicking on this will expand the dialog box and provide more settings which are described below:
   
   

   

   
   

   • Delimiter separating your column(s): Specify the delimiter character which separates the data in one column from the next. Comma would be the default. If not, you could choose what is relevant for your data set which could be any of  Comma, Tab, Semicolon and Space
     
   • Skip top row(s): Specify the number of rows to be skipped or ignored by Zoho Reports from the top of your data file being imported. This is optional and the default would be 0 ie no rows will be skipped.
     
   • Text Qualifier: If the string values in the data imported are enclosed within Single quote or Double quote, specify the same in this option. The default value is NONE.
     
   • Comment Character: If some rows in the data imported are commented and are to be ignored, then you need to specify the comment character that is used to indicate the same. Note that the specified comment character should be present as the first character in that row, if that row has to be ignored.

Preview:

Zoho Reports shows a preview of the data being imported by displaying the first 3 rows in a tabular format as shown below.

In the preview table shown you can verify the column names and the column type of the data being imported. If required you can change the same too.

To change a Column Name, double click on the corresponding column header. This will switch the header  into edit mode. You can then provide the required name and press the Enter key to set the same.

To change the Column type, choose the type from the drop list provided under each column. Ensure that you specify the right column type. Specifying a wrong type will generate errors on import and make Zoho Reports to ignore the value in that corresponding column while importing.

On Import Errors:

• Set Empty Value for the Column (default) : If this option is set, Zoho Reports will set empty value to the corresponding column value which had problems while importing.
• Skip Corresponding Rows : If this option is set, Zoho Reports  will skip the corresponding rows in which an error occurs while importing.
• Don't Import the data : If this option is set, Zoho Reports will not import any data provided, if any error occurs during importing.

In case any error occurs during import, the details of the same would be shown in the Import Summary dialog (refer the next section below) which would be shown on Import process completion.

Once you have set all the options, click Create button provided to proceed Importing the data.

Import Summary:

Once Zoho Reports imports the input data provided, it will bring up a Import Summary Dialog as shown below, capturing the status of the Import process just completed.

The details that would be shown include:

• Column Details : Total number of columns in the input data and the total number of columns that where actually selected for import
• Row Details : Total number of rows in the input data and the total number of succesfully imported rows in it.
• Error/Warning Details : If there were any errors/warning generated during the Import process, it would be listed under the Details section.

If you import data from an URL, you would see a link Would you like to schedule this import periodically? which you can use to setup periodic import of data from this URL. Follow this link for more details.  

On closing the Summary dialog, Zoho Reports will display the newly created table with the data loaded in the same.

Related Topics: Upload tool, Periodic Scheduling Of Imports, Datatypes supported by Zoho Reports 

Next: Importing data into an Existing Table