Problem porting data from Google Sheets to HomeBase

Selling on Amazon
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Hi all. I don’t sell on Abebooks, but I am considering registering with them, mainly so that I could use the ISBN lookup function in HomeBase.

I currently use a Google Sheets spreadsheet for my data. I have tried to import the data to HomeBase via a tsv file, but the fields are not associating correctly. Most records transfer correctly, but many do not.

Does anyone have experience with this, and can offer advice/tips?

(I am also looking into using Google Sheets ISBN lookup add-ons. Advice on that would also be greatly appreciated.)

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Hi @NCIrving2 I’m going to tag some folks who are more familiar with file types and possibly HomeBase than I am… @Pepper_Thine_Angus @oneida_books @Dogtamer @booknut7 @bookwormapril

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Hi @papy,

Thanks for your reply. I have just been in lengthy session with Gemini (Google’s AI chatbot), and we have been able to develop an Apps Script that returns author and title from the ISBN, using Google Books data, to my Google sheet. I should be able to add the rest of the bibliographic detail to the script by getting Google Books’ field names from Google’s API documentation.
I think this will work! But I will be interested to hear what the others you tagged have to say.

Thanks again!

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Wherever the data comes from it may or may not be accurate. Everything has to be checked anyway.

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I assume you mean CSV?

So one of the funny little quirks about CSV’s is that you can’t have any actual commas in your data, and this has caught me a few times, double check your values

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I assumed that the OP meant tab separated value.

Seems to me that no bookseller could ever use comma separated values as the data (mine certainly) would be riddled with commas.

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I am possibly the least technical computer person you are likely to come across. I do use Homebase and love the ISBN lookup, it’s one of the best features of the database. When I was having upload file issues, @oneida_books looked at every type of file that one can create using Homebase, so he might be the guy for this. Good luck.

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April is right, tsv is tab-separated values. Commas definitely would NOT work for us booksellers.

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Exactly!

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Any progress @NCIrving2 ?

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Hi @papy,

Yes, some. I’ve pretty much given up on HomeBase, and I’m still working on the script for Google Sheets. I find I can get data from Google Books or Open Library; there is also a paid program called ISBN Magic that I’m looking into. Each offers a different constellation of data, so I’m going to have to plot them all out to decide which one to use. Gemini is very patient with me! :slight_smile:

Thanks again for your interest. I’ll let you know how it all comes out.

Nancy

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In case anyone is still interested (!), I’ve completed my Google Sheets script, using data from both Google Books and Open Library. It’s over 500 lines of code, but Gemini did most of the work.

The data is often rather spotty, but better than nothing.

Now to get down to work!

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Well, it’s working GREAT!!! Really speeds things up. The time invested was well worth it. Besides, it was fun, even though I still don’t know Java script!

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:smiling_face_with_sunglasses: Wonderful to hear! Thanks for updating us.