In addition to downloading orders via marketplace integrations and creating orders manually, Linnworks also allows you to add orders via the Open Order Import. To set this up, order details need to be converted to the file type which can be read by Linnworks – CSV. Any spreadsheet or text file can be saved in this format, but please keep in mind that information can be lost when converting between two different file formats, so always keep the original file, just in case.

You can either import the orders from a CSV file once, or set up a regular order import from an FTP for example, to have Linnworks regularly check the file for new orders. 

Here are a couple things to keep in mind when setting up an order import:

Linnworks will attempt to link the items in the order based on the SKU column if the SKUs in the file are the same as your SKUs in Linnworks or you have the according Channel SKU link created for them. See the solution article here for further details on how to set up the appropriate links.

If an order has more than one SKU, then there need to be that many lines for the same order, and they will only differ in the column SKU. So the order's general information, reference number, date, etc. will be the same, but the item information will be different. Linnworks will identify that these rows in the file belong to the same order based on order reference number, and will add all items to this order. 

In this case order 158827 has 6 SKUs and therefore there are 6 rows for it. All columns that contain Order details are the same but item details vary:

Item Number column

It is a unique identifier for the individual line item within the order. Some channels provide their own ID which we have to use when communicating with the channel rather than the actual channel SKU. The item number can be the same as the channel SKU if the order does not contain multiple line items for the same SKU. However, if there are multiple lines with the same SKU, then the Item Number needs to be different for them.

Reference Numbers

When importing orders, Linnworks will assign Order IDs to these orders automatically, however the orders are required to have an external reference number. This is the unique order identifier and Linnworks will not import orders with a reference number that is already present in the database - these orders will be skipped if the original ones are already processed, or updated if the original ones are still in Open Orders.

Source

Source for imported orders will always be DATAIMPORTEXPORT.

You can specify anything as the order's SubSource, either in the file, or as a default value in the import routine.

Potential issues:

• Order import went through but orders were not added

Reference number value must be unique, otherwise the system will not import the orders. If orders were skipped, please make sure that there are no orders in the system with these reference numbers.

• Scheduled import is skipped

Imports will be skipped automatically if the import file has not been changed since the last successful import.

• Cannot update orders with the Open Order Import

It is only possible to update orders via import if their source is "DATAIMPORTEXPORT" as well.

An alternative option for updating orders with a different source via import:

Export the orders that need to be updated > delete the original ones from the system > re-import with new information (note that their source will be "DATAIMPORTEXPORT" now). *

* Please note that this will break the link between the channel and order, so these orders will no longer get automatically updated with info from the channel, and the despatch note will not be sent by Linnworks - because the original order with the channel's source has been deleted, and now you are working with imported orders instead.