How UpSheets reads your file
UpSheets maps each import field to one column in your file. For every row, the value for that field must appear in a single cell—not spread across several columns.
This applies to tracking codes, employee names, earnings types, hours, descriptions, and any other field you map when you import.
If your export puts related data in multiple columns, prepare the file in Excel, Google Sheets, or similar before importing. Combine, split, or rearrange values so that everything you intend to map into one UpSheets field lives in one column.
Prepare combined values in your spreadsheet
Typical approaches:
- Formulas – Build one column from others (for example, concatenate text, or use
CONCAT / TEXTJOIN).
- Copy and paste values – Flatten formula output into a single column you will map on import. Flattening is optional when you upload an Excel file, because formula cells import as the value they work out — see Spreadsheet formulas.
- Find and replace or text tools – Normalise values so they match Xero (for example, tracking option names).
UpSheets does not merge arbitrary extra columns for you during mapping; the file you import should already match one column per mapped field.
Exception: multiple Earnings Rate columns
Payroll imports support multiple columns for different pay items (earnings rates) when you enable that feature. UpSheets then maps each enabled pay item to its own column and translates the row into separate lines. See Multiple Columns.
That workflow is only for earnings rates / pay items configured under Add Columns. It does not apply to tracking codes, names, or other fields—you still use one column per field for those.
Tracking codes and more than one idea per row
Timesheet imports use one tracking code value per line, from one column in your file (column name such as tracking_code), or a single default tracking code for all rows.
If you hold different ideas in separate columns—for example, work location in one column and shift type in another—you cannot map those as two independent tracking codes in one import step. Align your file with how tracking is set up in Xero for payroll (valid option names for the category in use), which usually means one value per row that matches Xero. That may require combining or choosing how to represent the information in one column before import.
For overview steps, see Tracking Categories and Mapping.
