Guide · 8 min read

Excel to business software: moving from spreadsheets, notebooks and WhatsApp to one app

Moving from Excel to business software goes smoothly when you do it in order: first your customers, your items and prices, and the orders still open today. Import those, run the new app alongside your old way for one week, then switch for good. History, stock counts and staff records can follow once the daily work runs well.

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This guide covers what to move first, how to clean a spreadsheet before importing, running both systems for a week and getting staff on board, with how AQUORIA O.N.E handles each step.

Signs it's time to move

  • Two people edited the same sheet, and nobody knows which version is right.
  • Orders live in WhatsApp chats, and finding Tuesday's order means scrolling.
  • You can't say who owes you money without adding it up by hand.
  • Stock counts in Excel are never quite right after a busy weekend.
  • Your notebook is the only copy of your customers' phone numbers.

What to move first, and what can wait

Don't try to move everything at once. Move what you need to take an order today:

  • Customers: names and phone numbers. The phone number matters most, since it's how customers sign in and how you find them.
  • Items and prices: everything you sell, with its price and category.
  • Open orders and money owed: orders not yet delivered and invoices not yet paid, so nothing falls through the gap during the switch.

What can wait a week or two

Past sales history can stay in the old file. Keep that file safe rather than deleting it: IRAS asks self-employed people to keep records and accounts for five years. Loyalty points, stock counts, suppliers and staff records can come over once the new app is part of the daily routine.

Clean your spreadsheet before you import

Ten minutes of tidying saves an afternoon of fixing. Before you import:

  • Keep one header row with plain names: Name, Price, Category, Phone.
  • One row per item or customer, with no merged cells or colour-coded meanings.
  • Prices as numbers only: 38, not 'S$38 (promo till Dec)'.
  • Remove duplicates and test rows such as 'asdf' or 'Aunty Lim (old no.)'.
  • Add a Marketing column (yes or no) for whether each customer agreed to receive offers. Under Singapore's Do Not Call rules, marketing messages to a phone number need the person's clear and unambiguous consent, or a check against the Do Not Call Registry first.

Importing into AQUORIA O.N.E

Start from 'Moving from another app'. It asks how you run things today: another app, Excel or Google Sheets, or WhatsApp or a notebook, and gives the steps for that way. The aim is to bring your shop over in about 15 minutes, and the app itself suggests keeping your old app running until you're happy.

  • Price list: copy the rows from Excel or Google Sheets, heading row included, and paste them in, or choose a CSV file. Only Name and Price are needed; Category and Type are read too. There's a template to download, and one tick hides the sample items.
  • Customers: paste the rows, or choose the customer export from your old app. Only a phone number is needed, and customers already in the app keep their name and history. Names, emails, birthdays and notes come over too, and consent to offers only carries over where your Marketing column says yes.
  • No spreadsheet at all? Type items as a list, one per line with its price, like 'Gel manicure, 38', and share your customers from your phone's contacts as a .vcf file.
  • Then the rest: points, stamps and prepaid credit, so regulars keep what they've earned; upcoming bookings, which stay booked at the same time with no message sent; and money owed from before, each invoice on its own date so it doesn't count as this month's sales.
  • On Business: staff with their pay rates, suppliers and opening stock for each location.
  • Brought in the wrong file? Undo an import within 30 days. Only what it added is taken out, and anything already sold, booked or spent stays.

Run both for one week

For one week, every new order goes into the new app, and only old orders are finished the old way. Nothing is entered twice, and by the end of the week the old system has nothing left in it.

  • Day 1: import, then place two test orders yourself, one paid by PayNow QR and one at the counter.
  • Days 2 and 3: take new orders in the app; finish old open orders from the old list.
  • Day 4: share your new link with customers. The app writes the message and gives you a QR code, and suggests putting the link in your old shop's description and social profiles for a few weeks.
  • Days 5 to 7: each evening, compare the day's takings in the app with your cash and bank. When they match three days running, stop using the old sheet.

Training staff

Staff learn a new app fastest by doing their real job in it, not by reading about it.

  • Give each person their own login with only what their job needs. On Business, roles such as Front desk, Manager, Accounts and HR set what each person can do; everyone can take orders and bookings, while settings, billing and logins stay with you.
  • Show the three things they'll do most: take an order at the counter, find a customer and take a payment.
  • Sit with each new user for their first busy hour.
  • Keep a short 'how we do it here' list, such as which services need a deposit and who can give discounts.
  • When anyone is stuck, Help in the app answers straight away, and a person from AQUORIA takes over when needed.

How it works

  1. 1Open 'Moving from another app' and choose how you run things today.
  2. 2Paste or upload your price list and your customers.
  3. 3Bring over money owed, upcoming bookings and loyalty balances.
  4. 4Run both for a week, share your new link, then switch for good.

What you'll use

Plan: Essential or Business

Sources

Published 4 November 2026

Questions

Can I import my customer list from Excel?

Yes. Copy the rows with the heading row and paste them in, or save the sheet as a CSV and choose the file. Only a phone number is needed; names, emails, birthdays, notes and a Marketing (opt-in) column are read if they're there. Customers already in the app keep their name and their order history.

Can I import my price list from Google Sheets?

Yes. Select the rows in Google Sheets, heading row included, copy and paste them into the price list import. Only Name and Price are needed, and Category and Type are read too. You can download a template first, and hide the sample items that came with your business type in the same step.

Will my customers lose their points when I move?

No. Import each customer's phone number with their points, stamps or prepaid credit, and it's added to what they have in the app. Each customer's balance comes over once, so nothing is counted twice, and customers who aren't in the app yet are added along the way.

Can I undo an import?

Yes, within 30 days. Undoing takes out only what that import added. Anything already used, such as an item that has been sold or a customer with a booking, stays, so your orders and books remain correct. It's a safe way to try an import and fix the file if something looks wrong.

Is Excel good enough for stock management?

For a few dozen items and one person, a spreadsheet can work. It breaks down when several people sell at once, when stock sits in more than one place, or when you reorder from suppliers. On Business, AQUORIA O.N.E counts stock per location and adds goods to stock when a purchase order arrives.

How long does it take to move to a new business app?

Bringing over items, customers and payments takes about 15 minutes in AQUORIA O.N.E if your lists are clean. Plan one week of running both before you switch for good, so staff and customers get used to the change without pressure, and keep your old files for your records.

Try it free for 14 days, then S$29 a month (Essential) or S$149 a month (Business). No card needed.

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