Import Your Asset List from Excel into MaintainNow in Minutes

Picture this: your equipment list lives in a spreadsheet someone started years ago, plus a binder in the maintenance office. Switching to a CMMS sounds like weeks of typing. With MaintainNow you paste that list into a template, upload it, and your whole building is in the system, on every technician's phone, before lunch.

In about 10 minutes you'll have:

Your whole equipment list in MaintainNow, with locations, make, model, serial numbers, criticality and purchase price.
Mistakes caught before they land: every row is checked and problems are shown before anything is imported.
A QR code for every asset, created automatically so technicians can scan it.
Everything on your team's phones right away.

Start free and import your equipment list

There's a free plan, so you can try it with your own spreadsheet today.

Illustration: four steps. 1 Download the template, 2 Paste your equipment list, 3 Upload and check, 4 Live on every phone

Illustration: from spreadsheet to live system in four steps.

Before and after

Without an import, getting started with a new system means typing every machine in by hand, so setup drags on for weeks and the old spreadsheet never really goes away.

With MaintainNow, the spreadsheet you already have becomes your asset list. You fix any problems the import finds, upload again, and you're done. That's what makes a CMMS implementation take a day instead of a quarter.

1. Download the template

Go to Assets and click Import. The first step, Download Template, gives you a CSV file with every column MaintainNow understands and an example row.

Import Assets dialog in MaintainNow on the Template step with the Download Template button

Only Name is required. Fill in as much of the rest as you have: Description, Location Name, Parent Asset Name, Make, Model, Serial Number, Reference Number, Barcode, Status, Criticality, Purchase Price, Residual Value, Life Estimate (Years), Warranty Notes, Notes and Special Permit Required.

Working in Excel or Google Sheets? Copy your columns into the template and save it as CSV.

2. Upload it and let MaintainNow check every row

Upload the file and the Preview shows every row with a status before anything is saved. Here two rows need attention: one uses a location that doesn't exist (Roof Top), and one points to a parent asset that isn't in MaintainNow yet.

Import preview in MaintainNow showing 6 valid and 2 invalid rows, with Location "Roof Top" not found and Parent asset "Chiller CH-1" not found

You can import the valid rows right away and fix the rest in a second file, which is what we did here.

3. Import

Click Import and MaintainNow tells you how many assets were added.

Import result in MaintainNow: 6 imported, 0 failed

Then we uploaded a second file with the two fixed rows. Now that Chiller CH-1 existed, Cooling Tower CT-1 was linked to it as its parent, building your asset hierarchy automatically.

MaintainNow asset list after the import with the new East Building assets, and Cooling Tower CT-1 under parent asset Chiller CH-1

4. Your team has it on their phones

The imported assets show up in the MaintainNow phone app straight away. Each one got its own QR code, so technicians can scan a machine to see its maintenance history from day one.

MaintainNow phone app Assets list showing the imported East Building assets

Tips for a clean import

Import locations first. Locations has its own Import with Name, Description, Address and Mobile Number. Asset rows are matched to locations by name.
Parents before children. A parent asset has to exist before you import the assets under it. Import parents in one file and children in the next.
Use the app's values for Status (Operational, Down, Under Maintenance, Retired or Disposed) and Criticality (Low, Medium, High or Critical).
Already have barcodes on your equipment? Put them in the Barcode column. Leave it empty and MaintainNow creates a QR code for you.

Questions people ask

Can I import assets from Excel into MaintainNow?

Yes. Download the CSV template from Assets → Import, copy your Excel columns into it, save it as CSV and upload it.

What information is required to import an asset?

Only the asset's name. Every other column is optional.

What happens if my spreadsheet has mistakes?

The preview checks every row before importing. Rows with a location or parent asset that doesn't exist, or a non-number in a number field, are marked invalid and skipped, and you can import the valid rows.

Can I import locations too?

Yes. Locations has its own CSV import with name, description, address and mobile number.

How long does it take to set up MaintainNow?

If your equipment is already in a spreadsheet, importing it takes minutes. Add your team and you can start creating work orders the same day.

Related guides

Go live today

Your equipment list is already written down. Put it to work.

Start free and import your assets