How to Link Cards via Import?

In this article:

1. How to create new cards or initiatives and link them to existing work items via import?
2. How to update existing cards or initiatives and create links between them via import?
3. How to create new cards or initiatives via import and link them together with a single import operation?

1. How to create new cards or initiatives and link them to existing work items via import?

If you want to create new cards via the import tool and at the same time, link them to an already existing card or initiative on your board, your spreadsheet file should contain the "Links" column header in addition to the mandatory "Title" parameter.

Accepted parameters and values for the Links column header are:

• Parents: xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx; 
• Children: xxxxx, xxxxx; 
• Successors: xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx;  
• Predecessors: xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx; 
• Relatives: xxxxx;
• Parents: xxxxx; Children: xxxxx; Successors: xxxxx; Predecessors: xxxxx; Relatives: xxxxx; 

When formatting the Excel file, users need to replace the above xxxxx values with 'Card ID' or the 'Custom Card ID' value (of an existing card or initiative) as a unique identifier in the "Links" column next to the type of link they would like to create e.g.:

In addition, you can create multiple links between cards with a single import operation e.g.:
After performing the import using above sample file, the newly created card (with Title 'Test Card') will be linked as a Child card to Parent card with ID 5678.

The same can be achieved if you would like to create a different type of relationship e.g. Relatives, Successors/Predecessors - you would simply need to use the above mentioned parameters and values in for your Links column header.

Using the above example, the newly created card/initiative (with Title 'Test Card') will be linked as a Child card to Parent Card 5678 and also linked as Parent card to child cards with IDs 4321 and 9876.

Tip: the different link types can be separated by a semi-column e.g. Parents: 5678; Children: 4321 as well as listed one after another (using CTRL+Enter in the respective cell in your spreadsheet file)

(!) Disclaimer: when using custom card IDs, please note that the system will detect any cards that match the specified custom card ID and will link them according the row in your spreadsheet file. There will be a specific warning for the according rows in your file which also explains this:

More than one parent-child link will be created.

Some of the matching link cards are on another board.

2. How to update existing cards or initiatives and create links between them via import?

In case you have already existing cards on your board which you would like to link together, the import tool also supports this operation. An additional required parameter in this case would be the Card ID column header (or Custom Card ID) where you would need to provide the the 'ID' of an existing work item that is to be linked to another one.
As mentioned in the above section, the other required parameter would be the "Links" header.

 

If you are using Custom Card IDs in your boards/process, you would need to substitute the "Card ID" column header with the "Custom Card ID" header.
The above action will link already existing card with ID 1234 as a child to already existing parent card 5678.

Please have in mind that the above disclaimer (!) also applies for this scenario if you have multiple cards with Custom Card ID = 1234, they would also be linked as child cards to the card 5678 from the above example. If any of your cards are specified with a custom card ID in the Links column, they should be automatically recognized (if such a card exists on the board).

3. How to create new cards or initiatives via import and link them together with a single import operation?

The import tool also allows for linking cards together upon their creation via the import. Since the cards are yet to be created on your Businessmap board, they would not have a valid internal card ID until they are actually created and available on the board.

The only way for you to identify them would be to set a custom card ID for them in your spreadsheet file, as shown below:

This operation would basically create two new cards and change the default Card ID of the first one to Custom Card ID = 1234.

The second card from this file would then be automatically linked as a child card to the newly created card from the first row (ID 1234).

This is useful in cases where you quickly want to populate a board with cards and to create the card links at the same time.

Please keep in mind that the above disclaimer (!) also applies for this scenario i.e. if you have another card with Custom Card ID = 1234, it would also be linked as child card to the card that will be created from the first row in the above example.

For any other scenarios related to the import tool and its functionality, kindly refer to the articles from the Import / Export section.