The Ingredients Importer is Uncountable’s tool for bulk uploading or updating ingredients in your workspace.
It allows you to efficiently manage large sets of ingredients—whether you’re creating new ones, updating categories and attributes, or adding lot information.
Use the Ingredients Importer if you want to:
- Create new ingredients in bulk
- Bulk update existing ingredient fields (e.g. categories, attributes, lot information)
Using the Ingredient Importer
Step 1 — Access the Importer
- Navigate to the Project Dashboard.
- Open the selection menu and click Import CSV/XLSX.
Step 2 — Select Import Type
At the top of the Import page, select the Ingredients Upload.
Other importers on this page are used for uploading recipes, outputs, or experiment data. Learn more about using the Formulation Importer.
Step 3 — Prepare Your Spreadsheet
For Uncountable to process your upload, your spreadsheet must follow a specific format. You can click Download Sample File on the upload page to view an example.
Spreadsheet Structure
You can include multiple tabs in your spreadsheet, for example:
- Ingredients tab to upload ingredient information
- Lots tab to upload lot information for those ingredients
Ingredients Tab
In the Ingredients tab, use columns to represent ingredient fields (e.g. category, subcategory, attributes, notes) and rows to represent individual ingredients.
Example columns include:
- Ingredient Name (required)
- Category — All values in a column labeled “category” are interpreted as the ingredient’s category.
- Subcategory — All values in a column labeled “subcategory” are interpreted as the ingredient’s subcategory
- Attribute: [Attribute] — Use the format “Attribute: [attribute name]” to add attributes to imported ingredients
- Notes — Include notes on imported ingredients
Lots Tab
In the Lots tab, use columns to represent lot information and rows to represent individual lots.
Example columns include:
- Lot Name (required)
- Ingredient Name (required) — Match each lot to the corresponding ingredient (ingredient name should match the ingredients being imported in the other tab)
- Recipe Metadata: [Metadata] — Use the format “Recipe Metadata: [metadata name]” to add metadata to lots (e.g. Date Opened, Batch Number)
- Output: [Attribute] — Use the format “Output: [attribute name]” to add attributes to lots
Step 4 — Upload, Review, and Submit
Once your spreadsheet is ready, drag and drop it to the Ingredients Importer. Before submitting, use the review page to ensure that your import is complete and correct.
On the review page, users can:
- Review and match attributes, categories, subcategories, and metadata — Fields that are not automatically recognized can be created as new fields or matched to existing ones.
- Create new ingredients and lots — If an imported ingredient or lot does not match an existing one, a new ingredient or lot will be created.
- Overwrite existing ingredients and lots — If an imported ingredient or lot does match an existing one, you can choose to update it by checking Overwrite Existing Ingredient Values (A) to update existing values. Note that ingredients must be unlocked.
⚠️ Overwrite with caution!
When enabled, the Overwrite Existing Ingredient Values will replace current information with the corresponding values from your spreadsheet. This option should be used very carefully, as incorrect use can unintentionally overwrite large amounts of existing data.
Blank cells in your spreadsheet will not overwrite existing values.
When you’re ready, click Submit to complete the import.
Tips & Reminders
- You can use the Ingredient Importer to both create and update ingredients.
- Categories, attributes, and lots can be created automatically if they do not yet exist.
- When updating an ingredient, the existing ingredient must be unlocked.
- Take caution when overwriting existing ingredient values, as incorrect use can overwrite large amounts of data.