Data Import and Export

The K3 Configurator offers comprehensive import and export functions that allow you to efficiently manage your configurator data. These functions enable you to exchange data with external systems or perform bulk updates.

Prerequisites

• You have einen Konfigurator angelegt
• You have admin permissions for your configurator
• For importing, you need an Excel file in .xlsx or .xls format

Exporting Data

Export Options

You can export various data sets:

• Items and Prices: All items with their prices and price lists
• Rules: Specific rules with their conditions and actions
• Feature Values: Values of specific attributes with all their attributes

tip

During export, unique keys are automatically generated for rules, rule lines, and values if they do not already exist. These keys are based on the labels of the entries and enable a reliable re-import.

Start Export

1. Open your configurator in the editor
2. Switch to the item, rule, or attribute value view, depending on what you want to export (but you can export everything at any time).
3. Click the
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   icon (export button)
4. In the dialog, you can select which data to export

Export File

The exported Excel file contains various worksheets:

• Item Prices: An overview of all items with prices and assignments. The Sort Order column contains the order from the item list; the inUse? column indicates with “Yes”/“No” whether the item is used in the configurator. inUse? is for informational purposes only and is not evaluated during import.
• Rule [Name]: A separate sheet for each exported rule, containing all rule rows
• [Feature Name]: One sheet per exported feature containing all values and attributes

The file is downloaded automatically and includes a timestamp in its name (e.g., app_mein-konfigurator_export_2025-11-21_14-30-00.xlsx).

Importing Data

Preparing for Import

1. First, export your current data as a template
2. Edit the Excel file as desired
3. Be sure to maintain the file’s structure

Important:

• Do not change the column names in the header
• Keep the worksheet names the same
• Keys should remain unique and consistent

Perform the import

1. Click the
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   icon (Import button)
2. Select your edited Excel file
3. The import will run automatically
4. You will receive a confirmation showing the number of imported entries

Import Behavior

The import works according to the following principles:

Items and Prices

• Items are identified by their item number
• Existing items are updated; new ones are created
• Prices are saved per price list and item

Rules and Rule Rows

• Rules are identified by their key
• Rule lines are also assigned based on their key
• Important: Only the columns defined in Excel are updated
• Other actions and values in the rule lines are retained
• New rule lines require a unique key

Item Actions in Rules

A rule can contain multiple item actions, such as when a selection adds two items to the bill of materials at the same time. Each item action is assigned its own set of three columns in the rule sheet:

Action	Columns
1st Item Action	artikel_nummer, artikel_anzahl, artikel_menge
2nd Item Action	artikel_nummer_2, artikel_anzahl_2, artikel_menge_2
3rd Item Action	artikel_nummer_3, artikel_anzahl_3, artikel_menge_3

• The first action retains the existing column names. This means older files can still be imported without modification.
• The assignment of columns to actions is also listed in the first row of the sheet. Leave this row unchanged; otherwise, the assignment will be lost and only the order of the columns will matter.
• The headers artikel_... are reserved. If a characteristic has such a key, the export will abort with a message—in that case, assign a different key to the characteristic.

Characteristic Values

• Values are identified by their key
• If the key is missing, the label is used as the key
• The sort order of the values is taken from the row order in Excel
• All attributes (attrs) are updated

Calculations in Rules

Berechnungen internally refer to a characteristic by its internal number. In the Excel file, they are instead listed with the characteristic’s key:

varId(117838)   →   variable(articleTestNumber)

This makes the calculations readable and editable in Excel.

• If the key is not a single word (e.g., because it contains spaces), it is enclosed in quotation marks: variable('Breite in mm').
• Instead of the key, you can also use the displayed name of the attribute.
• During import, the reference is resolved again. If no characteristic is found for a key or name, or if it is assigned multiple times, the import aborts with an error message—otherwise, a corrupted calculation would be saved.
• A characteristic name without variable(...)—that is, breite * 2 instead of variable(breite) * 2—is also an import error.
• If a calculation references a characteristic that has since been deleted, the internal number remains during export. The export does not fail because of this.

Multilingual Fields

• Only the currently selected content language is exported and imported. Names and descriptions are therefore saved to the file in the language you have set in the editor under Content: DE, and are written back there during import.

Use Cases

Bulk Price Update

1. Export items and prices
2. Adjust the prices in Excel
3. Re-import the file

Rule Maintenance

1. Export one or more rules
2. Edit the conditions and actions in Excel
3. Import the updated rules

Value Management

1. Export attribute values
2. Add or modify attributes
3. Import the values in the correct order

Data Transfer Between Systems

• Use the export function to retrieve data from a configurator
• Adapt the keys to the target system
• Import the data into another configurator

Tips and Best Practices

• Keep keys the same: Only change keys if you know what you’re doing
• Incremental Updates: For major changes, perform several smaller imports
• Validation: After importing, check that all data has been transferred correctly
• Versioning: Use the Veröffentlichungs-Funktion to release changes incrementally

Troubleshooting

Import Fails

• Check that the file is in Excel format (.xlsx or .xls)
• Make sure all required fields are filled in
• Verify that referenced items, characteristics, or rules exist

If the import fails, the message lists the most common errors along with the number of affected rows. Use

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to open an overview that lists, for each error type, the worksheet and the erroneous rows along with their row numbers. The list can be fully expanded and copied to the clipboard, allowing you to jump directly to the affected rows in Excel.

Keys Not Found

• Make sure that keys for rules and values are correct
• For new entries without a key, the label is automatically used as the key
• Avoid duplicate keys

Sorting is incorrect

• Values are sorted based on their order in Excel
• Make sure the desired order is correct in the file
• The first data row (after the header row) is assigned sort index 0

Technical Details

Data Format

The Excel files use a structured format:

• Header row: Defines the columns
• Data rows: One row per entry
• Worksheets: Different data types are separated

Transaction Safety

• The import takes place within a single database transaction
• If errors occur, the entire import is rolled back
• Your existing data remains unchanged in the event of failed imports