Import / export formats

The CSV files used for Import from CSV and produced by Export data follow a set of column conventions for each item type. They round-trip: exporting an item type and re-importing the same file is the safest way to bulk-edit your data outside Ceum.

The shortest path

Don't try to reverse-engineer the format by hand. On any importer, click Download sample. The sample is built from your own account — your real statuses, types, and tags — so the example values are guaranteed to validate.

Edit the sample, save it, and feed it back through the importer.

General conventions

• Encoding — UTF-8. Spreadsheets that save UTF-8 with a byte-order mark (for example, Excel on Windows) usually work too.
• Delimiter — comma. Put quotes around any value that contains a comma or a line break, and double any quotes inside it.
• Header row — required. Column order doesn't matter; columns are matched by name (case-insensitive), and common alternative names are accepted.
• Dates — ISO format, YYYY-MM-DD. Locale-specific formats aren't reliably understood.
• Dates with time — ISO 8601 with a timezone (2026-05-28T14:30:00Z) or without one (2026-05-28T14:30:00).
• Amounts — plain numbers, no thousands separator. The decimal mark is always a period, regardless of your display preferences. Currency comes from a neighboring column or your default currency.
• Yes/no values — true / false, or yes / no for some item types (subscriptions accept both).
• Set values — must match exactly (for example, income, expense, monthly, weekly).
• Tags — comma-separated within a single cell (for example, eu, vat, q3). Tags that aren't already in your library are created automatically.
• References to other items — matched by name (case-insensitive) when an ID isn't given. For example, a transaction's client column accepts the client's display name.

Columns by item type

• Clients — name, company, email, website, phone, address, status (by name), next follow-up date, estimated value, probability, source, tags, notes.
• Projects — name (required), status (required), description, client (by name), start date, end date, tags.
• Tasks — name, status, type, priority (high / medium / low), description, project, start date, deadline, tags.
• Invoices — invoice number, client, issue date, due date, amount, currency, status, notes, tags.
• Transactions — date (required), description (required), type (income / expense, required), amount (required), currency, tags/category.
• Subscriptions — service, cost, currency, billing date, period, times per period, active, tags.
• Time entries — name, start time, end time, task, tags.

Each importer's Download sample is the authoritative reference — the lists above are the headline columns, and some item types accept extra optional columns shown in the sample.

Exporting and re-importing safely

The safest way to edit data in bulk outside Ceum:

1. From the item type's exports page, generate a fresh CSV.
2. Open it in your spreadsheet. Edit cells, add or remove rows.
3. Feed it through that item type's importer. Rows that match an existing item update it; others create a new one.

Keep in mind that not every item type can update existing items on import. Clients, for example, import as create-only with a duplicate-name warning. Read the import validation step carefully.

Tips and edge cases

• Turn off thousands separators before exporting. If you're round-tripping through Excel, set Currency formatting to use no thousands separator so amount columns parse cleanly on re-import.
• Don't mix plain dates and dates with time. Stick to whichever the item type uses.
• Tags split on commas inside the cell. A tag that literally contains a comma will be split into two tags on import.
• Set values are exact. Income (capitalized) is not the same as income for the transaction type column.

On mobile

Not available on the mobile app — manage from the web app. The mobile app shows and edits your data, but CSV import and bulk export are web-only.