You can now import your departments and locations yourself, without going through the Zest team. Merging two departments, creating a subsidiary, a complete overhaul of your SmartOrg: you prepare a file, Zest shows you what will change, and then you confirm!
🔐 Prerequisites – Access rights
To import departments and locations, you need the SuperAdmin role.
| Role | Tabs visible on the Organization import page |
|---|---|
| SuperAdmin | Departments, Locations, Users, History (all imports) |
| Department or location Admin with the "Can create and edit users within their scope" right | Users and History (their own imports only) |
| Other roles | No access to the page |
A department or location Admin can't import departments or locations, not even within their own scope.
👉 If you can't see this page, contact your HR team or a Zest SuperAdmin.
🧱 Three rules to know before you start
1. The file describes your entire organization
Department and location imports are differential: your file must contain your entire organization.
- An entity included in the file is created or updated.
- An entity missing from the file is deleted.
These two imports have no incremental mode.
2. Zest recognizes each entity by its UID
Each department and location has a unique identifier, called the UID. Zest assigns it, and it never changes, even if you rename or move the entity.
Because of the UID, renaming or moving an entity counts as a modification: the entity keeps its sub-departments and its users.
The UID isn't shown in the Zest interface. You can only find it in the UID column of the Current organization file.
| Don't confuse | Assigned by | Used to |
|---|---|---|
UID | Zest | Recognize a department or location from one import to the next |
userId | You | Identify a user (their employee ID) |
3. Import in the right order
Import your departments and locations first, then your users. That way, you can assign your users to the new entities. You can start the next import as soon as the previous one is done.
⚠️ Warning: an import can't be undone. Any entity missing from your file is permanently deleted. Always check that your file is complete before you confirm.
🚀 Import your departments or locations
The steps are the same for departments and locations. The examples below use departments.
Step 1 – Go to the Organization import page
- Log in to the Zest Back Office.
- In the side menu, click Imports.
- The Organization import page opens. Click the Departments tab (or Locations).
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Step 2 – Download the workbook
- Click Download workbook in the top right corner of the page.
- Choose one of these options:
- Current organization: your organization as it currently stands in Zest, including the UIDs. Use this one for any update.
- Blank template: the same columns with no rows and no UID column. Use this one only for a first import.
!Capture d’écran 2026-11-10 à 18.09.52.png
The workbook has one sheet per import: departements, localisations and utilisateurs. A Notice tab at the start of the workbook describes each column.
Step 3 – Fill in the workbook sheet
Open the departements sheet (or localisations) and edit it as needed.
| Column | Required? | Description |
|---|---|---|
UID | Filled in by Zest | Entity identifier. This column is greyed out. Don't edit it. |
Unit | ✔️ | Department name. Two departments can't have the same name. |
Parent | No | Name of the parent department. Leave it empty to place the entity at the root. |
In the workbook, required column headers are dark blue and optional column headers are light blue.
What to do in the file, depending on what you need:
| You want to… | In the file |
|---|---|
| Create a department | Add a row. Leave the UID cell empty. Enter its parent in Parent (the parent can be new too). |
| Rename a department | Change its name without touching its UID. Update the new name everywhere it appears: the Parent column of its sub-departments and the department column of the utilisateurs sheet. |
| Move a department | Change its Parent column. Its whole branch (sub-departments and users) moves with it, with no extra rows needed. |
| Delete a department | Delete its row. |
Example: you rename "PRICING UNIT" to "PRICING & TARIFFS UNIT" and move it under the Finance Department. You only change one row. Its sub-departments and users move with it.
UID rules:
- Always start from the Current organization file.
- Don't clear, edit or move the UID of an existing row.
- Leave the
UIDcell empty for a new entity: Zest will assign one.
- Don't make up UIDs: a value Zest doesn't recognize blocks the import.
Formatting rules:
- Don't rename the sheets. Their names are lowercase, without accents, and case-sensitive. The English names
departments,locationsandusersare also accepted.
- Paste values only: no formulas, no conditional formatting, no hyperlinks.
- Keep the
UIDcolumn in Text format. Copying and pasting into a new workbook can break this format.
- Accepted formats: XLSX and CSV
Step 4 – Upload and check the file
- In the Departments tab, drop your file into the upload area.
- Click Check file.
- Zest analyzes the file in a few seconds.
There are three possible outcomes:
| Outcome | What you see | What should you do? |
|---|---|---|
| The file contains errors | A report lists every error, row by row. The import isn't offered. | Fix your file, then upload it again. |
| The file matches your current organization | The message No changes detected and the number of entities in the file. The Import button doesn't appear. | Nothing: this isn't an error. You can still open the preview with the View details link. |
| The file is valid | If any deletions are planned, an orange warning above the upload area shows how many. | Preview, then import (step 5). |
If you upload the workbook in the wrong tab, you'll see the message "The sheet “departements” cannot be found". Your file isn't faulty: just upload it in the right tab.
Step 5 – Preview, then import
- Open the preview.
- Check the New, Modified and Deleted counters, plus the total after import (Final departments).
- Go through the list of changes: deletions are shown first.
- Click Import. If any deletions are planned, the button shows how many, for example Import (4 deletions).
Import preview
Nothing changes in Zest until you click Import. You can also import without opening the preview: the number of deletions is still shown in the button label and in the warning.
💡 Tip: before you confirm, check three numbers: deletions, new entities and the total after import. If you see as many deletions as new entities when you've barely changed anything, the UID column was probably cleared or lost. Don't confirm. Start again from the Current organization file.
⚙️ What happens to your organization after the import
Users in a deleted department move up the branch to the nearest remaining parent department. If none remains, they no longer belong to any department. On each deleted row, the preview shows how many users are affected and where they'll be moved. Users aren't notified of this change.
Sub-departments of a deleted department follow the same rule if they're still in the file: they move to the nearest remaining parent, or to the root if there is none. They're shown as "Modified", with the note "Formerly under “…”".
Locations follow exactly the same rules.
Teams aren't affected by this import. The link between a user and their manager is still managed through the managerId column of the utilisateurs sheet.
🧱 Special cases
You're starting from scratch. Use the Blank template. Every entity is shown as "New" and no deletions are possible. The preview's Organization view shows the tree your file will create.
You switch tabs midway. Each tab keeps its state: a file you uploaded or checked in Departments is still there when you come back.
You're working on a phone or tablet. The page is designed for screens 768 px wide or wider.
🔗 Related articles
- How do I read an import's preview and history?
- Bulk import employees
- Best practices for filling in the user import file
- User import errors
- Create and/or delete departments and locations