An estimate's input panel holds the quantities your costs are built from — unit counts, areas, site figures. When those numbers already exist in a spreadsheet, you can load them from a CSV instead of typing them in one field at a time.
You can do this while the estimate is still being created, on the last step of the new estimate wizard, so the estimate starts with the right numbers rather than being corrected after the fact.
To import input values from a CSV while creating a new estimate follow these steps.
Press the "Add Estimate" button in the upper right corner of the "Estimates" page, then select "New Estimate".
Work through the first three steps of the wizard — "Select Project", "Select Template" and "Select Comps". The import is on the fourth step, "Configure Inputs".
On "Configure Inputs", press the export inputs icon in the upper right of the inputs panel. It is the upward arrow to the right of the "Detailed Inputs" button, and hovering over it shows "Export Inputs". Select "Import from CSV", under the "Import Inputs" heading at the bottom of the menu.
In the "Import Inputs CSV" window, press "Download CSV Template" in the lower left corner. This downloads a CSV of your estimate's inputs with two columns, "Label" and "Value", and the "Value" column left empty.
Fill in the numbers you want in the "Value" column of the downloaded file and save it.
Back in the "Import Inputs CSV" window, select your saved CSV under "CSV File", then press the "Import CSV" button in the lower right corner.
The window closes and every value from the CSV is written into its matching input field. The input groups stay collapsed, so at first it can look as though nothing happened — press the expand control in the upper left of the inputs panel to open the groups and check the values. Press "Continue" to finish creating the estimate.
Please note that input panel "group" headers appear as "N/A" in the "Value" column of the template. Leave these as they are.
Leave blank any input you do not want to change. Importing a CSV overwrites the existing input configuration and formulas for each value set in the CSV, which is what the warning at the top of the "Import Inputs CSV" window refers to — so if an input carries a formula you want to keep, leave its row blank as well.