Edit in Excel and import back

Use an Excel (XLSX) workbook when you want to edit a view or a collection outside refiroo. Read Importing and exporting before clearing cells.

If Load a workbook opens because the assistant is enabled, choose Import without the assistant… to reach the manual import form used below. That manual path does not send the file to an AI assistant.

1. In the collection, open Workspace actions › Export. Keep What on This view to take its search, supported filters and layout, or select the type, application or workspace. Choose For editing in a spreadsheet. For a link matrix, choose What each cell lists: Name or a text field identifying its records. For a table, check Advanced: columns and sheets. Choose Start export and download the completed file.
2. Open it in Excel. Read the second sheet, About this export, for the file’s source and load-back rules. Keep its hidden identity and version columns and saved import information. Edit the names or ordinary values you intend to change; leave (not imported) columns alone. Read summary cells on their referenced sheet.
3. Follow the rules for the layout you exported, below. In an ordinary table workbook, review relationship lists carefully: the edited list replaces the whole set. An empty replacement cell clears it if allowed. In a matrix workbook, clearing a cell changes nothing. Blank ordinary field or owned-record cells leave values unchanged. Removing a relationship-sheet row does not delete the connection.
4. Back in the intended Live or change-set context, choose Workspace actions › Import and select the workbook. Leave Profile at None so refiroo reads its saved layout.
5. Keep Only if unchanged since the export unless you have reviewed a deliberate overwrite. Update them anyway deliberately replaces values from the file even where a record or relationship changed since export. Review the current data first: this choice ignores the workbook’s saved version checks. Choose the refusal policy and Preview. The job page identifies it as Read as exported ….
6. Review How the file is read: the field each column is matched by, the values matched, value-sheet counts and where new records go. Change Matched by where needed; this runs the preview again without loading records. See Check how the file is read. Review creations, updates, unchanged rows and refusals. An untouched workbook should change nothing. With Only if unchanged since the export, a record edited by another person since export is refused. Reconcile those rows with the current records before retrying, or export a fresh workbook.
7. Choose Load the file when the preview is right. Inspect the final results; execution checks current data again. Correct refused rows in the file and resend it to preview again.

In a change set this prepares proposals for review and publication; it does not change Live. Use Cancel import if the preview includes unexpected changes.

Edit a matrix workbook

The main matrix sheet loads only its cells. Row names and identifying fields help you find the right row; editing them here does not change those records. Value sheets, where present, load their records separately as described below.

• In a matrix showing record fields, edit the intended field under the intended column. Filling an empty cell creates a record only when the view permits creation. The preview shows where it goes, including a group that will be created. If no suitable place can be found, the refusal names the column: choose or prepare a group by creating the first cell in the app, then preview the file again. There is no value sheet for this layout.
• A cell holding several records is shown joined and is not loaded back in this field layout. Open the cell in refiroo to edit the individual records.
• In a matrix showing links, choose a record from the cell’s dropdown. A non-empty list replaces the links within that row and column: records added are linked, records left out are unlinked. Other columns are unaffected. A value found neither in that column’s value sheet nor in existing records creates a record only if the view also permits creation. It supplies the name and, when different, the selected text field; other required fields still need values. Otherwise choose an existing record. Names containing a semicolon appear with a comma instead; keep that form when editing.
• An empty or cleared matrix cell changes nothing. To remove every value or every link in a cell, use refiroo.

Edit the value sheets of a link matrix

1. Open Values · followed by the column name. Each row holds a record’s name and fields, its group for reading, and hidden identity and version columns. Keep those hidden columns. Fields marked (not imported) are for reading.
2. Where the view permits editing or creation, edit existing records on that sheet. The hidden identity updates the same record, even if you change its name. Its other connections see those record changes too. With only Link existing and Unlink enabled, value sheets are for reading and their edits do not load.
3. Where the view permits creation, add a row without an identity for a new record and fill its required fields. The group column does not choose where it goes: check the import preview. A row not selected in any main-sheet cell is still created or updated.
4. In a main-sheet cell, use the chosen field’s value from the value sheet. If you rename a record there, its old main-sheet value still identifies it unless another value-sheet row now uses that value. The same new value in both sheets identifies one new record. Two records with the same chosen value make the reference ambiguous; correct the values or the selected matching field in the preview.
5. Preview the workbook in refiroo. A spreadsheet cannot synchronise the main sheet’s text and value-sheet records itself; import resolves them together. Review both value-sheet counts and main-sheet connections before choosing Load the file.

For example, a translation matrix workbook can fill missing names under language columns. A mapping matrix workbook can link an existing code instead. Both create connections; reuse keeps the existing record’s identity. In a change set, connected systems see the accepted changes after publication, according to what they are allowed to read.

Edit other view workbooks

A relationships table exported as rows lets you edit connection values or add a row connecting two named records. Removing a row does not delete its connection. In its grid layout, Linked is Yes or No: Yes can add a missing connection, and No does not remove an existing one. A table column showing a relationship that owns its records is for reading; edit the owned records on their own sheet or in the app. Follow the file’s About this export instructions.

A tree or a wider type selection has one sheet per type, with parents identified by name. Keep the hidden columns where names alone would be ambiguous. A mapping grid uses a relationship column for the target. See Workbook layouts for the differences.