What it does
The import wizard takes the files a school really has and turns them into structured planning data in four steps: Destination, File, Mapping, Confirm. Three data shapes are supported: resources (teachers, rooms, groups), a teaching offering (the list of study units), and a full period plan with weekly lesson columns. Each shape has a downloadable template, and an example structure is shown in the app before you commit to anything.
On the way out, exports carry the whole truth of the timetable, not just times and names: CSV rows include pinned status, manual edits, waiting-area membership, out-of-profile placements, delivery mode, equipment, and individual students, so downstream spreadsheets and audits see what the planner sees.
How it works in Smootables
- Choose the destination and data shape: Resources, Teaching offering, or Full period plan, with Download template for a ready-made .xlsx per shape.
- Upload .xlsx or CSV and map your columns; the preview shows exactly what will be created before anything is written.
- Resolve what the file cannot say alone: ambiguous study units get a "Select study unit" step, every problem row is named with its row number and reason, and a recurring period with multiple week columns gets an explicit choice: Merge week columns and import or Change period settings.
- Run the import. Existing teachers, rooms, groups, and study units are matched by name and reused, never duplicated. A full-plan import replaces the period's existing placements, and only after you confirm "Yes, replace existing placements".
- Export whenever you like: CSV, Excel with one worksheet per period, or the print view for Save-as-PDF, filtered by teacher, room, equipment, group, or student, with waiting-area lessons included on request, up to 52 periods at a time.
Key capabilities
Three data shapes
Resources, teaching offering, or a full period plan with weekly lesson columns: pick the shape that matches your file and the wizard adapts.
Templates and mapping
A downloadable .xlsx template per shape, free-form column mapping for files that grew organically, and an example structure shown before you upload.
Preview and per-row validation
Every row is validated with the row number and reason named; ambiguous matches are resolved by you, not guessed by the importer.
Match, never duplicate
Teachers, rooms, groups, and study units already in Smootables are recognized by name and reused, so re-imports do not breed copies.
Replace, with consent
A full-plan import replaces the period's placements in one deliberate, confirmed step, which is exactly what a clean re-import should do.
Exports that tell the truth
23 columns including pinned, manually edited, waiting area, out-of-profile, delivery mode, equipment, and students.
Where it fits
Import is how academic-year planning gets seeded without weeks of typing, and the Planner assistant can drive the same pipeline from chat, parsing a workbook and running the import. Exports carry the editing flags that hands-on editing produces. If you are weighing the move away from spreadsheet planning, Excel vs school timetable software makes the comparison, and the Excel-to-software guides walk the migration.