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Feature request - match CSV import with other fields

As far as I'm aware, this isn't currently capable.

I'd like to be able to match up a CSV import with fields other than the computer name (specifically the model number in this case). Whilst I could add in a computer name field, that would mean adding in hundreds of more records every time with duplicate information.

Currently, I've got just under 900 PCs I'd like to add a record against in a custom field, based on the model number. To do this, I've got to have a CSV with all the PC names, the model number (although this can be deleted once the data is in), then the column/s of information that I want to be imported.

If I wanted to make a change to one model number, I will likely have to do these somewhat manually. I may not be able to do a blanket 'replace all' using Find & Replace in Excel. If the records were model number based (as opposed to computer name-based), then I could just update the record in one place. There are many other examples I could give about how useful this would be to me.

TL;DR - Being able to import data and match it up with fields other than the computer name would save me so much time and effort.

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Comments

4 comments
Date Votes
  • Craig,

    The model number is not unique, so I am not sure how you could import data based on that field. You would have no way to uniquely identify computers.

    Do you mean the serial number?

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  • Pardon me for butting in, but what if Craig wants to import to ALL the PC's of a specific model? Precisely NOT unique, but to every single PC that has that model? Why must it be unique? I think that matching all, not one, is what he is going for here. A one-to-many operation - import one single record with a specific model number and some custom fields, imported to all matching records - all PCs having that model should get those custom values.

    Craig, feel free to correct me if I misunderstood you. :-)

     

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  • ah has hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I was going for.

    Yesterday I had a CSV with records for 838 computers. Of those computers, there were roughly 50 different model numbers, although this equated to about only 20 different models.

    Inventory already has the model number for these computers (the CSV started as an export from my console), it'd be great if we could utilise this, instead of having to feed it each the result for each and every computer. 

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  • Ok, I understand better now. The only way to really do this currently would be to generate a CSV report with every computer name and model, add in your custom field based on the model, remove the computer model field, then import using the custom fields import wizard.

    If you wanted to make a change to all computers of that model later on you would do the same thing but the initial CSV report that you generated would be only for that model number. Or, you could even generate a CSV report based on your custom field matching a certain value if you wanted to change them all.

    This is obviously not ideal because there are extra steps involved but there is no better way that I am aware of with the current system.

    Edit: Upon further reading it seems to me that you can do this by importing the data into PDQ via command line and modifying your SQL query to find only machines with a specific model instead of machines with a specific name:

    https://www.pdq.com/blog/adding-custom-fields-multiple-computers-powershell/

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