Import lots from a package on your computer

Using the phone app? See Import lots from a package on your phone.

Import the lots and photos from a ZIP package into a catalog. Use it to bring back a package you exported from LotJitsu, or any ZIP laid out the same way.

Before you start

• You need a .zip package with one CSV file and the photos, all at the top level with no folders. A CSV on its own cannot be imported. Click Import guidelines on the upload screen to see the layout.
• Limits: up to 5 GB, 2,000 lots and 20,000 photos per import.
• Lot numbers in the file must be whole numbers, such as 12. A leading zero is fine: 007 imports as lot 7. A number like A-12 or 1.5 cannot be imported.
• Photos can be named the way any platform names them, whatever platform your catalog uses: 12-1.jpg , 12_1.jpg , or 12.jpg  for a lot's cover. A bare 12.jpg  becomes the cover; otherwise the lowest number is the cover.

Steps

1. Choose where the lots go:
   • From your account menu: click Import, then answer "Where should these lots go?" with New Catalog or Existing Catalog, and click Continue. New Catalog walks you through creating a catalog, then click Next Step: Import .Zip. The new catalog is created at the top level of your Catalogs page, not inside a folder; you can move it into one afterwards.
   • From a catalog: click the Transfer icon (the left and right arrows), then Import ("Bulk add lots to this catalog"). The lots go into that catalog.

2. On Import .Zip File, click anywhere in the box or drag your ZIP onto it. A bar shows the upload and then "Re-building your lots + photos…".

   If a lot number in the package is already used in the catalog, the title changes to Import (Conflict Found). For each conflict, compare Lot from catalog and Lot from import and choose:

   • Keep the lot in the catalog: the imported lot is not added.
   • Keep the lot from the import: it takes the place of the catalog's lot.
   • Keep both: renumber the imported lot: type a new number for the imported lot.

   • Keep both: renumber the catalog lot: type a new number for the catalog's lot.

     Click Apply Resolution & Continue after each one.

4. On Health check, read Package contents and any notes, such as a photo that matched no lot, or photos skipped because a lot had more than 150 (a lot can hold at most 150 photos). Health issues can be fixed after you import. The health ring and its counts work as they do in an export; click the info icon beside Critical Issues or Warnings to see what each means. Neither stops the import, but critical issues must be fixed before you export.
5. Click Finalize Import. The catalog opens and the new lots flash once so you can spot them.

Good to know

• Importing never counts toward your allowance. Imported lots are new lots, so they count the first time you export them. See Export a catalog again.
• LotJitsu does not rewrite imported text. Titles and descriptions stay as they were in the file.
• Your plan's photo limit applies. If any lot in the package has more photos than your plan allows, the whole import is refused and the message lists those lots.
• A catalog you create with New Catalog stays in your list even if you stop before finishing. Delete it if you do not need it.
• Cancel at any point before Finalize Import throws the upload away. Leaving the page does too. An import cannot be resumed; start again with the file.
• If preparing fails, you see "Couldn't prepare this import". Click Try again, or Change destination to send the lots somewhere else.
• Only one export or import runs at a time on a catalog. If one is running, wait for it to finish.
• A catalog lot replaced with Keep the lot from the import is deleted, not erased. It is listed as a deleted lot in the Activity Log on your History page, and you can restore it for 30 days. The imported lot now has its number, so the restored lot gets the next free number. See Restore something you deleted, on your computer.