The Studio Ninja importer is in Settings → Imports → Studio Ninja. It uses Studio Ninja's job export ZIP, including the CSVs and the PDFs inside each job folder.
Open the Studio Ninja importerDownload your export
- 01Sign in to the Studio Ninja business you want to migrate and open Leads/Jobs.
- 02Choose Export Leads/Jobs and request the export.
- 03
Wait for the export email, which can take up to an hour, and download the ZIP from its link.
- 04
Keep the ZIP unchanged. Check a separate extracted copy contains
active-jobs.csv,completed-jobs.csvand folders for jobs with documents.
The separate Clients or Payments CSV exports are not substitutes for the job export. Keep those for reference if you need information that is missing from the job ZIP.
Check the archive
Job folders are named with the job's date and name, or [no date] for an undated job. They may contain invoices, quotes, contracts and questionnaires subfolders. Empty document folders may be absent. Preserve these names and the folder structure so each PDF stays with its job.
The importer accepts a ZIP up to 512 MiB, with no more than 20,000 entries and 512 MiB of expanded files. Each job can contain up to 20 PDFs, each no larger than 10 MiB. A job's encoded request must also fit within the upload limit. An error identifies an archive or job that exceeds these limits.
Choose the import options
- 01Upload the ZIP and compare the active and completed job counts with Studio Ninja.
- 02
Choose the booking stage for active jobs. Completed jobs retain their completed outcome; jobs identified as cancelled in their name retain a cancelled outcome.
- 03
Choose whether to reconstruct invoices and payments from the invoice PDFs. Leave this on when you want financial records in Arbour and the preview shows no unresolved invoice problems.
- 04
Choose whether to add packages from quote PDFs. Review the package names after importing, especially if the old account used several names for the same offering.
- 05
Start the import, keep the page open, then check a booking and its attached documents against Studio Ninja.
What transfers
| Studio Ninja information | Where it lands |
|---|---|
| Active and completed jobs | Bookings, including their dates, names and outcomes |
| Client name, email and phone | Contacts linked to the booking |
| Partner name found in the enquiry note | A partner contact for review |
| Location and lead source | The booking's corresponding fields |
| Job notes | Notes in the booking's activity history |
| Invoice, quote, contract and questionnaire PDFs | Attached documents |
| Supported invoice PDFs, when reconstruction is on | Invoices, payment schedules and recorded historical payments |
| Supported quote PDFs, when package import is on | Packages and add-ons |
Existing contacts are matched by email. Missing contact details can be filled without replacing existing details. A partner identified only by name is created separately, so review possible duplicates.
Imported invoices keep their Studio Ninja number when available. If it is already used, Arbour adds an SN- prefix and, if needed, a numeric suffix. Importing does not send the invoice to a client or sync it to accounting.
What needs separate attention
Studio Ninja's job export omits leads and archived jobs. The separate Clients CSV, including its postal addresses, company details and client notes, and the separate Payments CSV are not imported by this importer.
Contracts and questionnaires stay as PDFs. Signatures are preserved in the original document; they do not become new Arbour signing requests or editable questionnaire responses.
If an invoice cannot be reconstructed safely, its job fails while invoice reconstruction is on. Check the error against the PDF, or switch reconstruction off and import the original documents for reference. A quote or questionnaire that cannot be parsed can still be attached with a warning.
See Importing data for progress, retries, stopped runs and checking the result.