Import your data

BenchKey gets your history in two ways: connect your old system directly (RepairShopr and RepairDesk, using your own API token or key) or import a file: any CSV or Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx), in any column layout, including a RepairDesk export. Both paths run from Settings → System → Migrate Data, and both end at the same preview screen; nothing is written until you approve it.

A CSV dropped in, detected as customers, and mapped automatically. Recorded from the real app with demo data.

Coming from RepairShopr or RepairDesk?

Use the direct connect, it skips the export step entirely. Step-by-step guides, including where to create the token or find the key:

Your credentials are used for the migration and nothing else; revoke them in the old system the day the import is done.

What you can import

Customers, names, phones, emails, addresses
Tickets, repair history, linked to their customers
Invoices, amounts and status, linked to tickets and customers
Inventory, parts and devices with quantities and prices

The importer preserves relationships: customers stay linked to their tickets, tickets to their invoices.

Running a file import

Export a CSV or Excel file from your current system (any layout works).
In Settings → System → Migrate Data, choose Any CSV, Excel, etc. and upload the file. Excel workbooks are read directly; the header row and the right sheet are detected automatically.
Review the column mapping. Your columns are auto-mapped; adjust anything the auto-mapper got wrong.
Check the preview, real rows from your file, shown as they’ll land.
Run the import.

Recommended order

Import customers first, alone. It’s the simplest file and validates your export quality. Spot-check a few customers you know well, then import tickets, invoices, and inventory.

If something’s wrong: roll back

Every import can be rolled back cleanly from the import history. A bad mapping costs you minutes, not your weekend:

Roll back the import.
Fix the column mapping (or the source file).
Run it again.

Repeat until your spot-checks pass. There’s no penalty for iterating, that’s what the rollback is for.

Tips from real migrations

Keep copies of your export files somewhere safe, independent of any software.
Audit relationships, not just rows: pick five customers you know and confirm their tickets and invoices hang together correctly.
Money columns deserve a second look in the preview, formats vary wildly between systems.
Cut over at a clean moment (end of week), not gradually. Running two systems doubles the work and halves the trust.