If you already keep your animals in a spreadsheet, you don't have to type them in one at a time. Importing is a download-fill-upload loop, and it runs the same way for every kind of record:

1. Download the template. We build it for your program, so it already knows your animals and the species and breeds you work with.
2. Fill it in in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, or anything else that opens a spreadsheet.
3. Upload it back and check the preview.
4. Say yes. Nothing is saved until you do.

Start from Import your data. Each kind of record is a separate upload, so you can bring your animals in today and their health tests next month.

Import your animals first. Every other upload identifies an animal by name, so the health tests, titles, show wins, and links uploads stay locked until you have at least one animal on file. The family tree upload is the one exception in the other direction: it needs your animals, but it is free on every plan, because the ancestors it adds never count against your animal limit.

Each template carries a 1. Start Here tab explaining what the sheet is for, and a gray example row showing the shape of the data. The example row is skipped when you upload, so you can leave it in place.

It is safe. An import fills in blanks; it never writes over a value that is already there. So if you edited an animal's description on the site and then re-upload a spreadsheet with the old description in it, the version on the site is kept.

This is deliberate: it means you can fix a few rows and upload the whole sheet again without worrying about what else is in it, and you never end up with two copies of the same animal.

A problem with one row holds back that row only - the rest of the file still goes in. The preview lists anything held back with the reason, so you can fix those rows in your spreadsheet and upload again.

Two problems stop the whole file instead, because they aren't about a single row:

• The file isn't one of our templates, or its columns have been renamed.
• The import would take you past the number of animals your plan allows.

The preview may also ask you a question rather than report an error. If a name looks like an animal you already have, it asks whether this is the same animal or a different one - you answer per row before confirming.

The family tree template arrives with one row per animal you own, so you are filling in parents rather than repeating names you have already entered. Type a parent's name and one of two things happens: if that animal is already on Best In Show, the row links to it; if not, the ancestor is created for you.

Ancestors created this way don't count against your animal limit, which is why this import is free on every plan. See Pedigrees for how the shared family tree works once it is in.

Send us the spreadsheet. If your records are in an unusual shape, or came out of another program, we would rather look at the file than have you reformat it by hand - get in touch and tell us what you have.