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Export and import data

Open Register can export any register (objects, schemas, register settings) to Excel or JSON and import the result back — same instance, a different instance, or your local machine. Useful for backups, bulk edits in a spreadsheet, and moving data between dev / test / prod.

Goal​

By the end you will have exported one register's objects to Excel, opened the file, and re-imported it back into Open Register without errors.

Prerequisites​

  • A register with a handful of objects (see Add your first object).
  • Spreadsheet software for the Excel round-trip — Excel, LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets. JSON works in any text editor.

Steps​

  1. Open the Registers list and click the Actions button in the toolbar. The menu offers Import, Export to JSON, and Export to Excel. Pick Export to Excel.

    Registers Actions menu

  2. The export dialog asks which registers and schemas to include and whether to include the register / schema definitions or just the objects. Pick your register, leave the schema filter on All, and tick Include definitions. Click Export.

    Export to Excel dialog

  3. The browser downloads an .xlsx file. Open it — there is one sheet for the register metadata, one per schema (one row per object, one column per property), and one for the audit trail. Edit a few values in the object sheet and save.

    Excel export opened

  4. Back in Open Register, Actions → Import. Pick the edited Excel file. The dialog shows a preview — how many rows would be created, updated, deleted, plus any validation issues row by row. Tick Run as dry-run first if you want a no-op preview without writing.

    Import preview

  5. Click Run import. The dialog progresses through Validating → Writing → Done and reports the final count (e.g. 0 created, 3 updated, 0 errors). Re-open the affected objects — the edited values are there, and each one has an update entry in its audit trail.

    Import done summary

Verification​

The Excel file opens cleanly with one sheet per schema; the import dry-run reports the same row count you exported; the live import lands without errors; the edited objects show the new values; each updated object has a new audit-trail entry.

Common issues​

SymptomFix
Excel rows show as text where you expect numbers / datesThe exporter writes JSON-compatible strings to avoid locale issues. Open Register converts back on import; just don't reformat in Excel.
Import preview shows "schema not found"The instance is missing one of the schemas the file references — either remove the orphan rows or import the schema definition first (tick Include definitions on export).
Some rows skipped on importValidation failed for those rows — the preview / done dialog lists the offending properties. Fix in the spreadsheet and re-import.
Import deletes rows you didn't intend toThe default mode is upsert, not replace. If you used Replace, anything not in the file is removed — switch back to Upsert unless you really want that.

Reference​