Important before you begin
Choose one active copy of the lab inventory.
Windows and Android do not synchronize or merge changes. A backup can move the full lab between them, but restoring it replaces everything currently recorded on the destination. Finish work on the old device, create a fresh backup, restore it on the new device, verify the result, and then stop editing the old copy.
First run on a PC
Start fresh, bring a spreadsheet, or restore the complete lab.
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Set up CryoIndex on Windows
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On Windows, setup begins by naming the lab. From this first screen, an existing lab can start from a CSV spreadsheet or restore a CryoIndex backup onto a replacement PC.
Choose an existing CSV with the standard Windows Open dialog. CryoIndex reviews the file and asks for confirmation before it writes any inventory.
After setup, the desktop dashboard keeps alerts and everyday tasks together. The lab database stays on this PC, and core inventory work does not require an account or an internet connection.
Narration uses an AI-generated voice.
- Enter the lab name and optional second line that should appear in the app and on reports.
- Choose I have a spreadsheet for current stock in CSV form, or Replacing a PC? Restore a backup when the complete CryoIndex database already exists.
- For a new lab without either file, continue through storage, people, and cell-line setup.
- When setup finishes, verify the lab name, storage capacity, users, cell lines, and vial count before routine work begins.
The first Windows screen separates a spreadsheet migration from a complete CryoIndex restore.
- Name the lab and add an optional report subtitle.
- Choose the existing-record path that matches the source file.
- Use Next only for a new manual setup.
Windows controls the native Open dialog. Select the intended CSV, then return to CryoIndex for review.
- Locate the CSV prepared from the lab's spreadsheet.
- Confirm the file name, then choose Open.
The Windows dashboard keeps alerts, daily tasks, inventory, nitrogen, and backup status in one desktop view.
- Resolve persistent alerts before they disappear from the dashboard.
- Open the same five everyday workflows used on Android.
- Check inventory, nitrogen, and backup status before leaving the PC.
Manual entry and HID scanners
Windows uses the keyboard path, not the tablet camera.
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Enter barcodes and configure a scanner on Windows
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Windows does not show the tablet camera button. Type the printed barcode, or let a USB or Bluetooth scanner type it into the active Barcode field.
The same approach works in Search: click the barcode or donor-code field, then type or scan. Cell line and passage remain separate filters.
Use a scanner configured as H I D, keyboard wedge, or keyboard emulation. It must send the label unchanged and finish each scan with Enter. Scanner prefixes, suffixes, code identifiers, and G S 1 formatting are changed in the scanner, not in CryoIndex.
The Windows help section keeps scanner, keyboard, backup, spreadsheet, and storage guidance available offline. More detailed articles can be opened on the CryoIndex website from another device.
Narration uses an AI-generated voice.
- Click the Barcode field before scanning, or type the printed identifier exactly.
- Configure the scanner as HID, keyboard wedge, or keyboard emulation—not as a serial or virtual COM device.
- Make the scanner send one Enter key after each barcode and leave the label unchanged. Disable prefixes, suffixes, code identifiers, GS1 parentheses, and case conversion.
- Test several known labels in a plain text editor and in CryoIndex before using the scanner for routine inventory work.
Click Barcode before typing or scanning. Windows intentionally has no camera-scanning action.
- Type or scan the identifier into the active Barcode field.
- Complete the cell details and choose the physical location before saving.
Search text matches barcode or donor code; cell line and passage use their own filters.
- Click here before typing or scanning a barcode or donor code.
- Choose whether to search in-storage, removed, or all records.
Scanner behavior is configured in the scanner itself. CryoIndex documents the two required output rules.
- Use the Scanners settings for the exact Windows requirements.
- Require Enter after each scan and the label exactly as printed.
Windows help omits camera guidance and adds replacement-PC and keyboard-scanner wording.
- Open barcode-scanner and keyboard guidance without a network connection.
- Use the replacement-PC and spreadsheet sections for moving data.
Protect the whole lab
Save the backup somewhere the PC cannot take with it.
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Back up and restore on Windows
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Open Backup to create a complete copy of the lab, including every vial, user, cell type, liquid-nitrogen fill, setting, and history entry. A copy kept only on this PC does not protect against losing the PC.
Save a copy opens the standard Windows Save dialog. Choose a removable drive, network location, or synchronized folder that remains available if this PC fails.
Confirm both the destination and the file name before choosing Save. CryoIndex validates the completed backup before reporting success.
Return through Settings and Data whenever you need to back up, restore, import a CSV, or export reports. Restore replaces one inventory with another; it never merges two independently edited labs.
Narration uses an AI-generated voice.
- Open Settings → Data → Back up or restore, then choose Save a copy.
- Use the Windows Save dialog to choose a removable drive, approved network location, or synchronized folder outside the PC.
- Wait for CryoIndex to validate and confirm the completed file. Keep more than one recent external copy.
- Before restoring, make a safety copy of the destination inventory. Restore replaces all current records and does not merge two labs.
- When moving between Android and Windows, the lab data transfers but the paid entitlement does not; Plus belongs to the store where it was purchased.
A copy kept only on the same PC protects against a mistake, not against losing the PC.
- Choose Save a copy for a complete external backup.
- Use restore only when replacing the current inventory.
Verify both the destination and proposed backup name before choosing Save.
- Choose a destination that survives loss of this PC.
- Keep the proposed backup file name and choose Save.
The Data section is the starting point for backup, restore, CSV import, and report exports.
- Open the complete backup and restore screen.
- Import existing stock from a CSV only after selecting the approving user.
Established-lab migration
Bring an Excel inventory into CryoIndex as CSV.
Watch the walkthrough
Import a CSV on Windows
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For an established lab, open Settings, Data, and Import from CSV. Select the person approving the import, then choose the file containing current stock.
The Windows Open dialog accepts the CSV you prepared in Excel or another spreadsheet program. A workbook must first be saved as CSV UTF-8, comma delimited.
After choosing the file, return to CryoIndex to review column mappings, skipped rows, unknown dates, and ignored fields. Nothing is imported until the final review is acknowledged.
Narration uses an AI-generated voice.
- In Excel, use Save As → CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). A workbook file cannot be read directly.
- In CryoIndex, open Settings → Data → Import from CSV and select the person approving the import.
- Choose the CSV in the Windows Open dialog. Review every proposed column mapping, ignored heading, skipped row, unknown date, user, cell line, and storage setting.
- Do not continue when the preview is surprising. Correct the spreadsheet or mapping and run the review again.
- Acknowledge the final review and import only when the accepted, skipped, and ignored counts are understood.
Select who is approving the import before choosing the lab's current-stock CSV.
- Use the blank template only when the existing headings need a clean starting point.
- Select the approving person, then choose the CSV.
Choosing a file begins review; it does not immediately write the spreadsheet rows.
- Select the prepared CSV rather than the original Excel workbook.
- Choose Open, then review the file inside CryoIndex.
Need the full review sequence? Continue with Import a spreadsheet into an established lab. The mapping, refusal, acknowledgement, and final-import rules are the same on Android and Windows.
CryoIndex Plus
Review the figures, then save through Windows.
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Create Audit & QA reports on Windows
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The Windows report builder uses the wider desktop view while keeping the same four Audit and Q A report types. Choose the report and verify its dates or subject before preparing it.
Review the figures before export. You can create the PDF with figures and a manifest, save only the PDF, or save the detailed figures as CSV.
Choosing Save just the PDF opens the standard Windows Save dialog. Confirm the destination and the report identifier in the proposed file name.
Choose Save to finish. Audit and Q A reports summarize what CryoIndex recorded; they are not certification against a compliance standard.
Narration uses an AI-generated voice.
- Open Reports and choose Period activity and exceptions, Inventory snapshot, Vial history, or Liquid nitrogen log.
- Verify the applicable dates, vial, and dewar scope before choosing Prepare the report.
- Review the report identifier, counts, exceptions, and chain-of-custody figures before export.
- Choose the PDF and manifest bundle, an individual PDF, or the complete figures as CSV according to the lab's purpose.
- Use the Windows Save dialog to select the destination and preserve the proposed identifier in the file name.
Choose the report and verify its displayed scope before preparing the output.
- Choose one of the four fixed report types.
- Verify the period or subject shown by the builder.
- Prepare the report only after the scope is correct.
Use PDF for review and CSV when every detailed row must remain available.
- Create the PDF, figures, and manifest when the files should stay together.
- Save only the PDF or only the figures when that is the required output.
The proposed file name contains the report's scope and identifier; retain it with the saved record.
- Confirm the destination before saving the report.
- Keep the report identifier in the proposed name, then choose Save.
Windows Plus publication status: the Plus purchase and Admin PIN lesson will be added only after the Microsoft Store purchase, cancellation, restore, replacement-PC, and refund paths have been verified. The free inventory workflows above do not depend on that lesson.