How to move Word, PDF and paper templates into Househound

Househound's importer reads Word .docx files (also .dotx and .docm) as they are, along with PDF, images, spreadsheets, plain text and JSON. Make a copy of your template or a finished report, and:

• Word .docx: nothing to convert. Import the file as it is.
• Old Word .doc: not accepted. Open it in Word and save it as .docx (File › Save As, then choose Word Document (.docx)), or as a PDF.
• Google Docs: File › Download › Microsoft Word (.docx).

The importer reads a Word file's text, headings, lists and tables, which is how it tells an area from an item. It doesn't read pictures, so if your wording lives in images or scanned pages inside the document, save that one as a PDF instead. If a file passes 20 MB, delete the photos from the copy and save it again.

Scan each checklist with your phone's document scanner. On an iPhone or iPad, open a note in the Notes app, tap the attachment button, choose Scan Documents, and add every page of the checklist to the same scan. Save or share it as a PDF.

One file becomes one template. A six-page checklist uploaded as six photos makes six templates; the same six pages in one PDF make one. A single photo works for a one-page checklist. Printed checklists are the safest source; if yours is filled in by hand, check the result closely.

If you keep comments in Excel or Google Sheets, they'll import as they are. It helps to have:

• a header row with plain names, such as Area, Item, Comment, Type and Severity
• one comment per row

A blank area cell under a filled one is read as the same area, so merged cells and grouped rows are fine. Google Sheets: File › Download › Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or comma-separated values (.csv).

Your best old reports hold years of wording. Pick 3 to 5 that cover different houses: an older home with a crawlspace, a slab-on-grade newer build, a condo, a house with a well and septic. Prefer long reports where most of the findings you write were used. A Word report imports as it is; an old .doc needs saving as .docx or PDF first. See Building your comment library from your best old reports below.

Sign up on the web at househoundusa.com/signup. Your first 3 reports are free and no card is needed. Then install the iPhone, iPad or Android app and sign in.

Open Templates and choose Import, or use the Templates step in the setup wizard, where import is listed first. Drop up to 10 files at once, each up to 20 MB. Each file becomes its own template and succeeds or fails on its own, so one unreadable scan doesn't hold up the rest. The import keeps running if you close the page. Import is on the web dashboard only, not in the phone apps.

A template read from a document is a draft. Pick the one that matches your usual inspection best and make it your main template. Then check:

• area and item names, and their order through the house
• each comment's type (informational, limitation or deficiency) and, for deficiencies, its severity (major, moderate or minor)
• anything specific to one house, such as an address, a client's name or "the north bedroom", that should read as general wording
• fields you want as choices rather than text, such as roof covering or water heater fuel, which you can turn into option lists, checkboxes, dates or numbers in the template editor

Both are on the web dashboard only.

• Clients and agents: save your client spreadsheet or address book as a CSV or Excel file. Open People, then Clients or Agents, and choose Import contacts…. Pick the file (up to 5,000 rows), map each column (name, email, phone, company, type, notes), check the preview and choose what untyped rows become. A contact whose email is already saved is updated rather than duplicated, and every skipped row is listed with the reason.
• Old reports: open Reports › Archive › Past reports and upload your report PDFs, up to 50 at a time and 50 MB each. Only PDFs are accepted, so save Word reports as PDF first (in Word, File › Save As, then choose PDF). Househound reads the address, client, email and date from each PDF, and you can correct them. They're read-only: you can search, open, download, copy a share link or email one to the client, but they don't become Househound inspections.

• Services: Settings › Services & pricing.
• Agreement: Automations › Agreements. Upload your Word or PDF agreement as it is. It goes to the client 48 hours before the inspection by default.
• Email: Automations › Email.
• Booking page: Settings › Booking page. Put the link or embed code on your website.
• Payments: Settings › Services & pricing › Set up payments.

Take the next ordinary inspection and write it in the app. Inspections within a week of today download to the phone, so you can work with no signal. Each time you reach for wording that isn't there, write it once and save it to the library from inside the report. After a week or two of jobs, the gaps are mostly filled.