Start with a clean cryovial inventory template.

Before importing

The app reads CSV, not Excel workbooks directly.

1. If you use the Excel download, fill the Import template sheet and save that sheet as CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited).
2. Keep the header row. Add one row for each vial currently in storage.
3. Replace or delete the instructional row. If it remains, CryoIndex identifies it as an example and refuses to import it as stock.
4. Preserve leading zeros in barcodes and physical labels. The Excel templates format identifier examples as text.
5. The full template includes four placeholders named Custom field 1 through Custom field 4. Rename only the headings you need—for example, Project, Clone, Treatment, or Protocol—and create matching custom fields under Settings → Vial fields before importing. CryoIndex matches these lab-defined columns by their exact names.
6. Review CryoIndex's proposed mapping, ignored columns, and skipped rows before confirming the import.

Both downloadable CSV files were run through the same importer used by the release app. The instructional row was rejected as intended, each completed example imported as one vial, and custom-field values are retained when the file headings exactly match fields the lab created in CryoIndex.