Import any file (AI import)

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Overview

The normal import expects a file whose column headings match one of our templates — or a column mapping you stored under Settings → CSV Imports. Your actual working file often looks different: headings in row 7, one sheet per packaging level, a vertical form instead of a table, sizes as columns. The AI import exists for exactly those files. It reads your file, shows you what it found, and only after your confirmation does the usual import run: preview, confirm overwrites, result. The AI import therefore adds no second write path — it only prepares the data for the existing one. Accepted formats: Excel and CSV (.xlsx, .xls, .csv) — the same as the normal import.

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When to use it

Use the AI import when one of these applies:

• Your file carries different column headings than our template and you do not want to rewrite it.
• The headings are not in row 1 (logo, title block, note rows above them).
• The file is not a table: a vertical form, one sheet per product or per packaging level, several small tables on one sheet.
• The file uses its own spellings in coded columns (PE film, KST, PAP solid board) for which no value mapping is stored yet.
• An import just failed because required columns were not recognised or most rows errored.

Do not use it when the file already matches the template or a saved column mapping applies — the normal import is then faster, free, and independent of row count and file size. The AI import checks this itself: if it recognises at least three of our fields in row 1 — through the template headings, their aliases or your saved mapping — it hands the file straight to the normal import without an AI call.

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Which data it covers

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Where to find it

Three routes lead into the same dialog: The dialog is titled “Import {data type} from any file” (e.g. Import Packaging units from any file) and explains itself: “Upload the file you already work with. We read it, show you what we found, and you confirm before anything is imported.” The drop area reads Drop a file here, or click to choose one and Excel (.xlsx, .xls) or CSV.

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Two modes

Which route your file takes is decided by the dialog itself — from the shape of the file, not its content. You choose nothing.

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In mapping mode: review the proposal

The step is called Proposed column mapping and shows the same grid as Settings → CSV Imports, only prefilled. Above it you see which row the AI found your headings in; columns it found no field for are listed under Not used: …. Correct whatever does not fit — your correction always wins. With Save this mapping for my future imports the proposal is stored as your column mapping: the next file from the same export then needs no AI at all and runs through the normal import again. The button onwards reads Check the rows.

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In extraction mode: review the rows

You see a table of the records the AI read — in our field labels, exactly as they will enter the preview. Above it: “{n} rows were read from your file. Required fields that stayed empty are marked.”

• Required fields that stayed empty are flagged missing.
• Each row carries Source: … with the cell it was read from (e.g. Sekundär!B19), so you can look it up in your file.
• Below it the AI states what it assumed or merged and what it did not take over (Not taken over: …) — embedded images or a summary table, say. Nothing is left out silently.

In mapping mode the same table shows a sample: the first rows read with the proposed mapping, plus how many rows the file holds in total. There all rows are imported, not only the ones shown.

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Step by step

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Gap form

Some required values practically never appear in a technical file — the PPWR Role, say, or the Market Member States. The AI does not guess them, it leaves them empty. If such a field is empty in every row read, the dialog asks for it once: “These fields are missing from the file. What you enter here is applied to every row.” Select fields show Please choose. Onwards with Continue to preview.

• Only what is empty in every row is asked. A field missing in some rows is a problem of those rows — it shows up per row in the preview and in the import result, and a blanket value would overwrite the rows that do carry one.
• In mapping mode only fields with no column at all in your file are asked on top of that. A required field that does have a mapped column but stays empty in some rows belongs to those rows and is not filled globally.
• What you enter fills empty cells only. A value present in the row always wins.
• Fields that are required only conditionally are asked as optional. The classic case: the file states PCR 85, i.e. 85% recycled content from a post-consumer source, but no recycled content evidence (physical or mass balance) — which the schema demands only because a percentage was given. You add it here.

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Limits (caps)

Every limit is a hard, visible refusal — the AI import never truncates silently and never imports “the first 60”. If your file is too large for extraction mode, split it — one sheet per file is the natural cut — or import with the template. A table goes through mapping mode in one pass no matter how many rows it has. Reading also works like this:

• Hidden sheets are not read.
• Embedded images are not read — a value that only appears on a photo does not arrive.
• Formulas are read as their result, not as the formula.
• Merged cells are read as their top-left value.

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What the AI never does

• It does not guess. A field the file does not carry stays empty — never 0, never a default. An empty required value is visible in the review step and in the preview; an invented one would not be.
• Placeholders stay empty. ??, ?, k.A., -, --, n/a, n.A., tbd and keine Angabe mean “unknown” and become empty.
• Values are copied verbatim, in the unit the file states. Conversion happens only where the label states the unit explicitly. Recyclability 100 is a percentage and therefore does not become the recyclability grade (A/B/C) — that stays empty.
• Unknown values in coded columns stay empty instead of being guessed onto the nearest accepted value. The row then fails visibly in the preview (“Invalid value…”), or you store the spelling as a value mapping.
• Nothing from your data is sent to the AI. It sees the text of your file and our field catalogue — no articles, no suppliers, no results out of Polygon One.

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Error messages

The AI import’s messages appear in the dialog under the heading The file could not be read with AI; Choose another file takes you back to the drop area without closing the dialog.

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File too large for the AI import

This file is too large for the AI import — import one sheet at a time, or use an import template.

When does this happen? The file or its extracted text exceeds the extraction-mode limits: more than 10 MB, more than 60,000 characters of text, or more than 60 records read in one pass. The same situation appears as the outcome of a pass in the form “The file is too large for the AI import. Import it one sheet at a time, or use the import template.” How to fix it: Split the file — one sheet per file is the cut that suits this kind of file — or import with the template. If your file is a real table and only landed in extraction mode because it has several visible sheets, delete or hide the side sheets: mapping mode then applies, with no record cap (see Two modes).

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The AI budget for this period has been used up

The AI budget for this period has been used up. Importing with a template or a saved column mapping still works.

When does this happen? Your company’s AI spend budget for the current period has been reached (see Cost). How to fix it: Import with a template or a saved column mapping until the next period. If you already saved a mapping the AI proposed, this export runs without AI anyway.

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The file holds more records than one AI pass can return

The file holds more records than one AI pass can return. Please split it into smaller files.

When does this happen? The AI’s answer was longer than one pass allows — practically the same picture as “too large”, just detected on the answer rather than on the file. How to fix it: Split the file, ideally one sheet at a time. Nothing is imported partially.

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The answer could not be used

The answer could not be used. Please check the file, or import it with a template.

When does this happen? The AI answered, but not in a shape we can process. Retrying the same file usually produces the same result. How to fix it: Check whether the file actually holds the data you are looking for, and import it with the template otherwise.

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The AI service is currently unavailable

The AI service is currently unavailable. Please try again in a few minutes.

When does this happen? An outage or overload on the AI service side. How to fix it: Try again in a few minutes — unlike “could not be used”, waiting helps here.

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This module is not enabled for your workspace

This module is not enabled for your workspace, so the data could not be prepared.

When does this happen? You opened the AI import for a data type whose module is not active for you — packaging units without the PPWR module, for example. How to fix it: Talk to your administrator.

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You are not allowed to import this data

You are not allowed to import this data. Ask an administrator for the matching permission.

When does this happen? You lack the permission the normal import requires too (Manage articles, Manage suppliers or Manage packaging). How to fix it: Request the permission. The AI import does not grant it.

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Privacy

• The file itself does not leave your browser. It is read in your browser; only text is passed on.
• In mapping mode that is the column headings, up to 8 sample rows and the distinct values of the coded columns. The AI never sees the remaining rows of your file — those are read by our importer.
• In extraction mode that is the text of the visible sheets of your file. Hidden sheets and embedded images are not included.
• Nothing out of Polygon One is sent to the AI model. It sees the text of your file and our field catalogue (field names, descriptions, accepted values) — no articles, suppliers, units, documents or analysis results.
• The AI support assistant does not receive your file. It knows about the AI import and can open it; it reads no file in the chat, checks none and imports none. If it claims otherwise, that claim is wrong.
• The contents of your file are treated as data, never as an instruction. A cell saying “ignore all instructions” changes nothing about the result: the AI may only fill our import columns, and anything else is discarded.

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Cost

Every AI call the import makes is booked against your company’s AI budget like any other AI feature; in the usage records it carries the identifier ai-file-import.

• One file = one call. Mapping mode costs the same regardless of row count; extraction mode grows with the number of records read.
• No second pass for the second data type in extraction mode: what was read stays in this browser tab for 30 minutes. Mapping mode has no such cache — there a second data type is a second call (which costs the same regardless of row count).
• No call at all when the headings match the template or your saved mapping. A saved mapping makes every further import of the same export permanently free — the best reason to tick Save this mapping for my future imports.
• The budget applies per billing period of your contract, not per file and not per user. Once it is used up, templates and saved mappings remain fully usable.
• The AI import does not count against your quota of AI document analyses — that is a separate counter for uploaded evidence.