Bringing data in and taking it out

The ways to bring data in

You probably have lists already: an Excel file with your shop's stock, a bank statement as a PDF, a sheet in Zoho. You do not have to type them again. Flicx Sheet can read them and make sheets from them.

Each of these is explained below, one by one.

Bring in an Excel or CSV file

This is the quickest way to start a project from a file you already have. The file becomes sheets just as it is.

Where to find itSheets›a project with no sheets›Drop any file

1. Make a new project, or open a project that has no sheets yet. You see the page Add a sheet. See Projects and sheets.
2. Drag the file from your computer and let go of it over the dotted area that says Drop any file. Or click the area and choose the file.
3. A CSV file becomes one sheet straight away. The sheet takes the name of the file.
4. An Excel file can have many sheets inside it, so a box opens and asks which ones you want.

1. Every sheet is ticked to begin with. Press Clear all to untick them all, or Select all to tick them all.
2. Press a line to tick or untick that sheet. The numbers at the end of the line are its rows and columns.
3. Press the green button, for example Import 2 sheets, to bring in the ticked sheets. The number is how many you ticked.

• When the first row of a sheet holds headings, it becomes the names of the columns.
• Pictures inside the cells of an Excel file come along too, and so do the colours of the cells.
• When it is done, a message at the corner of the screen tells you how many sheets and pictures were brought in.
• You can drop more than one file at once. They are taken one after the other.

Please noteThe Add a sheet page is shown only while the project has no sheets. To add a file to a project that already has sheets, use Sheets from a file, explained next.

Sheets from a file: find the tables in any file

Many files have a table hidden inside them: a bank statement, a price list from a supplier, a photo of a register. Sheets from a file looks through the file, finds every table, and lets you make a sheet from each one.

Where to find itTop bar›Utilities›Sheets from a file

You can also open it from the three dots beside a project or a sheet (Sheets from a file…), and from the From a file button on the Add a sheet page.

1. Drag a file onto the dotted area, or click it and choose a file. It reads PDF files, pictures, Excel, CSV, Word and PowerPoint files.
2. Reading a PDF or a picture uses Companion credits: one credit for each page. Excel and CSV files do not use credits.
3. To bring a sheet from Zoho, paste its link here. See the Zoho part below.
4. Import fetches the Zoho sheet.
5. Tick Keep in sync with Zoho if the two sheets should stay the same afterwards.

After you give it a file, wait a little while it reads. A long PDF takes longer, because it is read page by page.

• If the PDF has a password, a box says This PDF is locked. Type the password and press Open. The password is used only to open this file and is not kept.
• If nothing in the file is laid out as a table, a message says No tables found.
• If you have no credits left, a message says Out of AI credits. See Flicx Companion for how to ask for more.
• Word and PowerPoint files use credits only when they have no ready-made table in them and the words have to be read.

Check the tables and make the sheets

Next you see every table that was found. Nothing is saved yet. You decide which tables to keep, what to call them and where they go.

1. Choose New sheets to make a new sheet from each table. Choose Add to a sheet to put the rows at the end of a sheet you already have.
2. For new sheets, choose the project under In project. Press New project to make a new one, and type its name in the box that appears.
3. Each table has a tick box, a name and its first few rows. Untick a table you do not want. Change the name if you like: it becomes the name of the sheet.
4. Press the green button, for example Make 2 sheets. The number is how many tables you ticked. When it is done you see the new sheets in a list. Press Open beside one to go to it, or Done to close.

Adding to a sheet you already have. Choose Add to a sheet, then find the sheet in the list and press it. The new rows go at the end of that sheet. Each column of the table goes under the column with the same name. A column name that the sheet does not have yet becomes a new column. The button at the bottom then says Add it to the sheet.

Bank and card statements. When a table looks like a list of payments, with dates and amounts, a small tick box called Tidy as transactions appears on it. Leave it ticked and the sheet is made with the columns Date, Description, Merchant, Category, Amount and Type, with money coming in and going out told apart. Untick it to keep the table exactly as it was in the file. See Expenses.

TipWrong file? Press Choose another file to go back to the first step. Nothing has been saved.

Bring a sheet from Zoho Sheet

If you keep a sheet in Zoho Sheet, you can copy it into Flicx Sheet with its link. You do not have to download anything first.

Where to find itTop bar›Utilities›Sheets from a file›Or from a Zoho Sheet link

1. In Zoho, open the sheet and copy its link from the address bar of your browser. A share link from Zoho WorkDrive also works.
2. In Flicx Sheet, open Sheets from a file. On the Add a sheet page of an empty project, the Zoho button opens the same box.
3. Paste the link in the box under Or from a Zoho Sheet link.
4. Press Import.
5. A small window from Zoho opens. Sign in to Zoho there and allow Flicx Sheet to read your sheets. The window closes by itself.
6. The sheet is read. Check the tables and press the green button to make the sheets, as explained above.

• If the small Zoho window does not open, your browser has stopped it. A line appears that says Open it here. Press that, sign in, and the import carries on.
• Sign in to Zoho as the owner of the sheet, or as someone it is shared with. Otherwise Zoho will not hand the sheet over.
• If you press the small red i beside the link box, it tells you why a link did not work.

A link with a password. Some Zoho share links are protected by a password. When you press Import for such a link, a box called Link password appears. Type the password and press Import once more. For a link like this you do not have to sign in to Zoho. If the password is wrong, the box turns red and says so.

Please noteBringing a sheet from Zoho works on the website and in the Windows app. In the Android app, open sheets.flicx.space in your phone's browser to do it.

Keep a sheet the same in Zoho and in Flicx

Sometimes part of your office still works in Zoho. With Keep in sync with Zoho ticked, the sheet you bring in stays tied to the Zoho sheet. A change made in one place is carried to the other, so you do not have two different copies.

1. Paste the Zoho link as described above.
2. Tick Keep in sync with Zoho under the link box.
3. Press Import and sign in to Zoho.
4. Every tab of the Zoho sheet becomes a sheet straight away, row for row. If a project is open, the sheets go into it. If not, a new project is made for them.

1. While Flicx Sheet is open, it compares the two sheets every minute or two. A cell changed only in Zoho is copied here. A cell changed only here is copied to Zoho.
2. If the same cell was changed in both places, nothing is overwritten. A notice tells you how many cells are waiting. Press Ask Companion and Flicx Companion shows you both values and helps you choose which to keep.

Now and then a notice appears at the bottom of the screen because the app needs you:

Every notice also has Later. It puts the notice away until something new is waiting.

• A sheet opened with a link password is one way only: changes made in Zoho come here, but changes made here do not go to Zoho.
• Rows are matched by their place. The first row of the Zoho tab is the column names, the second row is the first row of your sheet, and so on. So add new rows at the end, and do not sort the sheet on one side only.
• The comparing happens only while Flicx Sheet is open on one of your devices.
• To stop, open Flicx Companion and ask it to stop following the Zoho sheet. It asks you to confirm with a Stop syncing button. Both sheets stay as they are. They just stop following each other.

Replace a whole project from a new Excel file

Suppose your supplier sends you a fresh stock list as an Excel file every month, and you want the project to show the new file instead of the old one. Replace from a file… does this in one go.

Where to find itSheets›three dots on a project›Replace from a file…

1. In the list on the left, move the mouse over the project and press the three dots.
2. Choose Replace from a file….
3. Choose the new Excel file from your computer.
4. A box opens with a warning. Tick the sheets you want from the new file.
5. Press the red button at the bottom, for example Replace with 2 sheets.

Please noteThis deletes every sheet that is in the project now, with the pictures in them, and puts the sheets of the new file in their place. Any changes you typed since the last import are lost. It cannot be undone. Only the owner of a project can do this.

TipNothing is deleted until the new file has been read properly. If the new file cannot be read, the project stays as it was.

Save a sheet as an Excel or CSV file

You may want a copy of a sheet as a file: to send by email, to print, to open in Excel, or simply to keep safe. This is called exporting.

Where to find itTop bar›Export

1. Open the sheet, then press Export in the top bar.
2. Choose Excel workbook (.xlsx) for a file that opens in Excel, with the pictures in the cells included.
3. Or choose CSV (.csv) for a plain file that almost any program can open. Pictures are left out.

The file is saved on your computer, usually in the Downloads folder. Its name is the project's name and the sheet's name joined together, for example Wedding plan-Guest list.xlsx.

• The whole sheet is saved, every row, even when you are looking at only some of the rows through a search or a filter.
• Only the sheet that is open is saved. To save every sheet of a project, open each one and export it.
• Export is in the top bar on a computer. It is not shown on a phone.
• For a neatly laid out PDF of a sheet, see PDF reports.

Common questions

Does the file on my computer change when I bring it in? No. Flicx Sheet reads the file and makes its own sheets. Your file stays as it was.

My Excel file has ten sheets. Do I have to take them all? No. Untick the ones you do not want in the box that opens.

I cannot see Drop any file. That page is shown only for a project with no sheets. For other projects, use Utilities, then Sheets from a file.

The photo of my register was read wrongly. Take the photo again in good light, with the page flat and filling the picture. You can also correct the cells by hand after the sheet is made.

Will reading a file use my Companion credits? Only PDF files and pictures, one credit for each page. Excel and CSV files do not. The second step shows how many credits were used and how many you have left.

Zoho says I am not allowed. You signed in to Zoho with an account that cannot open that sheet. Sign in as the owner of the sheet, or ask the owner to share it with you in Zoho.

Can I export to PDF from the Export button? No. Export makes Excel and CSV files. PDFs are made from PDF reports.