Convert your own files with AI

You don't have to retype your lists into our template. Upload the files you already have and the AI prepares them for import:

• a stock count in Excel;
• a rate card in Word;
• a scanned PDF;
• a photo of a laminated price list or menu.

The AI reads the file and works out what each column means. It asks you about anything unclear. Then each list opens in the normal import check, where every row is checked before anything is saved.

Before you start

• You need permission to import at least one kind of record (customers, items, rooms and so on). Each prepared list keeps its own permission. For example, you can only import the items list if you may create items.
• Have the file on your computer or phone. Excel, CSV, Word, PDF, JPG and PNG are accepted, up to 20 MB and 30 pages or sheets.
• iPhone photos (.heic) can't be read yet. Share the photo as JPEG first, or take a screenshot of it.
• Each sheet, page or photo counts as one page of your workspace's monthly allowance. The screen shows how many pages are used and when the count starts again.

Steps

1. Go to Setup → Import data and choose Convert with AI.

2. Drop your file on the box, or click it to choose the file. You can also drop a whole folder of files at once, up to 20, such as your items, recipe book, rate card and salary schedule. They are read together, so a name in one file (an ingredient) is matched with the file that lists it (your items).

   • The files are uploaded and read, which usually takes under a minute; photos, scans and several files take a little longer. You can leave the page and come back to it under Your recent conversions.
   • When you drop several files, a list shows which were read. Any file that wasn't read says why, for example an Excel lock file (~$…), which Excel leaves while a file is open.

3. What we found shows each sheet, table or page and the kind of record it will become. For example, "DRINKS → Items & opening stock".

4. Check the values the AI couldn't read clearly. This only happens for photos and scans. Each value is shown beside the part of the picture it came from. Correct anything that doesn't match, then choose Confirm these values. Prices written in by hand are always listed here.

5. Check the names used. This list shows the stores, departments, categories, room types and items your lists will use, and what each was called in your file. For example, "M/B" in the file becomes BAR DEPT. Each name is marked:

   • new — will be created: the import creates it (item categories, stores and departments).
   • comes from this upload: another list of the same upload adds it, and it is imported first.
   • not found — add it first or change it: the import doesn't create it (an item a recipe uses, a room type a room needs). Add it, convert the file that lists it, or use Change.
   • No mark: it is already in your workspace.
   • If a name is wrong, choose Change. Pick one of your existing names or type another, then choose Use. The change applies to every row and is remembered for your next file.
   • Undo change goes back to the suggested name.

6. Answer the questions. Each question has a suggested answer, and you can choose another one. For example:

   • "UNIT PRICE: is it the cost or the selling price?"
   • "TOTAL doesn't equal Mini bar + Store on 12 rows. Which should be used?"
   • "EGG is on both KITCHEN and OUTLET. Is it the same thing?"
   • "1 start date has no year (16TH MARCH). Which year is it?"

   Choose Save answers when you're done.

7. Under Prepared lists, choose Check & import on the first list. The lists are in the order to import them, for example departments, then categories, then items, then stock transfers. A list unlocks once the lists it needs are imported: stock transfers and recipes need the items, and rooms need the room types. Lists that don't depend on each other can go in any order.

8. The usual import check opens with the columns already matched. A row marked Fix first has Fix this row: correct the value, for example add the year to "16 MARCH" or clear a branch that isn't a department, then choose Save and check again. The correction is kept with the converted file. Then choose Import.

9. When it finishes, choose Back to the converted file for the next list. Repeat until every list shows Imported.

Tips

• Nothing is invented. If a price, cost or quantity isn't in your file, the AI leaves it blank and lists it under "values not in the file". Fill those in later on the record's own screen.
• Stock held in several places. For example, a sheet may have "Mini bar" and "Store" columns. The total opens in one store, and stock transfers move each other location's share to the right store.
• Your answers are remembered for this workspace. The next file with the same layout needs fewer answers.
• The AI uses the names of your existing stores and categories when they clearly match. New names are listed so you can see what will be created.
• Your file and the prepared lists are kept for 7 days, then deleted. What you imported stays in Recent imports.
• Prefer a straight, well-lit photo of the whole page. Glare and folds are the main cause of values the AI can't read.
• Download beside a prepared list gives you a spreadsheet of it, to review or keep. You don't need to upload it again: Check & import takes the list straight from here.
• What it handles:
  • Salary schedules: pay items (housing, transport, meal…) become each person's pay. Items your payroll doesn't have yet are listed and created. Tax, pension, gross and net are worked out by payroll. An agency's management fee and VAT are left out.
  • Recipe books: a product written once above its ingredients becomes one recipe, with its yield ("40 loaves") as the output.
  • Recipes in grams, stock in Kg: when you upload them together, the item is kept in g with Kg as its bigger unit (1 Kg = 1000 g). Its stock and prices are converted, so production and stock agree. The same applies to ml and litres. The screen lists each item changed this way.
  • Pack sizes: "CARTON (24)" or a "Pcs/Ctn" column gives the item a bigger unit that holds that many.
  • Rate cards: a cell listing several room numbers ("309 308 307") becomes one room each. When the room type cell also lists names ("EXECUTIVE GOLD - London - Oslo"), they are paired in order: 309 – London, 308 – Oslo. If the counts don't match, the screen says so.

Common problems

• The Convert with AI button explains it isn't available. On your own server it needs the Care & Connect services bundle and an internet connection. Use Match columns myself meanwhile.

• "This workspace has used its AI pages for this month" → wait for the date shown, or split the file and convert only the pages you need. An Administrator (with Organisation settings) can choose Ask for more beside the page count, enter how many pages a month and why, and send it. The request shows as waiting until BusinessSensor approves it; the new allowance then applies straight away.

• "The AI couldn't make a reliable plan for this file" → the file is converted manually instead. Choose Match columns myself and pick the heading row and columns there. This failed attempt doesn't use your allowance.

• "Check & import" is greyed out.

  • You may still have questions to answer or values to confirm.
  • A list it needs may not be imported yet, for example the items before the stock transfers.
  • You may not have permission for that kind of record.

  The text beside the button says which.

• "Reading this file was interrupted" → upload it again. An interrupted reading doesn't count towards the allowance.

• A row is refused at the check step → the usual import rules apply, for example not enough stock for a transfer, or a name already used. Fix it on the record's own screen after importing the rest, or correct the file and convert it again.