When exporting data from Rentman - such as equipment, contacts, or other modules - you can select which columns to include in the export file, for example: Name, Code, Price, Category, and ID.
Two important parts of this workflow are the export itself and the ID column.
An ID is a unique identifier that the system uses to recognize a specific item. Two equipment items could have the same name, but they can never share the same ID. Think of it like a person's name versus a citizen service number or your passport number: your name might be similar to someone else's, but your ID number belongs only to you.
The same applies in Rentman: equipment names can be edited or duplicated, but the ID always uniquely identifies that exact item. This is how Rentman knows which item to update during an import.
Recommended workflow for updating existing equipment
- Export the equipment from Rentman, selecting all columns.
- Open the exported file in Excel or another spreadsheet program.
- Edit the data you want to change.
- Remove any columns you don't need.
- Import the file back into Rentman.
As long as the ID column is present in the file, Rentman will automatically recognize and match the existing equipment - so you generally don't need to manually configure matching rules during the import.
The ID is the link between each row in your spreadsheet and the corresponding item in Rentman. Changing an ID can cause data to update the wrong item, create incorrect links between records, or produce import errors.
You can safely edit columns like Name, Price, Code, or Description — but always leave the ID column unchanged.