Importing matters from a spreadsheet is the primary means for getting your data into AppColl. The following video and instructions will assist you in this process.

Scroll to the bottom to watch the video on the below steps.

Click Here to learn about advanced features of the importer.

Attachments

Matter Import Template

Populating the Spreadsheet

1. Click the Matter Import Template link above.
2. Open the downloaded Matter Import Template.
3. Important: Follow the template's instructions in rows 2-7 for populating your data. Once you have read and followed these instructions, delete these rows.
4. Note that all header rows in red are mandatory fields. Black header rows are optional.
5. Follow the additional notes in rows 10-27 before deleting them and populating your data. If you want the status to remain as is, the appropriate date fields must be populated. Please see the article Matter Statuses and Dates.

6. Save the spreadsheet. Please note that spreadsheets can be saved as xlsx files or csv.

Importing the Spreadsheet

7. Go to the Matters module.
8. Click the Import CSV or XLSX link. 

9. Click the Choose File button to browse for and select your saved spreadsheet.
10. Select AppColl Matters (CSV or XLSX) from the File Type drop down options.
11. Ensure that the Add New Matters radio button is selected.
12. Click Import.

13. AppColl will now check the spreadsheet for any errors. Cells in Yellow are simply warnings and can usually be ignored. 
14. If there are no Red errors, click the Import All Rows button. Alternatively, if there are Red errors, you can import the validated rows only and then export the error rows to a CSV file to fix later on.

15. If there are Red errors, hover over each error row to read the error message and click the Pencil icon to correct the field. Cells in Red have an error that must be fixed.
16. At any time, you can click the Save & Validate button to see any fixed row's error disappear. 
17. Once all errors are fixed, click the Import Valid Rows button.

18. When the import is complete, you should see a message indicating success. 

Ignoring Warnings

AppColl displays a warning (indicated with a yellow cell) if any data is allowed to be updated, but results in some value that does not already exist. The primary examples are contacts records. As you can see in the above screenshot, Acme, Inc. does not exist as a contact. There is nothing that needs to be done since AppColl will automatically create the contact with the proper role of Client. Further, John Smith does not exist in AppColl, so a contact record of role = Attorney will be created for him.

Fixing Error Rows

AppColl displays all error rows in the bottom half of the screen. Each error rows indicates something that must be fixed for the row to be imported. At any time, you can click the "Import Valid Rows" button which will import everything without errors. Once done, only the error rows will remain. You can click the "Export Error CSV" button to export these rows and fix them at a later time.

Fixing error rows are best done one at a time. Start with the top error row by clicking on it. The top portion of the screen will jump to this row in the spreadsheet grid. Usually the errors can be fixed by clicking on the pencil icon on the red error cell, making the change and clicking the check mark icon. Once the error is fixed, you can move on to the next one or click the "Save and Validate" button to see this error disappear. Repeat for all error rows. The below section walks through how to fix each error listed in the above screenshot.

Error Examples

Line 3) This error indicates that matter type of 'Utility: PCT' cannot use a country of US. While the type cell is highlighted, you can fix this by changing the Country cell to WO. Alternatively, you can change the type to something other than Utility: PCT.

Line 8) There are two errors. One is a duplicate AttorneyRef and one is a duplicate application number and country. Fix each value using the pencil icon again.

Line 10) South Korea is not a valid country name according to WIPO. Note that you can use the full WIPO country name or the WIPO 2-digit code, which in this case is KR. Google 'WIPO Country Codes' to get a list of these 2-digit codes. The AttorneyRef field is also a duplicate entry.

Once all errors are fixed, click the "Save and Validate" button to clear all errors. Once cleared, click the "Import All Rows" button

After the new matters have been successfully imported into AppColl, data for U.S. and PCT patents can be pulled from Patent Center and imported into AppColl via XML files or from the Update Matter button.

Advanced Features

AppColl's importer has a number of advanced import options which can be found by clicking here.

1681328146295-Matter_Import_Template.xlsx