Import an Excel spreadsheet as a kanban board

Most projects start life as a spreadsheet: one row per task, a "Status" column, and eventually five copies in different states. This guide turns that into a board the whole team works on at once. The import works on every plan, including Free.

What you need

• An .xlsx or .csv file where one row is exactly one task.
• A Zuuna account. The import itself is included in every plan.
• Room on your plan: Free allows 2 boards per group and 100 cards. Bigger spreadsheets need a paid plan — see pricing.

1. Prepare the spreadsheet

Two things decide whether an import comes out clean:

• One row = one task. Merged cells, sub-headings and total rows are best removed first.
• A header row with column names. "Title", "Status", "Owner", "Due" — the names do not matter, their existence does.

A column holding the current state is the most valuable part of the sheet: it becomes the columns of your board.

2. Start the import and upload the file

Create a new board and choose the spreadsheet import. Zuuna accepts Excel files (.xlsx) and CSV. A CSV export from Jira, Trello, Monday, Asana or Notion works exactly the same way — in the end it is just a table.

3. Choose the header row

Zuuna asks which row holds the column names. In a list you maintain yourself that is row 1; exports from other tools often put a title or filter description above it. Pick the row that genuinely holds the column names — everything above it is ignored.

4. Map the columns

Now the actual work: for each spreadsheet column you say what it should become on the card.

• Title — the only mapping you truly need.
• Status — decides which board column the card lands in.
• Priority, due date, assignee — mapped onto the built-in card fields.
• Custom fields — anything without a built-in home: client number, cost centre, estimate. ⚠️ Mapping a column onto a custom field requires Private Plus.

Columns you do not need simply stay unmapped.

5. Check the preview

Zuuna shows a preview before importing. Two things are worth a look: date formats (European and US notation disagree about day and month) and the status column — every distinct value becomes its own board column, so "Done" and "done" become two.

6. Import and tidy the board

After the import the board is there: columns from the status values, cards in the right column, assignees set. Two tidy-up steps remain — drag the columns into the order you actually work in, and mark the last one as "done" so later reporting is correct.

Spreadsheet or board?

Criterion	Excel spreadsheet	Zuuna board
Working at the same time	Copies and conflicts	Everyone sees the same thing, live
Status at a glance	A column of text	Cards in columns
Ownership	A name as text	A real person, who gets notified
History	None	Every change recorded
Automation	Macros	Rules: when → then
Where data lives	Locally or OneDrive	Hosted in Germany

Limits at a glance

Limit	Value
File size	15 MB
Columns	50
Rows imported	10,000
Board columns from the status column	30
Options per select field	500

Rows without a title are skipped. Zuuna reads numbers and dates in both European and US notation — 1.234,56 as well as 1,234.56, 31.12.2026 as well as 2026-12-31.

You do not need to change the delimiter. Zuuna detects comma, semicolon and tab automatically, and also honours the sep= line that German Excel writes when exporting CSV. The usual "my Excel saves semicolons" trap does not apply here.

And the way back is open: any board can be exported as a spreadsheet again, and that export imports straight back in.

Troubleshooting

• Too many columns on the board. The status values were inconsistent. Normalise them in the sheet and import again.
• Dates off by months. The classic DD/MM versus MM/DD mix-up. Format the column as an ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD) first.
• "Board limit reached". Free allows 2 boards per group. Archive an old board or change plan.
• Custom field not selectable. Custom fields need Private Plus. Without it, import that column into the description instead.
• The sheet became a kanban board, not a table. The table view is available from Private Plus. Without it the import lands as a kanban board — all the data is there, only the presentation differs.

Next steps

• Create custom fields on cards — for everything without a built-in home.
• Zuuna vs Trello and Zuuna vs Monday.com — if that is where you are coming from.
• GDPR-compliant project management — where your data lives.

Coming from Jira or Trello?

Then you do not need this walkthrough: Jira and Trello each have their own route with the mapping filled in.