Migrating from Spreadsheets to Remindax

If you've been tracking expirations in Excel or Google Sheets, the migration path is: prepare your data into Remindax's import template format, set up your workspace foundations (document types, sequences, contacts), do a small test import (5–10 rows), verify it looks right, then upload the full file. Plan a focused session — bulk imports are all-or-nothing in Remindax, so investing time in clean preparation pays off.

What to expect

The typical migration takes a focused 2–4 hour session for moderate datasets (50–500 items). Larger imports take longer mostly because of data cleanup, not the upload itself.

Two imports usually happen together:

Contacts import — the people who receive notifications.
Reminders import — the actual items being tracked, referencing those contacts.

Do contacts first. The reminders import will reference contacts by email, so they need to exist already.

Before you start

Set your workspace date format in Settings → General — the format your import file uses must match. If you've already prepared a file in one format and the workspace uses another, change the workspace format first or update the file.
Confirm you have plan capacity for your data — check Subscription for contact and tracked-item limits. Buy add-ons if needed.
Decide on your folder structure, document type list, and tag conventions before importing — you can rename them after but it's tidier upfront.
Have a clean source file — duplicates removed, dates in a consistent format, every row has the required fields.

Step 1 — Prepare contacts

Open Manage → Contacts → Import and download the contact template. The template determines the exact columns Remindax expects.

In your spreadsheet:

Make sure every contact has a valid email address (required for email notifications).
For SMS or WhatsApp recipients, mobile numbers must include country codes (e.g. +971... for UAE, +1... for US).
Decide whether to use Contact Groups — useful for assigning multiple contacts to a reminder at once.
Save your file as Excel (.xlsx).

Upload via Manage → Contacts → Import:

Choose your file.
Review the colour-coded preview — green rows are good, red/yellow rows have errors.
Fix any flagged rows in Excel (Remindax doesn't import partial files).
Re-upload until all rows are green.
Confirm the import.

See Import contacts.

Step 2 — Set up foundations

Before importing reminders, make sure these exist:

Document types — Remindax will auto-create any types it finds in your import file that don't exist. You can let it do that, or pre-create your types in Manage → Document Types for cleaner naming.
Folders — create the destination folders in Explorer.
Reminder sequences — review your default sequence. New reminders all use it; if your business needs different cadences for different items, set up named sequences now and reference them in the import file.
Email/SMS/WhatsApp templates — at minimum, review the default email template before any notifications start firing.

Step 3 — Prepare the reminders file

In Remindax, navigate to the reminder import screen and download the import template. The columns you'll use:

item_id — your own internal reference (optional, can be blank).
title — required, descriptive (e.g. "Office 12 — Insurance").
doc_type_name — required (e.g. "Insurance"). If it doesn't exist, Remindax creates it.
reminder_type — required: expiration or due date.
exp_date — required, in your workspace's date format.
sequence — name of the sequence to use; blank uses default.
email_csv — comma-separated emails of contacts who should receive notifications (must already exist in your contacts).
email_template — template name; blank uses default.
attachments — usually blank in bulk imports (attach files individually later).
remarks — notes.
repeat — for recurring items.
Custom field columns — values for any custom fields you've set up.

Date format must match your workspace setting. If your workspace uses dd-mm-yyyy, the file must use dd-mm-yyyy.

Step 4 — Do a small test import

Take 5–10 rows from your file and save them as a separate test file. Upload that first:

Review the colour-coded preview.
Fix any flagged rows.
Re-upload until all rows are green.
Confirm and look at the resulting items in Explorer.

Verify a few things:

Dates are correct. Day/month confusion is common.
Document types are right. Did Remindax auto-create types you didn't expect?
Contacts attached. Did the emails in email_csv resolve to existing contacts?
Sequence applied. Did the right cadence get assigned?
Custom field values populated correctly.

If anything is off, fix in the source file before the full upload.

Step 5 — Run the full import

Once the test looks right:

Upload the full file via the reminder import screen.
Review the colour-coded preview — for a large file, this can take a moment.
Fix any flagged rows in Excel and re-upload until green.
Confirm the import.

Remindax processes all-or-nothing — every row must be valid for the import to commit. There's no "skip the broken rows" option. This is intentional: it forces you to fix data quality issues rather than ending up with partial data.

Step 6 — Post-import verification

After the import:

Dashboard shows new counts.
Explorer shows the imported items, filterable by your usual criteria.
Calendar shows the dates.
Compliance % reflects the new dataset.

Spot-check a few items by clicking into them — confirm contacts attached, dates correct, document types right.

What about attachments and files?

Bulk imports don't typically include file attachments — those usually get attached one-by-one after import. Two paths:

Manual attachment — open each reminder and attach its file. Fine for smaller datasets.
SmartDoc going forward — for new items arriving after migration, use SmartDoc to attach the file and extract fields in one step.

A migration pattern that works

For most teams, a pragmatic migration looks like:

Day 1: Prepare the spreadsheet. Clean dates, remove duplicates, add country codes to phone numbers.
Day 2: Set up Remindax foundations (workspace settings, document types, sequences, templates).
Day 3: Import contacts. Verify.
Day 4: Import reminders (test, then full). Verify.
Week 2: Attach files to high-priority items. Train the team.

Don't try to do it all in one sitting — it's a lot, and a clean migration is worth the time.

What happens next

Your imported data is live in Remindax — visible in Explorer, on the Dashboard, on the Calendar.
Notifications will start firing as the expiry dates approach (per your sequence steps).
Use Bulk edit reminders for any tweaks across many items.

Edge cases & gotchas

All-or-nothing imports. Remindax accepts only fully-valid files. Fix flagged rows in Excel and re-upload; there's no skip-bad-rows option.
Date format mismatch is the most common error. The file must match the workspace date format. Set the format first.
Country codes on mobile numbers — required for SMS and WhatsApp. Without them, those channels won't send to those contacts.
Contacts must exist before reminders reference them. Import contacts first; then reminders.
No "undo" on bulk imports. Once committed, items are in your workspace. The remedy for a bad import is to bulk-delete (Recycle Bin restorable) and try again.
Test imports are your friend. Always do a 5–10 row test before the full upload.