Interactive · click the sheet tabs
This is a real revenue workbook. The importer reads your first sheet, click through to see what lands, and why the other tabs stay out of your base.
Your own workbook imports the same way, first sheet in, the other tabs left untouched. Run it on a real file ↓
A real workbook, every month
Finance sends the same Q3-revenue.xlsx every month: several tabs, formula columns, and a header row that keeps drifting. Here is how the team lands clean records in Airtable every time.
People assume every tab imports, so the records they care about sit on sheet three while a reference or summary tab is the one that loads.
Impora reads the first worksheet as your records. Put the rows you want imported there, and the rest of the workbook is passed over cleanly.
Pasting out of Excel can leave "=B2*12" as literal text, so Airtable stores a formula string instead of the number your rollups expect.
Impora imports the calculated value of every formula cell, so MRR and totals arrive as numbers automations and rollups can actually use.
A merged title row or a blank first row turns your headers into "Column1, Column2" and the mapping step becomes a guessing game.
Keep one plain header row up top and Impora reads your real column names, then you map and validate every row before it writes.
Real product screens
Point each import field at a worksheet column. Anything you do not map simply does not get written.
Type mismatches, bad dates, and unmatched links surface here, nothing is written to Airtable until you approve.
What’s different from a CSV
A CSV is one flat sheet. A workbook has tabs, formulas, and formatting, so a few workbook-specific rules decide what actually reaches Airtable.
Impora: reads the first worksheet as your records. Move the rows you want onto the first sheet.
Impora: takes column names from the first row, keep one clean header row and fields map on their own.
Impora: caps public uploads at 2 MB, the same as CSV. Split very large workbooks, or connect a folder for recurring imports.
Impora: imports the calculated value, so Airtable gets the number, not the formula text.
Three ways to send a workbook
However the file arrives, it runs the same mapping and validation before it writes to Airtable.
An uploader drops the workbook on a guided page, no Airtable account, no login. Available on every plan.
Forward the .xlsx to a dedicated inbox address and it imports straight in. Connector feature.
Email to Airtable →Leave it in a watched SharePoint, OneDrive, or Google Drive folder and new files import on pickup. Connector feature.
Under the hood
The honest version of what happens between the file you send and the records in your base.
A battle-tested spreadsheet engine (SheetJS) parses both modern and legacy Excel workbooks.
Impora reads the first worksheet and its header row, and preserves blank cells rather than silently dropping them.
It reads the value in each cell, so computed and exported columns come in as data, a formula arrives as its result.
If a file type is ambiguous, Impora auto-detects and falls back between spreadsheet and CSV parsing. For CSVs it also detects the encoding and delimiter, comma, tab, semicolon, or pipe.
Automatic column mapping (by field name, keyword alias, or close match), type coercion and date normalization, linked-record resolution, row validation, duplicate detection, and batched writes to the Airtable API.
File type and size are validated on the server, and every cell is read as its value, so spreadsheet formulas import as inert data rather than executable formulas.
Yes. Impora reads both modern .xlsx workbooks and legacy .xls files, with the same mapping and validation gate applied before any row reaches Airtable.
The importer reads the first worksheet in the file. Other tabs are ignored, so put the records you want imported on the first sheet, or upload other tabs as their own files.
Formula cells import as their calculated value, so a cell like "=B2*12" becomes the number your team expects rather than the formula text.
From the first row of the sheet. Keep a single, clean header row, merged or blank header rows can produce odd column names like "Column1".
Public uploads are capped at 2 MB, the same as CSV. For large or recurring workbooks, connect a folder so files import automatically.
No. Anyone with your upload link or connected folder can submit a workbook without an Airtable seat or an Impora login.
Yes. Alongside the share-link upload, you can forward a workbook to a dedicated inbox address or drop it in a watched SharePoint, OneDrive, or Google Drive folder. Email and folder import are connector features; the share-link upload is available on every plan.
Impora auto-detects the format and falls back between spreadsheet and CSV parsing. For CSV-style files it also detects the encoding and delimiter, comma, tab, semicolon, or pipe, so awkward exports still import cleanly.