You can import journals in two ways:
- Import a journal and its lines — create a new standard journal from a file that includes a batch ID and line details.
- Import journal lines only — add lines from a file to an existing journal, opening journal, or accrual journal.
Importing a Journal and Lines
A journal can be imported from a CSV file in the Financials > Journals using the Import button.
This will result in a pending journal which can then be posted if it passes validation. Only one journal can be imported at a time. This import can only create a new journal with new lines, it cannot update existing lines or add to existing journals. Journal and lines import always creates a Journal (standard journal). It does not create opening, accrual, or recurring journals.
This import does not accept a column header row. All rows must be data only.
For backward compatibility, the format for this import is identical to the Desktop version of Infusion which is a CSV file with the following columns:
- Transaction Type (Included for compatibility with legacy export formats. Infusion does not use this value when creating the journal)
- GL ID (Mandatory field)
- Date (Mandatory field)
- Reference (optional)
- Description (optional)
- Amount (credits are -ve, debits are +ve)
- Batch ID (all lines in the CSV must share the exact same Batch ID if not the import will fail)
Example: 1,1003,12/03/2022,001,Invoice1,1200.0000,WAGES
Please note that Cost Centres are unavailable in this import at this time. All lines will import to the Default Cost Centre.
Click here to download example import file
Results of example file:
Importing Journal Lines
Once a journal has been created, the lines can be imported from a CSV file. The import can only create new lines, not update existing ones. You can only import new lines into Journals that are Opening Journals, Accrual Journals or a standard Journal.
Use the Import button under + Add Line
This import requires a column header row.
A table for the report header rows that can be pasted into Excel:
| Date | GL ID | Reference | Description | Debit Amount | Credit Amount | Notes | Cost Centre |
The comma separated values that could be pasted into notepad:
Date,GL ID,Reference,Description,Debit Amount,Credit Amount,Notes,Cost Centre
Either the Debit or Credit Amount must be populated with a positive value, and the opposite value populated with 0.
If Cost Centres are not enabled the Cost Centre value can be left blank or you can enter ‘Default’.
Once the lines are imported and the Batch Variance is 0, the journal can be posted.
Click here to download example import file
Results of example file:
Common Import Errors
If Infusion cannot import your file, it shows an error dialog listing the row, column, value, and message for each problem. You can download the error details as a CSV file from that dialog.
Message |
Typical cause |
What to do |
|---|---|---|
Required. |
A required column is empty on that row. |
Fill in the missing value and import again. |
Not found. (GL ID) |
The General Ledger account does not exist or is archived. |
Check the GL ID against Financials > Chart of Accounts. |
Invalid GL account for journal type. |
The account is not valid for this journal type (for example, a banking account on a standard journal). |
Use a valid account for the journal type, or change the journal type before importing lines. |
Not found. (Cost Centre) |
The cost centre name does not match an existing cost centre. |
Check the name against Settings > Organisation > Cost Centres. |
Batch ID must all match. |
Rows in a journal and lines import file have different Batch ID values. |
Use the same Batch ID on every row. |
Debit or credit should have a non-zero value, but not both |
A journal lines row has both debit and credit amounts, or neither. |
Enter a value in Debit Amount or Credit Amount, and set the other column to 0. |
Failed to parse ‘…’ as a date |
The date format is not recognised. |
Use dd/MM/yyyy, d/M/yyyy, or yyyy-MM-dd. |
No lines to import. |
The file has no data rows. |
Add at least one line below the header row. |
Cannot import lines into this type of journal. |
You are importing lines into a journal type that does not support line import (for example, a recurring journal). |
Open a Journal, Opening journal, or Accrual journal instead. |
