Import Jobs

Overview

If you’ve been in business for a while, you may already have work lined up that is not in Jobber yet. To make sure you can seamlessly start using Jobber, both one-off and recurring jobs can be imported from a spreadsheet in CSV file format to build out your calendar. This process is similar to importing your clients into Jobber. 

The job import is only available to admin users. The job import is currently a Beta feature so the import functionality is subject to change.

How does the job import work?

The jobs import will bring one-off and recurring jobs from a CSV spreadsheet into Jobber.

If a job being imported belongs to a client or property that already exists in your Jobber account, it will be added to that client as long as it exactly matches an existing client’s first or last name or property address. If there is no match, a new client or property will be created. 

Up to 1000 jobs can be imported at once. If you have additional jobs, these can be brought into Jobber by doing multiple imports.

Past jobs can be imported and they will be marked as complete and archived in Jobber. However, to import a job in the past, the job start date must be within ten years of the current date.

If a job doesn’t have a scheduled date it will be imported as unscheduled. Jobs with no times will be imported with anytime visits.

Prepare your spreadsheet

The first step to importing your jobs is preparing your spreadsheet in CSV format. If you are coming from another scheduling software, you may already have an export of your schedule. However you can also create your own CSV files in programs like Excel, Sheets, and Numbers. In these programs you’ll want to make sure that you are saving your file type as .csv. Here’s how to do this in each program:

• Excel:
  Once you have your document formatted in Excel, you can click File, then Save as. From the file type drop down, you’ll need to select .csv.
• Sheets:
  To export a spreadsheet in Google Sheets, you’ll need to click File, then Download as and select a file type (in this case, pick .csv). Then select Save.
• Numbers:
  In Numbers, you can click File, then Export to, then select CSV. This will export your spreadsheet as a CSV file type.

Download a sample file

Here is a sample file that you can use as a template to format your spreadsheet. Add your data under the column headings in this sample file, then start the import process.

Download the sample file

Column headers

In your spreadsheet, set up column headings for the job information that will be brought into Jobber. 

These are the supported column headings for the import:

• Job Title
• Instructions
• Repeating
  • Note: This is the column that determines whether this will be imported as a one-off job or recurring jobs. Recurring jobs will have a repeating schedule, whereas one-off jobs do not repeat. Learn more about recurring jobs.
• Duration unit
• Duration length
• Job Number
• Client Name
• Client Phone
• Client Email
• Notes
• Full Property Address
  • Note: This is not needed if the address is broken down into columns including street, city, state/province, county, zip/postal code. 
• Street 1 
• Street 2
• City 
• State/Province 
• Zip/Postal Code 
• Country
  • Note: If you are coming from another software, make sure there is a country column as this is required, but not every software includes it in their export. 
• Start Date
• Start Time
• End Time
• Assigned To
• Total Price

Mandatory headings

There are some fields that are mandatory to include in your spreadsheet since these are the fields used to map jobs to existing clients and properties. When a job can’t map to an existing client or property, a new client or property will be created. 

• Client Name
• Full Property Address, including:
  • Street 1
  • City
  • State/Province
  • Zip/Postal Code 
  • Country

Note: If the full property address is listed in a column, we’ll break it down into individual parts for street, city, etc. Make sure to review the data being imported to make sure this has been done correctly. This is not needed if the address is broken down into columns including street, city, state/province, county, zip/postal code. If you are coming from another software, make sure there is a country column as this is required, but not every software includes it in their export.

Import a job with a repeating schedule

Recurring jobs require additional information to be filled out in your spreadsheet in order to import a job as a recurring job.The columns in your spreadsheet that are used to determine when a job is imported as a recurring job are:

• Repeating: This column is how frequently the visits will repeat (for example, weekly).
• Duration unit: This is the time unit for the job’s duration. For example, this column may contain “weeks”, “days”, “months”, or “years”.
• Duration length: The numeric value for how long the job will run. For example, if the job will be taking place over 3 weeks, the duration length would be 3 and the duration units would be weeks.
• How do you want to invoice: This is the billing style that determines how the client will be billed for this job.
• When do you want to invoice: This column determines the billing frequency for this job. 

In the “repeating” column, enter one of the following values for how frequently you will perform work for this job:

• Weekly: The job will be created with a visit occurring once per week.
• Every two weeks: The job will be created with a visit occurring every other week.
• Monthly: The job will be created with a visit occurring one per month. 
• As needed: The job will be created with no visits. Use this when your visits are not known ahead of time. For example, you might use the “as needed” option when setting up the snow removal workflow since you won’t know when it’s going to snow. 

Recurring jobs will also have a duration length with units that determines how long the job will repeat for. There are columns for “duration units” and “duration length” that determine this:

• Duration length: This column is the numeric value for how long the job will take place. For example, if the job will be taking place over 3 weeks, the duration length would be 3.
• Duration units: This column is the time unit for the job’s duration. The options are:
  • Days: The recurring job will end after the specified number (duration length) of days.
  • Weeks: The recurring job will end after the specified number (duration length) of weeks.
  • Months: The recurring job will end after the specified number (duration length) of months.
  • Years: The recurring job will end after the specified number (duration length) of years. 
    Note: 10 years is the maximum number of years that can be imported.

The “how do you want to invoice” column is determines the invoicing style for this job, the options are:

• For the work done each visit: This is “per visit” invoicing where the total price column value will be used as a line item for each visit.
• One price, regardless of how many visits: This is “fixed price” billing, where the total price column value will be used for this job. 

The “when do you want to invoice” column determines the job’s billing frequency. The options are: 

• When the visit is marked complete: Once a visit is marked completed, you will be prompted to invoice for this job.
• Don’t remind me to invoice: No invoice reminders will be created for this job and you won’t be prompted to invoice. 
• When the job is marked closed: With this option, the job will prompt you to invoice once the job is marked closed. Jobs are typically closed once the entire duration of the job has been completed. 
• The last day of every month: This option will prompt you to invoice on the last day of the month. This means on the 30th or 31st (or 28th in February). 

Start the import

To import your jobs:

1. Sign in to Jobber.com, then select Jobs from the side navigation.
2. From the jobs list page, select More Actions, then Import Jobs.
3. Select Begin Import.
   • Note: Up to 1000 jobs can be imported at once. If you have more jobs than that, you can bring in the rest with additional imports.
4. Drag and drop your CSV file into the window, or select Upload file to upload your spreadsheet.
5. Review how your spreadsheet’s column headings are mapped to Jobber’s fields. Jobber maps most headings automatically, but you can correct any mismatches:
   • Your spreadsheet’s column headings appear under incoming fields, matched to a corresponding destination fields value.
   • If a heading is mapped incorrectly, select the correct option from the destination fields dropdown.
   • The data preview column shows a preview of each column’s values, so you can confirm the right data is going to the right field.
   • If your spreadsheet includes fields that don’t apply to jobs, for example a client’s billing address, you can leave those unmapped.
6. Select Continue once the mapping looks correct.
7. Review the import data for accuracy. Any errors are highlighted in red; select the Invalid filter to see and correct them before continuing.
8. Select Import to bring the data into your account.

While the import runs, you’ll return to the jobs list page (Jobs from the side navigation). You can navigate away and continue using Jobber while the import finishes in the background.

Once the import stops running, your clients, properties, and jobs may take a few more minutes to finish being created in Jobber. The Activity feed updates once they’re created.

You have a 10 minute window after the import completes to revert it. To revert a job import, navigate to the jobs list page and select Revert. Reverting removes any jobs, clients, and properties the import created. If you added other work, for example a new quote or job, to a client the import created, that work is also removed when you revert.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I import a job that uses a job number that’s already taken by an existing job?

If a job being imported has the same job number as an existing job in your Jobber account, the imported job will use the next highest available job number.

For example, if you already have existing jobs numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Then you import jobs with the following job numbers: 3, 4, 5, 6.

The imported jobs with job numbers 3, 4, 5 will be changed to 7, 8, 9 and the job that was imported as 6 will keep 6 as its job number. 

How do visit reminders work with imported jobs?

When visit reminders are turned on in your email and text messages settings, jobs will be imported with visit reminders enabled which means they will automatically send visit reminders according to the schedule settings for visit reminders. 

Visit reminders are set at the client level, rather than the job level. If you’ve imported a job where you don’t want the client to receive a visit reminder, navigate to the client’s profile then select Edit and toggle Assessment and visit reminders to off. Please note that this will turn off reminders for all assessments and jobs for this client. 

Can I import one-off and recurring jobs?

Yes, both one-off and recurring jobs can be imported.

The job import created a duplicate client, can I merge it with the existing client?

Yes. Follow the steps in Merge duplicate clients to combine the duplicate into your existing client record.

As a best practice to avoid duplicates created through the import, make sure the client names and property address in your spreadsheet match exactly with the ones already in Jobber. The import maps these fields and when there is a discrepancy a new client or property is created.

Can I add team members in the “assigned to” column of my spreadsheet if they aren’t a user in Jobber?

No, if team members who aren’t users in Jobber are listed in the “assigned to” column of your spreadsheet, the job will be imported as “unassigned”. 

Can I import a job level custom field?

No, the job import does not support importing custom fields.

How does the system determine the status of jobs during an import?

During an import, the system automatically assigns a status to each job based on its date:

• Upcoming jobs: Jobs with the start date in the future will be imported in “upcoming” status.
• Active jobs: Recurring Jobs that have a start date in the past, but continues into the future OR one-off jobs scheduled for the current day that have a start time in the past but an end time in the future.
• Archived jobs: Jobs that occurred in the past, whether one-off or recurring with end dates before the current date, are marked as “archived.”
• Unscheduled jobs: Jobs without a date are labeled as “unscheduled.”