How to Import Carriers, Drivers and Loads From Excel or CSV in LaneTally (Video + Steps)

1. See the big picture first (0:00)

Switching to a new program should not mean typing everything again, and leaving one should not mean losing your data. On top of the page you bring your carriers, drivers, trucks, brokers, loads, books, past invoices and papers in from Excel or CSV files. Below, you take out a copy of everything: one Excel file, or one CSV file for each list. At the bottom, your books go out as files for QuickBooks, Xero, Wave or your accountant. The free demo needs no sign-up and no card and uses fake data.

2. Where Import and export is, and its three cards (1:03)

In the left menu, the last group is Your business. Import and export is the second item, under My business (which has its own video). The page has three cards:

• Bring in your data: download your lists from your old program as Excel or CSV, then bring them in here.
• Take out your data: download a copy any time, as a backup or to move to another program.
• For your accountant: books for QuickBooks.

Everything you bring in is checked first, and nothing is saved until you press Import. LaneTally matches the columns and shows you what is new before saving anything. Nothing is ever added twice, every import can be undone, and the file is read on your device only.

3. Import carriers: match the columns, check, undo (2:03)

The first group, My carriers, says to start in this order: Carriers, Drivers, Trucks and trailers, Brokers, and Loads and their invoices, because drivers, trucks and loads belong to a carrier. The second group, My business, has My books, My past fee invoices, and Papers and renewal dates.

With Carriers picked, drag and drop your file on the big box, or click it to choose the file. Only Excel (.xlsx) and CSV files are taken.

• Match the columns shows your file name and the number of rows. LaneTally guesses which column is which, with an example from your file. A yellow needed tag marks a field a row cannot be added without, such as the company name. A field it could not guess says Not in this file, and you can pick the column yourself. Start over throws the file away.
• Check before importing counts the rows with colored tags: new, already in LaneTally, twice in the file and problem, and lists every row with its result and the reason. Only the new rows are added; the others are skipped.
• Press Import (for example Import 2 carriers), or Cancel. The new carriers appear in the carrier picker with the fee percent from your file.
• Past imports lists what was added, from which file and when. Undo this import asks first, then removes what that import added and anything you changed on it, and nothing else. The line stays, tagged Undone.

4. Import drivers, trucks, brokers and loads (5:45)

• Drivers: when an Excel file has several tabs, you pick which sheet to bring in. Choose the carrier from a Carrier column in the file, or one carrier for all rows. A driver can have the name, phone, email, CDL number, state, class and expiry date, medical card date, hire date, truck and trailer, how the driver is paid and the rate, and an emergency contact.
• Trucks and trailers: choose All are trucks, All are trailers, or a Truck or trailer column. Each unit has its number, plate, description, and registration and inspection dates.
• Brokers: the name, MC number, contact person, phone, billing email, address, payment terms in days and notes. A broker that is already in LaneTally is skipped.
• Loads and their invoices: choose the carrier, then what to do with loads that were already delivered. History only means their invoices, driver pay and your fees were handled in the old program: they keep their old invoice numbers, and LaneTally never sends them again or puts them on a pay statement or a weekly fee invoice. Still open means LaneTally makes their invoices, driver pay and weekly fees from now on.

Past imports lists every import, newest first, each with its own Undo.

5. Import books, past fee invoices and papers, and files that are refused (8:53)

• My books takes a file from QuickBooks or from your bank. LaneTally finds the real header row even when the file starts with title lines. Choose which books (your own, or a carrier that shares theirs), how money out is written in the file, and whether to keep rows that are exactly the same. The check adds up the new money in and money out: compare them with your old program's totals for the same dates before you import. A tip says to add your bank balance as one entry with the category Opening balance to start the year right.
• My past fee invoices: the weekly invoices you sent your carriers in the old program come in as history. They keep their numbers, are marked paid or sent, and are never sent again; unpaid ones show in My invoices so you can mark them paid.
• Papers and renewal dates: only the list and the due dates come in, so the renewals start working right away. You attach each file later in Documents. A paper for a driver who is not in LaneTally yet is a problem, so the drivers have to come first. A paper name LaneTally does not know comes in as Other, and the check says so.

A PDF is refused with a message that PDF papers go in Documents on each carrier or driver. An old Excel file ending in .xls is refused with a message to use Save As in Excel and pick .xlsx or .csv. The limits are 15 MB and 20,000 rows.

6. Take out your data: Excel, CSV and QuickBooks files (12:51)

Download everything saves one Excel file (.xlsx) with a READ FIRST tab and a tab for each list: carriers, drivers, trucks and trailers, brokers, loads, freight invoices, weekly fee invoices, book entries, papers and renewals, driver pay history and your business details. Under it, each list has its own Download CSV button, with the number of rows. A CSV file has the date in its name and opens in Excel, Google Sheets and many other programs. Files are made on your device and not sent anywhere.

The papers themselves, the PDFs and photos, stay in Documents, where each one can be downloaded; the export has the list of papers with their file names. It cannot include the paper files, passwords or LaneTally records.

The last card makes your books into files for QuickBooks Online (a zip with the chart of accounts, the journal entries and a READ ME with the steps), QuickBooks Desktop (a file ending in .iif, imported with File, Utilities, Import, IIF Files) and Xero, Wave and others (a CSV with Date, Description, Amount and Category). Pick the books (your own, or a carrier that shares theirs), the year or All years, and the name of your bank account in QuickBooks. A line adds up the entries, money in and money paid out, so you can check the totals after you import. LaneTally does not connect to QuickBooks, Xero or Wave: these are files you import in that program yourself. It is not tax, legal or financial advice: check with your accountant or tax professional.

7. What the carrier owner gets: Export my data (17:08)

The carrier owner has Export my data, under Tools. There is no import there, only the export: the same Download everything Excel file, one CSV per list for their own company only (never other carriers), and the same three books buttons for QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero, Wave and others.

8. Import and export on the phone (18:40)

On a phone, Import and export is under More, next to My business. The five buttons of My carriers wrap onto two lines, and tapping the big box chooses a file from your phone. Take out your data lists everything one under the other, with Download everything first and a Download button on each list, and the books card has the same three buttons.

9. Wrap-up and the free demo (19:47)

That is the whole Import and export page. Your data comes in from Excel or CSV, you check it before it is saved, and every import can be undone. You can take a copy of everything out at any time. LaneTally is dispatch and accounting software, now in beta. You can open the same screens yourself in the free demo: no sign-up, no card, fake data; the files you download there are examples.