Import from CSV or Excel

What it is

Import from CSV or Excel turns a spreadsheet into AreaCacao recipes. You prepare the file, you decide what each column means, and the importer creates (or updates) the recipes. No AI reads the file, and no credits are used.

• Path: https://app.areacacao.com/import-recipe, Upload new tab.
• How to get there: sidebar → FORMULATION → Import recipes → Upload new tab. The card sits below the photo/PDF drop zone.
• Availability: on by default for any user with an account. No plan restriction.

How it differs from importing a photo or a PDF

The only place AI can get involved is optional and your choice: auto-completing ingredients that aren't in your catalog (see Ingredients that don't match the catalog).

The card and its two buttons

The card is titled "CSV or Excel (no credits)" and reads: "Import your recipes from a spreadsheet. No credits used and no usage limit. Import one or many recipes at once."

It has two buttons and one expandable block:

• Import CSV/Excel — opens the wizard.
• Download template — downloads the file straight from your browser, without hitting the server.
• Quick guide: how to prepare your file — an expandable block with the fill-in rules and the full list of valid filling_type values.

The template

Download template saves a file to your machine. It is a CSV with a UTF-8 BOM (so Excel keeps accented characters) containing the canonical header row plus three example recipes, picked to teach the three patterns the importer understands:

1. Ganache de maracuyá — a simple filling: four rows share the same recipe_name, and the last one carries the steps.
2. Trufa clásica de cacao — a filling with layers: the part column separates "Interior" from "Rebozado".
3. Tableta 70% cacao — a chocolate recipe: it uses chocolate_type and cocoa_percent and leaves filling_type empty.

You are not required to use the template: you can import your own sheet with your own headers and tell the wizard what each column is.

Columns

The template ships 16 columns, in this order:

recipe_name, recipe_type, chocolate_type, filling_type, cocoa_percent, part, ingredient_code, ingredient_name, quantity, unit, weight_g, cost_per_unit, cost_currency, is_supply, supply_code, steps

The wizard can map 18 fields: the 16 above plus recipe_id (Recipe ID) and cost_unit (Cost unit), which exist as mapping targets even though the template doesn't include them.

How rows are grouped

Rows are grouped by normalized recipe_name: lowercased, accents stripped, internal whitespace collapsed. So "Ganache de Maracuyá" and "ganache de maracuya" end up in the same recipe.

Fill-in rules the importer enforces

• One ingredient per row. Don't put the whole ingredient list in a single cell — the importer can't split it.
• Steps separated by |. Filling steps in any one row of the recipe is enough.
• Layers via part. Same recipe_name on every row, layer name in part. If the recipe has a single layer, leave part empty.
• filling_type must be the exact identifier, lowercase with underscores. Plain ganache is not valid; the classic bonbon ganache is ganache_bombon. The full list lives in the Quick guide block on the screen itself.

The wizard, step by step

The wizard is titled "Import recipes from CSV" and has five screens.

Ingredients that don't match the catalog

The importer resolves each row like this: if there's an ingredient_code, it looks that exact record up; otherwise it searches your catalog by name. When nothing matches, it applies the choice you made in the Options step:

• Create missing ingredients as pending (no cost) — "Ingredients we can't find are added marked as pending, with no nutrition or cost data. You can complete them later. Uses no credits." This is the default.
• Auto-complete missing ingredients with AI — 5 credits per ingredient — "For each ingredient we can't find, AI estimates macros, allergens and cost data. Charged 5 credits per new ingredient."

Supplies

Rows flagged with is_supply or carrying a supply_code are treated as supplies. They are linked by code only against your supplies catalog. If the code doesn't exist, the line is still imported but flagged for review, and the Supplies not found count in the preview warns you beforehand. The importer never creates new supplies — not even in AI mode, which only applies to ingredients.

Create versus update

• No recipe_id → a new recipe is always created.
• With recipe_id → if that id exists and is yours, the recipe is updated. If it doesn't exist or isn't yours, a new recipe is created instead.
• When a recipe is created and its name already exists in your catalog, AreaCacao differentiates the name automatically rather than blindly duplicating it. This applies on create only, never on update.
• One failing recipe does not abort the batch: it is flagged with its error and the importer moves on to the next one.

Limits

If you try to start an import while another one is queued or processing, the server rejects it: you have to wait for the previous one to finish.

What it does NOT do

• It does not read your file with AI. The column mapping is yours and the parsing is deterministic.
• It does not appear in the History tab. That tab lists photo and PDF imports. Spreadsheet imports are not listed on any screen: their status is only visible in the wizard window while you keep it open. If you close it, the import carries on, but you'll have to check My recipes to see the result.
• It cannot be cancelled. Once you press Import there is no cancel button; the wizard only lets you close the window.
• It does not create new supplies.
• It does not read more than one sheet from an Excel workbook.
• It does not import from a Google Sheets link or any URL: the file has to be uploaded. Importing from a web page is a separate route — see Import a recipe from a URL.
• It does not validate filling_type for you. If you write an identifier that doesn't exist, the recipe is imported without filling-specific technical validation.

Next steps