Importing from Excel or CSV
When you have more than a handful of items, entering them one by one is impractical. LOP's spreadsheet import lets you upload an Excel (.xlsx, .xls) or CSV (.csv) file containing your item list and brings all items into the plan in a single step.
This is the fastest way to get started when you already maintain cargo lists in Excel, or when your warehouse team exports packing lists in spreadsheet format.
Step 1: Prepare Your Spreadsheet
Your spreadsheet needs a header row in the first row, followed by one row per item. The columns can be in any order — LOP will detect and map them automatically — but the data must be clean and numeric for dimension and weight fields.
Recommended columns:
| Column | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name / Description | Yes | Text label for the item |
| Length | Yes | Numeric; a unit suffix in the cell (120 cm) is accepted — the unit in the header is preferred |
| Width | Yes | Numeric; a unit suffix in the cell is accepted — the header unit is preferred |
| Height | Yes | Numeric; a unit suffix in the cell is accepted — the header unit is preferred |
| Weight | Yes | Numeric; a unit suffix in the cell (1600 KG) is accepted — the header unit is preferred |
| Quantity | Recommended | Defaults to 1 if omitted |
| SKU | Optional | Passed through to reports |
| Fragile | Optional | Use 1/0, yes/no, or true/false |
| Stackable | Optional | Use 1/0, yes/no, or true/false |
| Max Weight on Top | Optional | Numeric, in kg or lbs |
| Orientation / Yön | Optional | Automatically mapped; use the orientation values below |
| Notes | Optional | Free text |
| Carton columns | Optional | ECT, BCT, board thickness, flute, board and source, with their units — see Carton Data |
LOP automatically detects your header row — it does not need to be in row 1. Summary rows above the header, merged cells, and metadata rows are handled automatically. When a file's columns are unfamiliar, AI Smart Detection runs on its own to identify headers, footers, and data boundaries and propose a column mapping for you to review.
Orientation values
An Orientation or Yön column is mapped automatically; values are case-insensitive, and spaces, hyphens and underscores are treated alike.
| Orientation | Accepted values |
|---|---|
| This side up | this side up, this_side_up, TSU, upright, keep upright, up, ↑, bu taraf yukarı, yukarı, dik, dik tutun, dik taşıyın |
| Vertical only | vertical, vertical only, vertical_only, dikey, sadece dikey |
| Horizontal only | horizontal, horizontal only, horizontal_only, lay flat, flat, yatay, sadece yatay |
| Auto | auto, any, free, otomatik, serbest |
Under a This side up or Bu taraf yukarı header, yes, true, 1, x and evet mean This side up; no, false, 0 and hayır mean Auto.
An empty cell means Auto without a warning; any other unrecognized value imports as Auto with a warning on that row, including yes or no under an Orientation header.
Example spreadsheet:
| Name | Length | Width | Height | Weight | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Export Carton A | 600 | 400 | 300 | 12.5 | 20 |
| Steel Drum 200L | 580 | 580 | 880 | 185 | 8 |
| Pallet – Finished Goods | 1200 | 800 | 1400 | 420 | 4 |
Step 2: Open the Import Dialog
- Open your plan in the Editor.
- In the Items Panel on the left, click the Import button (it shows a spreadsheet icon).
- The import wizard will open.
Step 3: Upload Your File
Drag your Excel or CSV file into the upload area, or click Browse to select it from your computer. LOP accepts .xlsx, .xls, and .csv formats.
Once the file is uploaded, LOP reads the header row and the first several rows of data, then automatically suggests a column mapping.
Step 4: Review the Column Mapping
LOP displays a mapping table showing which column in your file corresponds to which item property. The auto-detection works by matching common column names in English, Turkish, and German.
Review each mapping and adjust any that were not detected correctly. Use the dropdown menus to assign columns manually if needed. You can also mark a column as Ignore if it contains data you do not want to import.
If your file uses non-standard column names — for example, "Pkg Length" instead of "Length" — simply select the correct property from the dropdown next to that column. LOP will remember your mapping for the rest of this import session.
Step 5: Set Dimension and Weight Units
Below the column mapping table, set the units that match the values in your spreadsheet:
Dimension unit:
- Millimeters (mm)
- Centimeters (cm)
- Meters (m)
- Inches (in)
Weight unit:
- Kilograms (kg)
- Pounds (lbs)
LOP converts all values to its internal unit system (millimeters and kilograms) automatically. You do not need to convert your spreadsheet first.
Choosing the wrong unit will result in items that are orders of magnitude too large or too small. Double-check that the unit you select matches the actual values in your file. If a 600mm box is imported as 600 inches, it will be nearly 15 meters long — the optimizer will be unable to fit it in any container.
Step 6: Preview Items
LOP shows a preview of the first several items as they will be created after applying the column mapping and unit conversion. Review the dimensions and weights to confirm they look correct before proceeding.
If something looks wrong, go back to Step 4 or Step 5 to adjust the mapping or units.
Step 7: Import
Click Import Items. All items from the spreadsheet will be added to your plan immediately. The Items Panel will update to show the newly imported items.
You can now run the optimizer to generate a loading plan.
Tips for Clean Imports
- Numbers may carry a unit suffix (
1600 KG,120 cm). The suffix is read as a hint and checked against the column's unit — a mismatch flags the row in the preview. For the cleanest import, put the unit in the column header (Weight (kg)) and keep the cells numeric. - A weight that cannot be read falls back to 1 kg — and says so. The row is flagged in the preview ("no usable weight — 1 kg assumed") instead of importing silently.
- Blank rows are skipped automatically. You can have empty rows in your spreadsheet without causing errors.
- Duplicate names are allowed. If two rows have the same name, they will be imported as two separate item definitions. This is intentional — different items can share a name if they have different dimensions.
- Quantity of zero is treated as 1. An item with quantity 0 will still be imported as a single unit.
- Fragile and Stackable: use
1/0,yes/no,true/false,evet/hayırorja/nein;xalso means true. Other values mean false for Fragile and true for Stackable. - Import limits: at most 25,000 physical rows per worksheet or CSV records, 300,000 grid cells across all sheets, 100 columns, and a 5 MB file (5,000,000 bytes). Headers, metadata, blank rows and sparse extents count toward the limits. Excel ZIP content may expand to at most 21 MB (21,000,000 bytes), including styles, shared strings and unused members. The preview response is limited to 8 MB (8,000,000 bytes) and displays 100 rows per page. A file over a limit is refused in full; split it or export a smaller range. One import is processed at a time; if another is running, try again shortly.