Hi there! Happy to help you resolve this frustrating import issue. When you're seeing duplicate inventory items after a CSV import, it's almost always due to case sensitivity in SKU matching — let me walk you through what's happening and how to fix it.
Symptoms
- Inventory list shows multiple entries for the same physical item
- SKU values appear identical in the web interface (e.g., "HDW-001" and "HDW-001")
- Stock quantities are split across duplicate records
- Import report shows "Created" for items you expected to update
Root Cause
The import engine performs exact string matching on the SKU field. However, the comparison is case-sensitive at the database level while the web interface may display values in uppercase or normalized form. This means:
hdw-001(lowercase in your CSV)HDW-001(uppercase in existing records)
...are treated as different SKUs, creating a new item instead of updating the existing one.
Immediate Fix
- Standardize your CSV before import: Ensure all SKU values match the exact case used in FieldPulse. You can check this by exporting your current inventory and comparing.
- Clean up duplicates: Navigate to Inventory → Items, identify duplicates, and use the Merge Items function (select both items → Actions → Merge). Choose the SKU with the correct stock history as the master.
- Reallocate stock: After merging, verify quantities are correct. You may need to perform an inventory adjustment to correct any discrepancies.
Prevention
Before your next import:
- Export your existing inventory to CSV
- Use Excel or Google Sheets with
=EXACT()function to verify case matches - Apply Text → Uppercase to your entire SKU column in the import file
- Save as CSV UTF-8 format
We're evaluating a case-insensitive matching option for a future release — I'll update this article when that's available. In the meantime, standardizing your SKU format upfront will save you cleanup time.
Need help identifying which items were affected by a recent import? Reach out and I can pull a report for you. Good luck!