Import Vendors via CSV
VaultAP supports bulk vendor imports through CSV files. This is useful when onboarding your existing vendor list so that incoming invoices are matched to known vendors from day one, avoiding unnecessary NEW_VENDOR flags.
CSV Template Format
Your CSV file must include a header row with the following columns:
| Column | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
name | Yes | Vendor display name. Must be unique across your account. |
tax_id | No | Vendor tax identification number (EIN, VAT number, etc.). |
bank_name | No | Name of the vendor's bank. |
bank_account_last4 | No | Last 4 digits of the vendor's bank account number. |
address | No | Street address. |
city | No | City. |
state | No | State or province. |
country | No | Two-letter ISO country code (e.g., US, GB, DE). |
Only the name column is required. All other fields are optional but recommended — the more data you provide, the more effective VaultAP's matching and fraud detection will be.
Download the Template
To download a pre-formatted CSV template:
- Navigate to Vendors in the main navigation.
- Click Import Vendors in the top-right corner.
- Click Download Template to get a blank CSV file with the correct headers.
Importing Your File
Prepare your CSV
Fill in the template with your vendor data. Save the file as UTF-8 encoded CSV.
Upload the file
Go to Vendors and click Import Vendors. Drag and drop your file or click to browse.
Review the preview
VaultAP displays a preview of the first 10 rows. Verify that columns are mapped correctly and data looks accurate.
Confirm the import
Click Import. VaultAP processes the file and reports results — including how many vendors were created, skipped, or had errors.
Duplicate Handling
VaultAP checks each row against existing vendor records before importing:
- Exact name match — If a vendor with the same name already exists, the row is skipped and reported as a duplicate in the import results.
- Tax ID match — If the name is different but the tax ID matches an existing vendor, the row is skipped and flagged for manual review. This may indicate a vendor name change or a data conflict.
- No match — The vendor is created as a new active record.
Duplicate detection during import uses exact matching only. Fuzzy matching is not applied. If you have vendor name variations in your CSV (e.g., "Acme Corp" and "Acme Corporation"), both will be imported as separate records. Clean up your data before importing, or use the vendor merge feature (coming in V2) afterward.
Troubleshooting Common Errors
"Missing required field: name"
Every row must have a value in the name column. Check for empty rows or rows where the name field is blank.
"Invalid country code"
The country column expects a two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code. Use US instead of United States, GB instead of United Kingdom, etc.
"Duplicate vendor name"
A vendor with this exact name already exists in your account. The row is skipped. If you need to update an existing vendor's details, edit the vendor record directly rather than re-importing.
"File encoding not supported"
VaultAP requires UTF-8 encoded CSV files. If your file was exported from Excel, re-save it as "CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited)".
"Too many rows"
A single CSV import supports up to 5,000 vendor records. For larger imports, split your file into multiple batches.