# General Business Category > Accounting Forum >  Pastel - Excel compatability in invoicing

## Miro Bagrov

I wonder: Is there a way to import a spreadsheet in to Pastel to create an invoicing batch.
I'm dealing with a large batch of invoices which cannot be grouped by customer, nor are recurring. However I do get the report in spreadsheet here at work

Any one have experience with these things?

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## Neville Bailey

Hi Miro, it is possible to import data from Excel into an invoice batch, after rearranging the data into the correct format and then saving the file as a CSV file. 

I can assist you with setting this up for you if you drop me an email with the details.

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## Miro Bagrov

The "batch - import" option doesn't seem to cover for CSV files, only bank manager does - they are using Pastel P11.
Can it still be done?

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## Neville Bailey

The Batch...Import option will import a CSV file, provided it is laid out correctly.

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## Miro Bagrov

Can I email you one of the invoice spreadsheets to have a look at?

The ABSA bank CSV file looks like a typical database structured file.

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## Neville Bailey

> Can I email you one of the invoice spreadsheets to have a look at?


Sure, send it to me and I will then convert it into the correct CSV format, test it on my side, and then send the CSV file to you.

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## Miro Bagrov

> Sure, send it to me and I will then convert it into the correct CSV format, test it on my side, and then send the CSV file to you.




I'll also upload one of the batches here so maybe others can also benefit.


Maybe I must create a spreadsheet that runs a report to automatically structure the CSV file?

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## Neville Bailey

I have attached two files.


Invoice CSV Layout.pdf explains the requirements of the CSV file layout.


invoices.csv is a sample CSV file that you can open in Excel and edit. 


I have used the first two invoice lines in the example. When you open the file, you will notice that cell E1 and cell E3 (which is where your customer codes must go) reflect 4 and 68 instead of 0004 and 0068. This is an inherent problem with CSV files that are opened in Excel, in which the leading zeros are discarded.


Before you can import the CSV file into the invoice batch, you need to edit E1 and E3 by inserting '000 and '00 in front of the existing numbers, so that they display as '0004 and '0068. Don't forget to capture the single apostrophe and then save the CSV file.


My suggestion, in order to avoid the above problem, is to not have leading zeros in your customer codes.

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Dave A (21-Nov-12), Miro Bagrov (22-Nov-12)

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## Miro Bagrov

Thanks a lot for that advice, you're definitely the Pastel expert.

This is running towards database management but I will definitely make use of it.

Again, thanks!

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