Before you start
If you pick a
.txt or .tsv file, it is read the same way as a .csv. Any other file type is refused with a message naming the three types the import accepts.
Export a CSV from your dive app
Most dive apps can export a logbook as a CSV file. The import page names Subsurface, MacDive, Shearwater Cloud and Diving Log as examples. Export the file, then save it somewhere your phone’s file picker can reach, such as your phone’s files or a cloud drive. The column names don’t have to match SCUBAzen’s. The app recognises common names for each field in several languages, and reads units written in the header, such asMax Depth (m), or in the value itself, such as 30 m. If a file has a place column but no site column, the place is used as the site.
The import page has a how to export from your dive app link. It opens this page in your browser.
Import your dives
1
Open the import page
Open the menu and tap settings. Under app, tap backup & restore, then tap import a logbook.During first-time setup, the last step, your dive history, is the same page. Tap not now there to skip it and import later from settings.
2
Choose the file
Tap choose a csv file and pick your export. The button shows reading… while the app reads the file and checks your logbook.
3
Check the review screen
The top of the screen shows how many dives will be brought in. Work down the page: answer any questions and fix any column that went to the wrong place. Every change updates the plan at once. The sections are explained below.
4
Bring the dives in
Tap bring in at the bottom of the review (the button shows the count, for example bring in 48 dives), or tap import at the top right and confirm, so you don’t have to scroll down. The app checks your logbook once more first. If it changed since you chose the file, for example because you logged a dive on another phone, the plan updates and the app asks you to check it and tap the button again.
5
Wait until it's done
The count rises as the dives land. Keep the app open until it finishes. You can’t go back while dives are being written.
6
Finish
The done screen says how the dives were numbered. If any rows were skipped as duplicates, it adds how many, for example 12 skipped: already in your logbook, or listed twice in the file. If the file had values the app couldn’t read, those dives are listed under dives to check (see “Values the app can’t read” below). Tap open logbook to see your dives (during setup, the button is continue).
The review screen
The review screen shows the plan before anything is written. Sections only appear when they have something to show.
At the bottom, choose a different file takes you back to pick another file.
Dates
If some dates could be read either way (is 03/07/2019 the 3rd of July or the 7th of March?) and no other date in the file settles it, about this file shows one of the file’s dates and asks what it means, with both readings as choices. A single date like 21/07/2019 anywhere in the file settles it, and so do dotted dates, ISO dates and dates with month names. The answer selected at first follows your phone’s region.Units
Units are never asked about for the whole file, because one logbook can mix dives logged in metric and imperial. Each dive’s units are read from that dive:- A unit written in the value (
30 m), in a unit column, or in the column header (Max Depth (ft)) is used as written. - A value that can only be one unit settles itself. For example, water above 40 is °F and below 26 is °C, a depth over 200 is feet, and a start pressure of 450 or more is psi while one between 100 and 449 is bar.
- One settled value settles the rest of the dive, because a dive is logged in one system. A dive with a 3,000 psi start pressure has its depth read in feet and its temperature in °F.
Move a column
- To change where a field comes from, tap it under what goes where. A sheet lists every column in the file with its first value. Pick one, or pick the last option to leave the field blank.
- To use a column that wasn’t matched, tap it under not brought in. Choose the dive’s notes, the option to leave it out, or a logbook field. If that field already has a column, the sheet says which one it would replace.
column name: value, after any notes the file already had. Buddy, divemaster, guide and instructor columns go into notes automatically, because the logbook has no field for them.
Duplicates are skipped
A row is skipped as a duplicate when your logbook already has a dive on the same date with the same time in. If either one has no time in, the same date and the same site counts as a duplicate. Two dives at the same site on the same day with different times are both kept. The same rule applies to repeated rows inside the file. So importing the same file twice brings nothing in the second time: the review screen says every dive in the file is already in your logbook. Rows with no date, no site and no place aren’t dives, so they are skipped and counted under rows without a date, site or place. A row with any one of the three, even only a place, is kept as a dive. If no date, site or place column is matched at all, the review screen asks you to match one.Values the app can’t read
A value the app can’t read never stops the import. That field is left blank on that dive, and what the file said is added to the dive’s notes under the file’s column name, for examplemaxdepth [m]: deep. Everything else on the dive comes through.
When the import finishes, the done screen lists those dives under dives to check, each with its number, site and the fields that were left blank. Tap a dive to open it, then fill in the field from what the file said in its notes.
Values far outside what a dive could record count as unreadable too, for example a depth over 350 m or water marked °C above 40. They usually mean a column was matched to the wrong field. If many dives would be affected, check what goes where before you bring the dives in.
A few fields always hold a value on a dive, so they are never blank. When the file has no value for them, or one the app can’t read, the dive gets these settings:
So an imported dive can show salt, boat, day, aluminum or 21% when the file didn’t say. None of these is required in the file. You can change any dive afterwards.
Each dive keeps the units it was measured in. A depth logged in feet stays in feet.
Ratings on a 10-point or 100-point scale are converted to five stars.
How the dives are numbered
- Your file’s numbers are kept when every dive in it has a number, no two share one, and none matches a dive already in your logbook. The done screen says the dives were numbered as your file had them.
- Otherwise the dives are numbered in date order, after the highest number in your logbook. Dives with no date go after the dated ones, in file order.
- Into an empty logbook, the numbers end at the number of dives you told SCUBAzen you had logged before, if that is higher than the number of dives in the file. For example, if you said 120 and the file holds 50 dives, they become dives 71 to 120.
Undo an import
To undo, tap undo this import on the done screen, then remove them. This removes every dive the import added and nothing else. Dives you logged yourself aren’t touched. Undo needs a connection.
If the import is interrupted
Dives are written in batches. If the connection drops partway, the screen says how many came in before it dropped. You have two choices:- try again carries on from where it stopped. Dives that already came in aren’t added twice.
- remove what came in removes everything this import added, including dives that may still be on their way.
What can’t be imported
- Only CSV files. Other logbook formats can’t be read.
- Only dives. Photos, per-dive equipment, dive types, gear, certifications and insurance can’t be imported.
- Only these logbook fields: dive number, date, time in, time out, bottom time, site, place, GPS position (one column or separate latitude and longitude), max depth, visibility, water temp, air temp, altitude, start pressure, end pressure, tank size, tank material, oxygen %, helium %, nitrogen %, weight, weighting felt, suit, warmth felt, salt or fresh, boat or shore, day or night, current, safety stop, deco dive, deco gas, deco time, rating, dive shop and notes. Anything else, such as a buddy column, can go into the dive’s notes.