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Save an Excel workbook as CSV for SaraDesk

Excel exports CSVs cleanly if you save the right sheet in the right format.

Steps

• Open your Excel workbook with the properties
• If you have multiple worksheets, click into the sheet you want to export (only the active sheet exports to CSV)
• Go to File → Save As
• Choose a location on your computer
• In the Save as type dropdown, select **CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)** — this format handles special characters cleanly
• Click Save
• Excel may warn "Some features in your workbook might be lost..." — click Yes to keep the .csv version

Then in SaraDesk dashboard → Properties → Bulk upload via CSV, choose that .csv file.

Column headers

The first row of your sheet should be column headers. Sara recognizes:

• address (required)
• type, rent, beds, baths, sqft
• available or available_date
• pet_policy, parking, notes, status (available/leased/hold)
• Plus: unit, city, state, zip, deposit, lease_length, year_built, appliances, laundry, heating, ac, utilities, application_fee

Any other columns you have get stored on each property so Sara can reference them if a caller asks.

Troubleshooting

• Special characters look wrong — make sure you picked CSV UTF-8, not plain CSV. Plain CSV mangles accents, ñ, apostrophes, and dashes.
• Numbers become dates — Excel loves to autoformat things. If your `rent` column shows dates instead of numbers, right-click the column → Format Cells → Number or Text, then re-save.
• Formulas in cells — CSV exports the CURRENT VALUE, not the formula. If a formula relies on another sheet, verify the exported CSV has the actual number, not `#REF!`.