Coming from another software
In short
You type nothing again. Your clients and your works come in through a CSV file, in three steps. Your numbers carry on: on 1 January a new series starts by itself, and mid-year you give the number of your next document.
Your former quotes and invoices stay in your former software. Devivolt does not take them over.
Getting your data out of the former tool
Nearly every quoting software, and every spreadsheet, can produce a CSV file: look for Export, CSV export or Export to Excel in the list of your clients, then in the list of your articles or works.
If the export is a workbook (.xlsx, .xls, .ods), open it in your spreadsheet, then use
File → Save as and choose the CSV format. A workbook sent as it is gets refused, with the
reason displayed.
Starting from a paper address book or a home-made spreadsheet? Download a template, fill it in, save it as CSV:
Both templates can also be downloaded from the import screen. Their example rows are there to show the expected shape: replace them with yours. The column headers are in French, like the documents Devivolt produces.
A spreadsheet takes a phone number or a postal code for a number and removes its zero:
0612345678 becomes 612345678, 01000 becomes 1000. Devivolt puts that zero back on import.
It can do nothing, however, for a SIRET turned into 7,32829E+13. Before saving, set the SIRET
column to the Text format, or write the SIRET with its spaces (732 829 320 00074).
Importing your clients
- Clients menu, then Import.
- The file. Choose your CSV, then Read the file. The separator (semicolon or comma) and the accents of a French Excel export are recognised by themselves.
- The columns. For each piece of information (last name, first name, company name, SIRET, e-mail, phone, address…), Devivolt proposes the column of your file whose header looks like it, with an example of its content. Correct what is wrong. A piece of information left on Do not import is skipped. At least the column of the last name or of the company name is needed.
- The check. Devivolt reads the whole file and shows you the result before writing anything: the number of rows to import, the first ten rows as they will be recorded, the duplicates and the errors, row by row.
- Import. The button only appears when no row is in error.
A row that carries a company name becomes a professional client; the others are individuals.
Duplicates
A row whose e-mail or SIRET already exists among your clients — or earlier in the same file — is reported and skipped. Nothing is merged or overwritten: your existing records do not move. So you can import a completed file again without creating doubles.
Errors
It is all or nothing As long as one row is in error — a wrong SIRET, a badly written e-mail, a row without a name — nothing is imported. Fix the row in your file, send it again, and everything comes in at once. You never end up with half an address book.
A file holds 2,000 rows and weighs 2 MB at most. Beyond that, split it into several files. The file you sent is kept for 30 minutes, the time of the three steps; after that, send it again.
Importing your works
The journey is the same: Library menu, then Import. The works land in your personal works, next to the Devivolt catalogue.
| Column | What is expected | When it is empty |
|---|---|---|
| Libellé (label) | The name of the work. Mandatory. | The row is in error. |
| Unité (unit) | u, m, m², h or forfait — “pièce”, “ml”, “heure”, “ens” are understood. | u |
| Déboursé fourniture (supply cost) | What the supply costs you, in euros excluding VAT: 8,50. | €0 |
| Temps de pose (installation time) | In minutes (20), or in hours and minutes (1h30, 1,5 h). | No installation time |
| Nature des travaux (nature of the work) | “Rénovation”, “Rénovation énergétique”, “Neuf” or “Fourniture seule”. It decides the VAT rate proposed. | Rénovation |
| Catégorie (category) | Tableau, Circuits, Appareillage, Éclairage, Chauffage, VMC, Salle de bain, IRVE, Photovoltaïque, Extérieur, Divers. | Divers |
| Prix de vente (selling price) | A fixed price, excluding VAT. Fill it in only if you do not want the computed price. | The price is computed |
| Description | What the price includes. It is printed on the quote line. | — |
A work without a selling price is priced like all the others: supply cost + your margin + installation time × your hourly rate (see Your works library). Change your hourly rate and all your prices follow. A work whose label already exists among your personal works is skipped.
Without an hourly rate, the prices are shown without labour. It is set in Settings → Pricing.
Carrying on your numbering
Your invoices must follow one another, in order and without a gap. Devivolt numbers by year:
F-2026-0001, F-2026-0002… and starts again at 0001 every 1 January.
You switch on 1 January
There is nothing to do. Your first invoice of the year carries number 0001, exactly as it would
have in your former software. It is the simplest moment to switch.
You switch mid-year
This year you have already issued invoices 0001 to 0042 elsewhere. Two ways to go, both correct:
- Carry on the same series. Give
43as the next invoice, next to the prefix, in the Numbering card of the « Your documents » step of the setup walk-through — or later, in the card Continue a numbering series mid-year of Settings → Documents. Your first Devivolt invoice will carry number 0043. Do the same for quotes and credit notes if you want to carry them on too. - Open a separate series. Change the prefix (see Your document
settings):
DV-2026-0001starts a new series, which also follows on without a gap. The former one stops in the former software.
If you have an accountant, ask which one they prefer: the first gives them a single run of numbers over the year, the second clearly separates the two tools.
The starting number is set before the first document As long as no quote has been issued on Devivolt this year, the next quote number stays editable — likewise for invoices, and for credit notes. From the first document issued, the series is locked and carries on by itself: a number cannot be caught up afterwards.
Your former quotes and invoices
Devivolt does not import them. An invoice issued elsewhere was numbered, frozen and archived elsewhere: copying it here would make a second original, without its original PDF. Your former software remains the register of what you issued there.
Before leaving it, export your invoices as PDF and file them: you must be able to produce them for ten years.
If it does not work
- “This file is not a CSV file.” You sent a workbook. Save it as CSV from your spreadsheet.
- Accents are replaced by strange signs in the preview. Save the file again as CSV UTF-8 from your spreadsheet, then send it again.
- All the information is in one single column. The separator is neither a semicolon nor a comma. Save the file again as CSV from a spreadsheet.
- “This file is no longer available.” More than 30 minutes have passed. Send it again.
- “A document of this type has already been issued this year.” The series is locked. You can still open a separate series by changing the prefix.
See also: Your clients · Your works library · Your document settings.