Add or bulk-add assets to an asset group
Add individual units to an asset group from the Assets tab. Use Add above the list to enter one asset and its attributes by hand. For many units at once, open the menu next to Add and choose Bulk Add, which lets you upload a file (a spreadsheet or a document) and have Essential extract the assets for you to review before they're created.
The same menu has Bulk Delete for removing several at once, and Download Pre-Filled Inspection Report when the group has an inspection report set up. Each asset's attributes come from its asset type.
When adding or editing one asset on the web, service dates are optional. You can save the asset with dates left blank and add service history later. Leaving a date blank does not create a service completion or erase existing history. Editing other asset fields leaves service history unchanged. An existing recorded date can be corrected, but cannot be cleared from this form.
Protected PDFs
Many inspection PDFs are exported with copying or editing locked down. They open normally, and Essential unlocks them for you, so you can upload them as they came from the panel or the inspection software. A PDF that asks for a password before it will open is the exception: Essential cannot read it, and the upload is rejected with a note asking for an unprotected copy. Open the file, save or print it to a new PDF without the password, and upload that instead.
Review and correct the extracted assets
The review screen groups rows by asset type and works like a spreadsheet. Click a cell to edit it, use the arrow keys to move through the grid, or drag across cells to select a range. You can copy a range to Excel or Google Sheets and paste a rectangular range back into Essential. Drag the range handle to repeat values into nearby rows.
Each column keeps the field type configured for that asset type. Choice fields accept only their listed options, number and date fields require values of the correct type, and columns such as Conf. and service dates are read-only. A pasted value that does not fit its column is marked as invalid, and Save All stays unavailable until you correct it or remove that row. Pasting past the last row or column does not add fields or expand the review table.
Use the checkboxes to select several rows, then choose Delete selected to leave them out of the import. The trash icon removes one row. Undo and Redo cover cell edits, pasted ranges, dragged fills, and row deletion. When the review is ready, select Save All and confirm. Select Back instead to reject the extraction without creating assets.
During a long review, the floating Save draft button stores the current cell edits and removed rows without creating assets. Reopening or refreshing the review restores that checkpoint. Save All remains the final action that creates the reviewed assets.
Service dates from the uploaded file
When the file you upload is a record of work — an inspection report, a service record, a signed test certificate — Essential also picks up when that work was performed and records it as each asset's last service date. Most reports state the date once at the top, and it applies to every asset listed in them; where a document gives a date per row, that row's date is used instead.
Dates are only picked up for services this asset group is already scheduled for, and only for the assets a service actually covers. A group with no recurring services yet gets no service dates from the import — set the services up first if you want the history captured, or add the dates to each asset afterward.
The review table shows a read-only column per service (for example, Annual Inspection Last Service) beside the editable asset fields. A dash means nothing was found for that asset. Review every extracted date before saving: you cannot correct or clear a service date in the Bulk Add table. If a date is wrong, you can still correct it after the import by opening that asset and editing its last service date. Removing the row from the batch before saving, or cancelling, keeps the wrong date out of the asset's history entirely.
For a service scheduled on the asset group and applicable to the asset, saving the date creates a service completion for the new asset. That date can move the recurring service's next due date. A date for an unrelated or inapplicable service is not saved as a completion.
Dates that describe the equipment rather than the work — a manufacture date, an install date, a next-due date — stay as ordinary asset attributes and are not treated as service history.
If your business needs a different asset type, field, device option, or allowed-per-group limit, contact Essential through the Talk to a human tab. Essential can help configure asset types for your business.
Where to find it: On the asset group page, the Assets tab, the Add link above the list (and the adjacent menu for Bulk Add)
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