How do I replace spreadsheet route planning? A 1-day switch plan
Short answer
You can switch in one working day without dropping your spreadsheet: import today’s orders from it, check the addresses, add your drivers and shifts, plan the day, compare the result with your usual routes, then send the routes to your drivers. Keep the sheet running alongside for the first week and keep your export. In Afi Planner the import shows how every date was read before anything is saved.
How it works in Afi Planner
Signs the sheet has hit its limit
A spreadsheet plan works until the third driver or the first late order. None of these signs is a fault of the spreadsheet; they are the limit of keeping every rule in one person’s head.
- One driver calls in sick and you rebuild the plan by hand
- You find out a stop breaks its window only when the customer calls
- The routes live in one person’s head, and that person is on vacation next week
- Drivers get the plan as a screenshot or a text, and ask what changed
Morning: bring in today’s orders and check them
Afi Planner is route planning and delivery management software for local delivery teams, made by Afi Labs. Paste rows from Excel or Google Sheets, or drop your .xlsx or CSV file; you do not retype anything. Your own column names are matched (English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Swedish names), and a column you match yourself is remembered in this browser.
- The preview shows how every date was read: month first for US companies, with dates that could be read two ways flagged before you import (the answer on importing orders from Excel or CSV has the detail)
- An order imported twice is updated, not doubled
- Vague addresses are flagged in the stop list, for example “Only the street was found, not the house number”, so you fix them before a driver gets lost; the warning stays on the stop until you do
- No orders at hand to practice? On an empty day a button adds 24 sample stops near your depot
Plan, run beside the sheet, then send
Add your drivers with their shifts (up to four breaks each), capacity and skills, and let windows and service times ride on the orders. Plan routes plans every driver at once, and a stop left off the routes comes with a plain-English reason. Then compare with your own routes: windows hit, total miles, stops that did not fit. Edit by hand where you know better: stops can be dragged between drivers. Before the first real send, use “Send me a test delivery” to see what your customer and your driver see.
- Drivers open the route in the Afi Driver app on Android or iPhone, or from a text-message link with no install
- Run the sheet in parallel for the first week; switch off the spreadsheet when the routes agree with your judgment
- Keep your export: analytics export to Excel, and after the free trial your data stays and can be viewed and exported
What does not carry over
A standing weekly list does not have to be imported each time: set “Delivers every…” on a customer or use “Copy stops from another day”. There is no Shopify or Zapier app, and paid plans are quoted by fleet size with no published price. The free trial lasts three months, no credit card, up to 500 stops per plan and no limit on drivers: enough to run a real week beside the sheet. “One day” is the setup plan, not a promise about results.
Try it in the live demo
A fictional delivery company in the middle of its day. Read-only, no sign-up.
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Import & addresses
Paste orders from Excel or Google Sheets, or drop in a CSV. Column names are recognized in four languages, addresses are checked and a pin is fixed in seconds.
7 steps · 4 min read
How to import delivery stops from Excel, CSV or Google Sheets
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to retype my spreadsheet?
No. Paste the rows from Excel or Google Sheets, or drop the .xlsx or CSV file; common column names are matched for you.
Can I import files from another route planner?
Exports from other route planners go through the same import and column matching; check the preview before you confirm.
How do I avoid wrong dates?
The preview shows how each date was read and flags those that could be read two ways. US companies read month first.
Can I keep using my sheet during the trial?
Yes, and it is the best test: plan the same day in both and compare windows hit, miles and stops that did not fit.
More answers
- How do I add new orders after my drivers have already left?
- How can I see exactly what happened on a delivery day, minute by minute?
- Is there one list of everything a dispatcher needs to act on during the day?
- Can my customers track their delivery with a live ETA and see proof of delivery?
- Does the driver app work without a signal?
- How do I import delivery orders from Excel or CSV without mixing up the dates?
- Does Afi Planner have an API with webhooks?
- How do I plan delivery routes for multiple drivers?
- How should a food and beverage distributor plan truck routes?
- How do I calculate cost per delivery stop?
- Why was a stop left off my routes? Reading unassigned-stop reasons
- What route planning software works for a courier company?
- How can I reduce delivery costs? A dispatcher’s checklist
- How many stops per hour should a delivery driver make? And how to measure it
- Route planner vs route optimization software: what is the difference?
- What route software supports recurring weekly deliveries to the same customers?
Plan tomorrow’s routes in minutes
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