How do I import transactions into Sage 50 using a .IMP file format?

Notes:

 

• imported transactions using the .imp format can only be imported into the company file in the Sage 50 Home Currency (see Is it possible to import sales invoices in a foreign currency using the .imp format?
• You cannot import payroll, but you can import timeslips
• You can import general journal entries by referring to Importing miscellaneous transactions from a text file into Sage 50-Canadian Edition
• You can import Timesheets by referring to Timesheet import template

File Layout:

• The import file consists of two parts: the header information and one or more transactions. Each part is enclosed in a pair of tags <>

Header Information:

1. The header section is enclosed between two tags: and consists of the version number of the import file version, and the country code.
2. For the version, please enter 12001 (version 2005).
3. Country Code based on the status of your version of Sage 50 data file:
   • Canada Country Code = 1
   • USA Country Code = 2
   • French Country Code = 3
   • Australia Country Code = 5
   • International Country Code = 7
4. For example:
   
   "12001", "1"
   "

Transactions:

1. The supported transaction types are as follows:
   • Purchase invoice
   • Sales Invoice
   • Sales Order
   • Purchase Quote
   • Adding a Vendor
   • Adding a Customer
2. Each transaction is wrapped in a pair of case-insensitive tags. The detail lines within the tags are comma-separated, and strings must be in ""
3. For all transactions other than adding customers and vendors, the first line contains the vendor's or customer's information. The second line contains transaction options followed by a list of one or more detail lines.
4. All lines beginning with

Adding Customers or Vendors:

1. To add customers and vendors, use the and transaction types.
2. This consists of one or more customer/vendor lines.

 

Field	Format	Comments
Name	Max 52 Chars	Compulsory
OneTimeFlag	1 = one-time Customer or vendor, 0= Existing customer or vendor	Optional
Contact Name	Max 30 chars	Optional
Street 1	Max 50 chars	Optional
Street 2	Max 50 chars	Optional
City	Max 35 chars	Optional
Province/State	Max 20 chars	Optional
Country	Max 9 chars - unformatted	Optional
Phone 1	Max 30 chars	Optional
Phone 2	Max 25 chars - unformatted	Optional
Fax	Max 25 chars - unformatted	Optional
Email	Max 50 chars	Optional

• For example:
  
  "Customer A", "0", "Contact", "A Street", "More Street Info", "A City", "A Prov", "V3M7Q3", "A Country", "6045558471", "", "6045559132", "[email protected]"
  

Adding Purchase Invoices and Purchase Quotes

1. To add a purchase invoice, use the transaction type.
2. To add a purchase quote, use the transaction type.
3. Within the tags, there is one vendor line, one transaction option line, and one or more detail lines.
   • Purchase Invoice/Quote Transaction Options:

     Field	Format	Comments
     No. of Details	Must be >= 0	Compulsory
     Order/Quote No.	Max 20 chars	Compulsory for Quote
     Invoice No.	Max 20 chars	Invoice only
     Entry Date	mm-dd-yyyy	Compulsory
     Ship Date	mm-dd-yyyy	Quote only
     Total Amount	2 decimals
     Discount Rate	0.0 - 99.99 (2 dec.)
     Discount Days	0 - 999
     Net Days	0 - 99
     Freight Amount	2 decimals	Compulsory
     Tax Information	See Tax Information table

1. • Purchase Invoice/Quote Detail Lines:

     Field	Format	Comments
     Item Number	Max 52 chars	Compulsory
     Quantity	4 decimals
     Price	4 decimals
     Amount	2 decimals
     Tax Information	See TaxInformation table

Sales Invoices

1. To add a sales invoice, use the transaction type.
2. This consists of one customer line, one transaction option line, and one or more detail lines
   • Sales Invoice Transaction Options:

     Field	Format	Comments
     No. of Details	Must be >= 0	Compulsory
     Order No.	Max 20 chars
     Invoice No.	Max 20 chars	If blank, the next invoice number will be used
     Entry Date	mm-dd-yyyy	Compulsory
     Paid by Type	0 - 3	0 - Pay later ; 1 - Cash ; 2 - Cheque 3 - Credit Card
     Paid by Source	Max 20 chars	Blank - pay later and cash Cheque number or Credit Card Name
     Total Amount	2 decimals
     Freight Amount	2 decimals	Compulsory
     Tax Information	See TaxInformation table

• • Sales Invoice Detail Lines:

    Field	Format	Comments
    Item Number	Max 52 chars	Compulsory
    Quantity	4 decimals
    Price	4 decimals
    Amount	2 decimals
    Tax Information	See tax information table

Sales Orders

1. To add a sales order, use the transaction type.
2. This consists of one customer line, one transaction option line, and one or more detail lines.
   • Sales Order Transaction Options:

     Field	Format	Comments
     No. of Details	Must be >= 0	Compulsory
     Order No.	Max 20 chars	Compulsory
     Entry Date	mm-dd-yyyy	Compulsory
     Ship Date	mm-dd-yyyy	Compulsory
     Total Amount	2 decimals
     Freight Amount	2 decimals	Compulsory
     Tax Information	See TaxInformation table

• • Sales Order Detail Lines:

    Field	Format	Comments
    Item Number	Max 52 chars	Compulsory
    Quantity	4 decimals
    Price	4 decimals
    Amount	2 decimals
    Tax Information	See TaxInformation table

Tax Information

• • For each tax authority in the tax code:

    Field	Format	Comments
    Tax Name	Max 20 chars	Compulsory
    Tax Included	1 = Yes, 0 = No	Compulsory
    Tax Refundable	1 = Yes, 0 = No	Compulsory
    Tax Rate	3 decimals	Compulsory
    Tax Amount	2 decimals	Compulsory

Timeslips

1. To add a timeslip, use the transaction type.
2. This consists of one employee line, one transaction option line and one or more detail lines.
   • Employee Line:

     Field	Format	Comments
     Employee Name	Max 52 chars	Compulsory

• • Time Slip Transaction Options:

    Field	Format	Comments
    No. of Details	Must be >= 0	Compulsory
    Time Slip No.	Max 20 chars	If blank, the next time slip number will be used
    Entry Date	mm-dd-yyyy	compulsory

• • Time Slip Detail Lines:

    Field	Format	Comments
    Customer Name	Max 52 chars	Compulsory
    Item Number	Max 52 chars	Compulsory
    Time	hh:mm:ss	Compulsory

Sample Import File:

<Version>
"12001", "1"
</Version>

<customers>
"name", "0", "Contact", "street", "street2", "city", "prov", "postal", "country", "phone", "phone2", "fax", "[email protected]"
"name2", "0", "Contact", "street", "street2", "city", "prov", "postal", "country", "phone", "phone2", "fax", "[email protected]"
</customers>

<vendors>
"name", "0", "Contact", "street", "street2", "city", "prov", "postal", "country", "phone", "phone2", "fax", "[email protected]"
"name2", "0", "Contact", "street", "street2", "city", "prov", "postal", "country", "phone", "phone2", "fax", "[email protected]"
</vendors>

<PurQuote>
<! This is the vendor line "name"
"UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION"
<! This is an option line
<! "no. of details", "quote no.", "entry date", "ship date", "total amount", "disount rate",
<! "discount days", "net days", "freight amt", "tax information"
"1","203","3-15-2000", ,"69.98","2.00","30","60","10.00","GST","0","1","7.00","0.70"
<! This is a detail line
<! "item no.", "quantity", "price", "amt", "tax information"
"C1020","20.0000","2.6000","52.00","GST","0","1","7.00","3.64","PST Charged","0","0","7.00","3.64"
</PurQuote>

<SalInvoice>
"UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION", , ,"102-3701 East Hastings St.", ,"Vancouver","British Columbia","V5C2H6", , , , ,
"2", ,"","3-15-2001", "3", "VISA", "67.84","0.00"
"C1020","2.0000","4.7500","9.50","GST","0","1","7.00","0.67","PST","0","0","7.00","0.67"
"H1020","2.0000","25.0000","50.00","GST","0","1","7.00","3.50","PST","0","0","7.00","3.50"
</SalInvoice>

<Timeslip>
“Sianos, Janice”
“2”,”1242”,”3-15-2001”
“Customer5”,”C1020”,”02:00:00”
“Customer6”,”C1020”,”02:00:00”
</Timeslip>

To import the .IMP file into Sage 50, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Import transactions from within Sage 50

1. Click on File, Import / Export, Import Transactions.
2. Choose Import purchase invoices, purchase quotes, sales invoices, sales orders or time slips.
3. Click on Next, create a Backup and click on Next one more time.
4. Browse to the location of your .IMP file and click on Open.
   • ​​​​​​​If your file is with a .CSV extension, you will need to rename the file with a .IMP file extension.

Method 2: Import transactions using an executable

1. Navigate to the location where Sage 50 is installed (The default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Sage 50 Edition) and invoke Sage_SA_import.exe
   • Sage_SA_import.exe is an application that is installed with Sage 50 and handles the actual import into the data files.
2. Browse to the location of your Sage 50 database file and click on Open.
3. Click on OK to select your .IMP import file and click on Open.
   • If at least one of these filenames is missing, a dialog will show up to prompt for the appropriate information
   • The syntax is as follows:
     • sage_sa_import.exe xxx.imp xxx.sai
     • where the first parameter is the import filename and path, and the second is the Sage 50 company .SAI file. No quotation marks are necessary.