Export Manager
Export Manager creates product files for scale software and other applications. In version 10 it has a new interface, ready-made scale formats, a custom column editor and a preview that checks your products before creating a file.
Open Back Office > Products and Stock > Export Manager. You can save several projects and reuse them whenever products or prices change. Export Manager is a registered-edition feature.
Create and export a project
- Choose a format under Start with a format, then click New project.
- Enter a project name, output folder and filename. Browse output location selects the folder and filename together. The folder must already exist when you export.
- Select all active products, one department or one category. New scale projects require you to select a group, or explicitly choose all products. Deleted products are excluded.
- The preset supplies the columns. Use Columns to review the field mappings and price format. Use File options for separators, encoding and scale defaults.
- Click Preview / validate. All selected products are checked, although only the first 100 valid rows are displayed. The File text view shows the separators, headings and quoting.
- Correct any reported errors. Click Save project to keep the settings, or Save a copy to create another project.
- Click Export file. ROBOTILL reads current product data and validates it again. Confirm replacement if the destination file already exists, then import the completed file using your scale or other software.
Export uses the settings currently shown, including unsaved changes. Saving a project does not export products. Deleting a saved project does not delete products or files.
Choose a format
| Format | Use |
|---|
| Ishida SLP-5 | For ScaleLink Pro 5 text import using Font1 and Line1 description columns. UnitPrice is in minor currency units: a tax-inclusive price of 77.90 is exported as 7790. |
| Ishida customer CSV | Based on the customer-supplied layout, with DescText and decimal prices. Its description prefix is the literal text \x0d\x24, as written by the previous exporter. Compare it with a known working file and the configured importer before using it. |
| Generic scale CSV | For DigiConnect or other configurable software. Configure the importer to map the standard headings described below. This is a configurable CSV layout, not a universal format for every scale model. |
| Custom | For any other product export. Choose fields, headings, constants, prefixes, suffixes, number formats and column order. |
The Ishida SLP-5 preset follows the ScaleLink Pro 5 text import bulletin. Import settings and supported values depend on the scale software, model and regional configuration. Match the barcode, font, date and price settings with your scale supplier. A successful export creates a file; it does not communicate with the scale or confirm an import.
Ishida columns
The SLP-5 preset exports these headings in order:
Plu_No,UnitPrice,ShelfLife,SalesMode,BarCodeNum,PosCode,DateFlag,Font1,Line1
The customer CSV preset exports:
Plu_No,DescText,UnitPrice,ShelfLife,SalesMode,BarCodeNum,PosCode,DateFlag
By default, Plu_No and PosCode both use the ROBOTILL stock code. Plu_No is the scale's product number; PosCode is the product-code portion of its barcode, not the complete printed barcode. These codes must be numeric and unique. With barcode format 4, the product-code portion fits five digits. ROBOTILL does not replace a barcode checksum or silently shorten a code.
The SLP-5 preset checks its price range in minor units and uses font code 4 for Line1. Check the description length and label layout in your scale software. The customer preset uses the configured decimal price and DescText instead. Keep the Ishida headings and order, or choose Convert to custom for a different specification. Converting removes Ishida-specific validation.
Generic scale CSV columns
| Heading | Default content |
|---|
| ProductCode | ROBOTILL stock code, used as the PLU/product identifier. |
| Barcode | The stored ROBOTILL product barcode. Map this column to StockCode instead if the importer requires the short PLU as its barcode product code. |
| Description | Product description. |
| PriceIncludingTax | Normal selling price including tax, using two decimals. |
| ShelfLifeDays | Configured shelf life in days. |
| SalesMode | 0 = weighed, 1 = fixed price, 2 = fixed price and weight, 3 = case weight. |
| BarcodeFormat | Configured barcode format number. |
| DateMode | 1 = no dates, 2 = pack date, 3 = sell-by date, 4 = both dates. |
Map these values to the equivalent settings in DigiConnect or your other importer. Stock codes and barcodes retain leading zeros. The generic preset requires unique, non-empty product codes and barcodes. Keep each standard heading once; add more columns if required, or convert to custom to use a different layout.
Scale defaults and file options
Shelf life, sales mode, barcode format and date mode apply to every product in that project. Create separate projects for groups needing different values. Prices use the product's selling unit; the exporter does not convert a price per kilogram to a price per 100 grams.
- Filename:
[DATE] becomes yyyyMMdd and [TIME] becomes HHmm. For example, products[DATE][TIME].csv.
- Separator: comma, semicolon, tab, pipe or another single character. Ishida presets allow comma or tab.
- Encoding: UTF-8 without a byte-order mark, UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, or Windows-1252. Characters unsupported by the chosen encoding block the export instead of being replaced with question marks.
- Decimals: an explicit point or comma, independent of the computer's regional settings. Ishida uses a decimal point.
- Headings: generated from the column headings. Turn these off for custom files that do not need a header.
- Special characters: reject separators, quotation marks and line breaks in fields, or allow standard CSV quoting. Only enable quoting when the importer supports it. Ishida presets start with rejection enabled.
Custom columns and existing projects
Select a column to change its heading, source and formatting. Add or remove columns and use Move up / Move down to change their order. Constant writes the same value on each row; leave it empty for an empty column. Prefixes and suffixes add literal text around a field. Text such as \x0d is not decoded into a control character.
Available product fields include stock code, barcode, description, cost, normal selling price excluding or including tax, additional selling prices excluding tax, tax details, department, category and stock on hand across all locations. Numeric formats include two or three decimals, whole numbers and minor units. Numeric formatting does not change stock codes or barcodes.
Existing projects remain available. Opening one converts its old field selections for display without changing the saved project. Saving it stores the new structured format. Review its preview, especially literal fields and prefixes. If the old header has a different number of fields, the export is blocked until you correct the headings on Columns and click Accept corrected headings. The old values Days Left and Price Mode were literal text, not product fields; choose the new Shelf life and Sales mode sources if numeric scale settings are intended.
If validation fails or no products match, no output file is created or replaced. The complete file is prepared before replacing an existing export. Locked files and files changed after confirmation are reported, leaving the existing file intact. On network folders, the file system must support atomic replacement.
For ROBOTILL's standard product import/export workflow, see Bulk Stock Import and Update.