You can access import and export via the user administration. Open the Actions menu above the user list. Import and export require at least administrator rights.
Export to a CSV File
Via Actions → Export users (csv) you can download a CSV file containing all users. The file includes all importable fields plus additional columns that are for information only: expenses group, role, supervisor, status, is supervisor, deputy, may enter own trips, email confirmed, number of trips, number of receipts, created on, and last change. These columns are ignored during import.
You can reuse the exported file as the basis for an import: open it in Excel, add new employees as new rows, and then import the file again.
Important: The import only creates new users. Existing users are not updated — rows with an email address that already exists in Spesenfuchs are skipped during import. To change existing users, edit them directly in the user administration.
Import from a CSV File
If you want to create several employees in Spesenfuchs at once, importing is more convenient than creating each user individually via the user interface.
Procedure
- Start the import via Actions → Import users.
- Download the template and open the file, e.g. with Microsoft Excel. Alternatively, use a previously exported user list as your starting point.
- Fill in one row for each employee.
- The fields name and email are mandatory. All other fields are optional.
- Save the file in the format CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited).
- Continue with the second step of the import assistant in Spesenfuchs. Click Select & Upload and choose the file you just saved.
Notes on the File
- The easiest approach is to leave the column headings unchanged. The import is tolerant, however: capitalization, whitespace, and umlaut spellings (e.g. "Straße" / "Strasse") do not matter.
- The order of the columns is arbitrary. Additional columns of your own are harmless — they are ignored during import.
- If you do not want to fill in certain columns, simply leave them empty.
These Fields Can Be Imported
Personnel number, first name, last name, email, creditor, cost center, cost objective, entrepreneur, individual km rate, street, postal code, city, phone, mobile, fax, bank, IBAN, BIC.
Role, status, supervisor, deputy, expenses group, and "may enter own trips" are not imported. You maintain these properties in the user administration after the import; whether employees may enter their trips themselves is controlled directly in the import assistant (see below).
Cost Center and Cost Objective
- Assignment is done via the number of the cost center or cost objective, not via its name.
- If the file contains numbers that do not yet exist in Spesenfuchs, the assistant offers the option "Import and assign new cost centers/cost objectives?". If you activate it, the missing objects are created and assigned during import.
- Inactive cost centers and cost objectives are treated as if they did not exist.
Individual Kilometer Rate
- You can specify the rate in euros with a decimal separator (e.g.
0.35) or in cents without one (e.g.35). - If the specified value equals the current statutory kilometer rate, no individual rate is stored. The employee then continues to follow the statutory rate automatically — even if it changes in the future. An individual rate is only stored if it differs from the statutory one.
The Preview
After uploading, the assistant shows a preview of all rows from your file:
- Each row corresponds to one employee and shows the recognized field contents exactly as they would be imported. Check here whether the data ended up in the right columns.
- Use the checkbox at the beginning of each row to select all employees you want to import. If an employee should not be imported, deactivate their checkbox.
- Rows that cannot be imported are marked accordingly. The "i" at the end of the row tells you the reason — for example, a missing mandatory field or an email address that is already in use.
- If the employees are to enter their trips themselves, set the switch to Yes. After the import, these employees will receive an invitation by email allowing them to log in to Spesenfuchs. If you prefer to send the invitations later, leave the switch set to No and send the invitations later via the user administration.
- Once you have checked your data, start the import process with Import.
Licenses and Completion
- The assistant checks whether enough free user licenses are available. If necessary, you can add further licenses at this point. Without sufficient licenses, the import cannot proceed.
- After the import, you will receive a summary of the imported data.